COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS CONSIDERS REPORT OF UKRAINE

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has considered the fifth periodic report of Ukraine on how that country is implementing the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Introducing the report, Lydia Drozdova, First Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of Ukraine, said since the fifth periodic report, there had been significant positive changes in legislation, which were directly linked to economic, social and cultural rights, including a law on equal rights for opportunities for men and women. Ukraine had ratified the European Social Charter, which entered into force in February 2007, and this would improve the implementation of social protection for the citizens, as well as the achievement of economic, social and cultural rights. Indicators of the consumer-basket prices, using the indicators of the Millennium Development Goals, showed a considerable reduction in poverty, as well as a positive trend in national income below the minimum income level.

Among questions and issues raised by Experts were how independent was the Ombudsman and whether the Paris Principles were being applied; a request for any recent case when the Ombudsperson had taken up a case before the Constitutional Court with regards to any economic, social and cultural right which was contained in the Covenant; issues related to the stateless and those who wished to obtain citizenship and the length of this process, which impeded the realisation of their rights such as the right to health; what was the Government’s policy with regards to anti-Semitism and other forms of racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia; issues related to the provision of social housing and the situation of the Roma, who reportedly lived with little access to basic amenities and in substandard conditions in settlements, being subject to forced evictions; and whether education was truly free at all levels, including University and vocational training, and whether there was really equal access to everybody for basic primary education.

In concluding remarks, Ms. Drozdova said Ukraine, in its fifth periodic report on the implementation of the Covenant, had informed the Committee of everything that was happening in the country. In the written replies, the Government delegation had tried to supplement parts of the report, as it had in answering the oral questions, trying to give the broadest possible picture of the situation. The Committee’s concluding observations would be considered by the Government and all the Ministries and establishments that were directly involved would also be acquainted with their text. The delegation was grateful to the Committee for its understanding and for the positive assessment that had been given, as well as the criticisms that had been voiced. Ukraine understood that the work was still ongoing, and that it still had a great deal of work to do.

The delegation included Representatives of the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Economy, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry for Family and Sport, the State Committee on Nationalities and Religions, and the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the United Nations Office at Geneva.

The concluding observations on the report of Ukraine will be issued towards the end of the session on Friday 23 November.

The next meeting of the Committee will be at 10 a.m. on Friday, 9 November, when it will take up the initial to fourth periodic reports of San Marino (E/C.12/SMR/4).

Report of Ukraine

The fifth periodic report of Ukraine (E/CN.12/UKR/5) says in recent years, significant progress has been made towards overcoming poverty. A number of instruments have been adopted and systematic measures are being put into effect to tackle the problem of poverty and to prevent its recurrence in the future. Stabilization of the country’s macroeconomic situation has led to a strong upward trend in people’s actual income and their purchasing power. Practical steps are being taken to reform the social welfare system and to develop a network of social facilities, thereby enhancing the quality of social services. Pursuant to article 24 of the Ukrainian Constitution, citizens have equal constitutional rights and freedoms and are equal before the law. No privileges may be granted or restrictions imposed on the grounds of race, colour, political, religious and other convictions, sex, ethnic or social origin, wealth, place of residence, language or other characteristics.

The Ukrainian Government regards it as one of its central undertakings to uphold the rights and freedoms of ethnic minorities, including the Ukrainian Tatars, to suppress racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism and to ensure harmonious ethnic relations. Sexual equality and equal opportunities for men and women are fundamental principles, values and standards recognized in Ukraine. These principles are viewed not only as fundamental prerequisites of social justice and democracy but also as essential conditions for the exercise of their human rights by both women and men. Notwithstanding the country’s anti-discriminatory legislation, it must be conceded that, in practice, Ukrainian women encounter discrimination in many spheres of life.

As part of the social welfare programme launched by the Cabinet of Ministers under the slogan “Meeting people half-way”, government efforts are being focused on strengthening social protection for employees, ensuring that people are productively employed, raising salary and wage levels and reducing income disparities in the population. Pursuant to the Ukrainian Trade Unions (Rights and Guarantees) Act, Ukrainian citizens have the right, as an expression of their free will and without the need for any permissions, to form, join and leave trade unions and to participate in their work in accordance with their statutes. For the purposes of putting into effect the Outline for a Public Social Insurance System in Ukraine, a set of principles of compulsory national social insurance legislation were elaborated and adopted as a constitutional law on 14 January 1998, which opened the way to the drafting of a number of bills on a wide range of social insurance issues.

