OBSERVANCE OF PRISONERS’ RIGHTS IN UKRAINE – 2015
The eleventh annual report, “Observance of Prisoners’ Rights in Ukraine – 2015”, was prepared by the non-governmental organization “Donetsk Memorial”. The report contains an overview of the changes in the activities of the penal enforcement system of Ukraine that occurred during 2015. It presents statistical information reflecting the state of the system’s operations in 2015, provides examples of human rights violations and the system management’s reaction to such events and facts, and provides information on the mechanisms for monitoring the activities of penal institutions and their interaction with non-governmental organizations.
The report contains conclusions and recommendations aimed at improving the state of human rights observance in the system’s institutions, as well as information on the State Penitentiary Service’s implementation of recommendations from previous reports.
INTRODUCTION
1. The eleventh annual report, “Observance of Prisoners’ Rights in Ukraine – 2015”, was prepared by the human rights organization “Donetsk Memorial”. It contains facts and information regarding the observance of human rights in the institutions of the penal enforcement system of Ukraine. This report reflects the changes and events that occurred in the sphere of prisoners’ rights observance—for both convicted persons and individuals held in custody—during 2015.
The main sources of information for the report were the results of projects and research carried out by the organization, materials from seminars and conferences, information posted on the “Prison Portal” website and the penal enforcement system website (www.kvs.gov.ua), responses from state institutions to “Donetsk Memorial” requests, media publications (including those in online outlets), and individual letters and appeals from citizens currently in the system’s institutions and their relatives.
2. The report does not reflect all the problems that exist within the department. The authors preferred to review issues related to the observance of human rights.
A number of problems in the activities of the penal enforcement system were covered in detail in previous reports.
As always, certain issues in the report are examined in greater detail. This year, these are the issues of legislation, pardons, and the penitentiary service’s response to the recommendations of the previous “Donetsk Memorial” report.
The author of the report expresses gratitude to the State Penitentiary Service and its territorial bodies, as well as to the state institutions that provided information in response to requests. Information received from them was widely used in the compilation of this report.
3. The author of this report, as before, does not exclude the possibility that some of the facts presented lack guaranteed confirmation and that certain conclusions may be debatable. The author also hopes for the understanding that this study could be more comprehensive and detailed, but is confident that the publication of this review of the country’s penal enforcement system in this volume is appropriate, justified, and will be useful.
Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA)
4. Throughout 2015, significant reorganization changes took place within the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Given the presence of a significant number of reports with quite different visions of the transformations—both alleged substantial gains and positive changes in the police, and assertions of unconvincing achievements—it is difficult to evaluate the real progress in matters of human rights observance for individuals held in places of detention under the MIA’s authority.
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