Children held in small, stuffy rooms at airport for hours, often sharing space with adults they are not related to, watchdog finds

A community order providing an alternative to short-term custodial sentences, which was piloted in Bradford, has been praised for helping to cut reoffending rates in the district.

Some results of the monitoring survey of year 2011

On November 10-11th, 2011 the global Forum of the Association for Prevention of Torture “Preventing Torture, Upholding Dignity: from Pledges to Actions” held in Geneva. Kharkiv Institute for Social Researches represented Ukrainian experience in this sphere due to invitation of event arranging committee. We should thank the organizers of the Forum and highly appreciate the enormous work, which they have done, gathering over 300 participants from all over the world. Organizers of the Forum have successfully solved all logistical issues and allowed participants to meet, to speak out and to discuss issues about visiting of custodial institutions.

The Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment appeals to establish a system of regular visits undertaken by independent international and national bodies to places where people are deprived of their liberty, in order to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. For the purposes of the Protocol, deprivation of liberty means any form of detention or imprisonment or the placement of a person in a public or private custodial setting which that person is not permitted to leave at will by order of any judicial, administrative or other authority.

Today, according to the official statistics, there is about half a million of registered unemployed in Ukraine, a total number of unemployed amount to 1.9 million people, among which one-third are 45-59 years old. Representatives of this age group have the biggest living and professional experience, but because of number of reasons they are outside of labor market. One of the reasons is age discrimination. Just therefore in 2010-2011 the Kharkiv Institute for Social Researches held the social survey, dedicated to employment discrimination of seniors (people in age of 45-59 years old).

Sociological surveys 2004 – 2010

Access to a doctor, to include the one, which is alternative to the doctor offered by law enforcement authorities, is a part of so called “good treatment minimal standard”, which was set and is supported by the European Committee for Prevention of Tortures and Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The importance of the right to medical assistance and possible ways of its implementation are really topical for the contemporaneous law enforcement practices of Ukrainian militia. Unfortunately, numerous examples provided by interviewed victims of tortures and ill-treatment confirm these facts.

On June 2-3, 2011 the International Conference devoted discussion of the issues of developing effective complaints systems in line with European standards was held in Kyiv, Ukraine. The Conference was organized by the Council of Europe within Joint Programme between the European Union and the Council of Europe “Combating ill-treatment and impunity in South Caucasus, Moldova and Ukraine”, in cooperation with the Kharkiv Institute for Social Researches. Vladimir Ristovski, Ambassador, Representative of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe on the Coordination of the Council of Europe Cooperation Programmes/Head of the Council of Europe Office in Kyiv; Artashes Melikyan, Head of Unit, Judiciary Division, Legal and Human Rights Capacity Building Department, Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs, Council of Europe; Denys Kobzin, Director, Kharkiv Institute for Social Researches made introductory speeches. The leading international and national experts, representatives of Offices of the Prosecutors General, Ministries of Interior, institutes of Justice, Ombudsman institutions, human rights activists, and members of NGOs participated in the Conference.

In the previous edition of the «Monitoring of unlawful violence in militia - 2009» we’ve ascertained that Ukraine has made a number of sufficient steps forward in the direction of improving standards of human rights protection. But to our deepest regret finalizing results of year 2010, we should admit absence of any promotion of declared changes and the beginning of the dangerous reverse action.

Deaths in militia (police) custody: what to do? For the last year the Ministry of Interior of Ukraine became a some sort of record holder: under its jurisdiction more then 50 Ukrainians DIED. Of course not all deaths were caused by militiamen, but in significant number of cases they were involved. Igor Indylo, Myhailo Stadnyk, Dmytro Yashchuk, Olexandr Razumenko – this list may be continued, but all these names are combined by one disaster – they DIED in militia stations…