Presentation of Report

LYDIA DROZDOVA, First Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of Ukraine, introducing the report, said the previous comments of the Committee had been taken into account during the preparations for the last report. Since the fifth report, there had been significant positive changes in legislation, which were directly linked to economic, social and cultural rights, including a law on equal rights for opportunities for men and women. There had been an Expert Survey on Gender Law, looking at all legislation, with the aim of identifying gender-discriminatory provisions. There was now a draft before the Parliament for the new Labour Code, which would prohibit any violation of the principle of equality of rights in the labour market and in establishing wages. Over the course of last year and this year, the situation on the national labour market had been under the influence of a positive dynamic in macro-economic areas.

The level of unemployment had diminished, and this had been demonstrated in the first part of 2007 also, Ms. Drozdova said. The growth of economic activity, in particular of those of working age, was expected to continue. There were stable trends in indicators, with an increase of 2.5 times in the poverty threshold, with poverty currently at 28 per cent. Indicators of the consumer-basket prices, using the indicators of the Millennium Development Goals, showed a considerable reduction in poverty, as well as a positive trend in national income below the minimum income level. One of the Government’s efforts was towards the creation of real wages, and incentives aiming to improve the quality and effectiveness of workers’ work. Bearing in mind the real situation of the economy, the Government was making changes to the minimum wage, and bringing it gradually into line with the minimum required for subsistence.

Ms. Drozdova said a social dialogue was being developed in Ukraine, and this was a major step in developing a tripartite approach, institutionalising the social dialogue. With a view to resolving the problem of ensuring housing, Parliament had adopted a law on social housing, which entered into force on 1 January 2007. The Government was adopting measures to implement the provisions of the law, and to introduce the development of social housing. Ukraine had ratified the European Social Charter, which entered into force in February 2007, and this would improve the implementation of social protection for the citizens, as well as the achievement of economic, social and cultural rights. Measures had been taken to improve pension coverage for citizens, and there had been a change in the structure of pension-drawers, depending on insurance contribution and wages. The Government was trying to move towards a social assistance system which targeted the needs of families whilst taking into account their property and assets.

Questions by Experts

Among the questions and issues raised by Experts on follow-up to the recommendations made subsequent to the previous report as well as the first six articles of the Covenant were what concrete progress had been made in improving the human rights situation in Ukraine; how independent was the Ombudsman and whether the Paris Principles were being applied; what progress had been made in ensuring the impartiality of judges; what was the role of the National Coordination Council with regards to trafficking, had it been effective in this regard, and whether it was adequately funded and staffed; a request for information on any recent case when the Ombudsperson had taken up a case before the Constitutional Court with regards to any economic, social and cultural right which was contained in the Covenant; what were the institutions which protected human rights in general in Ukraine, and what were the divisions of power among them; to what extent the Government put the concluding observations into practice in plans of action, parliamentary debates or seminars organised by the Government; issues related to the Stateless and those who wished to obtain citizenship and the length of this process, which impeded the realisation of their rights such as the right to health; and what was the Government’s policy with regards to anti-Semitism and other forms of racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia, in particular with regards to the Roma.

Response by Delegation

Responding to these questions and others, Ms. Drozdova said in providing written replies, Ukraine had wished to respond to questions. The Government was doing as much as it could on macro-economic issues, and the growth of real income had increased by some 14 per cent, with considerable major steps in ensuring the minimal social standards. With regards to pensions, the situation had also changed. The dynamics of improvement were clear and well demonstrated. There was an improvement in social standards and a movement towards the better in average wages. The positive developments in the growth of income had also been seen during the course of 2007. There were some 15 million receiving pensions out of the population of 40 million. Poverty levels remained at 28 per cent.

The Covenant could be applied in the courts, the delegation said, and under legislation the courts should be guided by domestic law and international legal standards, and this was in the procedural codes which governed how justice was administered. With regards to the Constitutional Court, it had frequently, even systematically, in its decisions, made reference to the standards contained in the Covenant, including on cases relating to the death penalty, freedom of unions, the right to free education, and others. In Ukraine, any legal standard relating to the rights and duties of citizens could only come into force when it had been published in certain forms, including in the mass media. Every judge should in his work have an electronic referential system which contained the text of these laws. On whether citizens could invoke the legislation covering equality, this was indeed the case, as they should provide reasons justifying their claim, and should do this by reference to the law.

