Ukraine was reviewed on 13 May 2008. The troika consisted of the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and Guatemala.
The report deals with education on a few occasions, namely concerning police training in Human Rights (points 106-111)
26. National legislation and the regulating of ethnic issues in education are formulated pursuant to international norms and the recommendations contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Frame Convention on Protection of National Minorities, the European Charter of Regional Languages or Minority Languages, The Hague recommendations on the rights of national minorities to education, and other documents.
31. The requirements of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child are reflected in the Law of Ukraine “On the Protection of the Child”, which sets protecting the rights of children to life, health, education, social security and all-around development as a national priority.
35. Throughout 2007 the Ministry of Education and Science, educational administrations, and educational institutions devoted increased attention to the prevention of cruelty, violence, neglect and homelessness among children.
42. As of 1 January 2008, 1,548 teenagers who should have been attending school were not. To reinforce the right of a child to education, prosecutor issued almost 2,000 orders and petitions and challenged over 1,300 illegal acts. As a result of prosecutor interventions, almost 3,000 officials were charged and 4 million UAH in scholarships, assistance and other payments were paid over to pupils and students.
92. In December, 2005 the Ministry of Internal Affaires established the Community Council, which is responsible for the protection of human rights. The council consists of a number of groups working in different areas involving human rights: detentions and investigation; election campaigns; prevention of domestic violence, including cruelty to children and human trafficking; refugees and immigrants; protection of privacy; racism and xenophobia; narcotic use prevention; legal and social protection of Ministry staff; gender A/HRC/WG.6/2/UKR/1 Page 12 equality within the Ministry; and education in human rights. In June, 2007, similar councils were established in each region of Ukraine. The councils include representatives of international, Ukrainian national and regional organizations, educational institutions, and mass media.
VII. HUMAN RIGHTS AND POLICE TRAINING
106. Serious attention is now being directed to studying human rights issues in the education and trainings of police officers.
107. Eight new disciplines related to human rights have been introduced at the BA and MA level in institutions of higher learning within the police system.
108. In 2006-2007 the OSCE together with Kharkiv Institute of Social Studies and the International Renaissance Foundation conducted training for upgrading the effectiveness of community councils and over 110 qualified members of mobile groups were prepared.
109. In 2007, Amnesty International was involved in the training of 700 police officers on dealing with hate crimes. Practical training in applying decisions of the European Court of Human Right was held together with OSCE for lecturers and MA students in educational institutions of Ministry of Internal Affaires.
110. Human rights issues are studied in secondary schools as part of the regular curriculum and are supplemented with optional courses and electives. A course entitled “Basic Law” is now obligatory and human rights are included in the program.
111. Profile education provides additional opportunities in legal and civil education, particularly in social sciences and the humanities, combining history, law, philosophy, and economics. Lectures on human rights are given courses like “Practical law”, “We are Citizens”, and “Civil Education”. The optional course “Human Rights” is recommended for senior professional schools. The optional course “Learning Humanitarian Law” has been taught in Ukraine since 2000 and has among its priorities the protection of human rights.
Download the report http://www.upr-info.org/IMG/pdf/a_hrc_wg6_2_ukr_1_e.pdf
Civil society organizations which have submitted a report
. Amnesty International
. Donetsky Memorial
. Human Rights Watch
. Human Rights Without Frontiers
. Kharkiv Human Rights Group
. Nash Mir Gay and Lesbian Center
. Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union
. Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization
The summary of information issued by the civil society mentions the right to education twice, concerning asylum-seekers, foreigners (7) as well as Roma people (9).
7. AI (Amnesty International) reported that asylum-seekers and foreigners living in Ukraine often suffer racist attacks from members of the public and are subjected to racist treatment at the hands of the police, including disproportionately frequent document checks. There are no government statistics for the number of racist crimes and most racist attacks are classified by the police as “hooliganism”. AI highlighted that Article 161 of the Criminal Code related to racially motivated crimes is flawed because if applies only to victims who are citizens. 16 UHHRU (Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union) also noted that reports of acts of violence against people from Africa, Asia and the Caucasus have become more frequent. Members of these groups claim that law enforcement officers constantly ignore, and sometimes even support, acts of violence against them. They are especially discriminated against at work, when renting accommodation, as well as when exercising their right to education. The Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights (CoE CHR) reported that anti-Semitic trends seem to be a worrying trend in Ukraine, and that there is a true risk of and anti-Semitic epidemic. AI recommended that the Government review legislation relating to racist crimes and ensure that law enforcement officers, prosecutors and judges involved in enforcing the law relating to racist crimes fully understand the nature of such crimes. The CoE CHR recommended that the Government reinforce efforts to forcefully combat racist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic behaviours and provide legal guarantees against discrimination of refugees on grounds of race, religion or country of origin.
9. UHHRU maintained that public attitudes to Roma remain negative, prejudice against them being more widespread than in relation to any other national minority. Roma face regular systemic discrimination in virtually all sectors, including access to personal documents, education, housing, health care, employment and social services. According to UHHRU, in comparison to other ethnic groups, the level of unemployment among Roma is, on average, the highest and their living conditions are the worst. School attendance figures for Roma children remain low. The CoE CHR recommended Ukraine develop programmes to ensure the social integration of Roma, notably through support of small-scale businesses, access to education and access to infrastructures.
Download OHCHR Summary of stakeholders’ information http://www.upr-info.org/IMG/pdf/a_hrc_wg.6_2_ukr_3_e.pdf
Two recommendations addressed to Ukraine deal with education, of these one deals with Human Rights Education (point 31).
28. To ensure full and effective compliance of national legislation and law enforcement practices, particularly in the areas of education and mass media with the obligation of article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the obligations that derive from Ukraine being party to other international legal instruments, including on the protection of national minorities (Russian Federation)
31. To develop a national strategy for human rights education in the school system in accordance with the Plan of Action 2005-2009 of the World Programme for Human Rights Education, including the review and revision of curricula and textbooks, the training of teachers and the practice of human rights in the school community (Italy)
Download the recommendations http://www.upr-info.org/IMG/pdf/recommendations_to_ukraine_2008.pdf