On the Ombudsperson, the delegation said, this year, in the State budget,
$ 1,300,000 had been allocated for the restoration of premises, and the same sum in next year’s budget to allow them to be properly maintained. For current finances, 100 per cent of the budget allocations were paid to the functional budget of the Ombudsperson. All citizens, regardless of nationality, had the same economic, social and cultural rights. Ukraine was a multi-nationality State. There were no problems with the Roma minority and there was an active national dialogue with this minority. These meetings generally dealt with matters relating to registration, as it appeared that there were many unregistered members of the Roma nationality in the country, possibly about 1,000 individuals. The rights of national minorities were outlined in legislation, and were in the domain of the Ministry of the Interior. The police bodies were very attentive to the measures that were taken, and tried to prevent violations of the law based on ethnic origin.

Information from non-governmental organizations and from individuals belonging to certain national minorities did come to the Government’s attention, the delegation said, and 23 complaints had been received this year from people of African descent, complaining of various acts in which their rights had been violated. In each Ministry or Department there was a monitoring unit which tried to ensure that this sort of thing did not occur.

Social bodies, Ms. Drozdova said, were very busy with regards to the issue of unemployment and support to social and professional rehabilitation. Support was provided to citizens who were unable to work, including the disabled, to which substantial resource s had been allocated. Fiscal advantages were given to companies and disabled persons organizations which gave assistance to these people throughout the country. A lot of attention was given to providing unhampered access to all cultural activities, and this brought together the State and local authorities. Legislation provided the right for local authorities to provide for certain sums in their budget to ensure that these particular problems were resolved.

On changes in legislation to introduce quotas to include women for election to Parliament, the delegation said, at the last elections each party had to include its policy on equality, and provide a minimum number of women for election. There would be a quota for women in Parliamentary elections. On women in the workforce and sexual discrimination, this was classified as a crime, with a maximum sentence of three years. People could address the Ombudsman or the Ministry of the Family with regards to equal rights, as well as the police and the courts. Each employer was obliged to create the necessary working conditions which would rule out gender-based oppression. A number of measures had been introduced to ensure decent working conditions, strengthening State supervision over the implementation of the provision on a decent wage for labour, among other things. Great hopes were put on the adoption of legislation providing for a second layer of pension coverage.

On measures taken to reduce unemployment among women, the delegation said that these figures had fallen by 2.1 per cent last year. Among women of working age, the unemployment figure was 7.4 per cent, whereas for men it was 7.3 per cent. There had been an increase in the level of work among women. The law on employment included additional guarantees for women bringing up children, single mothers, and invalid children, with 5 per cent of the overall number of workplaces allocated to these women. A lot of work was being done by employment centres and exchanges, providing unemployed women with professional advice and services. Work was also done to organise vocational training. Violations of the rights of women with regards to equal pay for equal work were non-existent.

Budget resources were sufficient for the payment of all types of social assistance, Ms. Drozdova said, and payment arrears had been wiped out. The whole system of social protection provided assistance to some 2 million families. Allocations were based on State budget law.

In follow-up remarks, an Expert commented that none of the questions had been answered to the Committee’s satisfaction, as the replies had not been concrete nor specific enough, and this was unsatisfactory, as the Committee would not be able to draw up its concluding observations in an informed manner.

Responding, Ms. Drozdova said the delegation would give answers to these topics, but it had not been able to consult fully, and had decided to give answers to the written issues, as was provided for, and then to prepare for answers to the oral questions tomorrow.

Questions by Experts

Taking up articles six to nine, Experts said, among other things, that according to information, the vast majority of the unemployed and part-time employed were women, who were also offered the lowest paid jobs, and asked what the reason for this was and whether it was that the public authorities did not offer women opportunities for changing their occupational abilities; was it true that labour inspectors did not function properly and ignored certain cases, as did public prosecutors; issues related to reports that trade union leaders were closer to management and to the Government than to workers themselves; what the Government was doing to improve the system of protection of workers’ rights; issues related to the pension system and the assistance and benefit system; whether the Employment Act 5 per cent quota covered disabled and invalid persons as well as women; and why Ukraine had not ratified a series of ILO Conventions related to social protection, including the three basic Conventions, and whether the Government had any plans in this regard.

Response by Delegation

Responding to these issues and others, Ms. Drozdova said the concluding recommendations from the fourth report had been published in Ukrainian, Russian and English in a compendium from the Ombudsman including other concluding observations from various United Nations treaty body committees.

On unions, the delegation said a question had been asked as to whether their rights could be limited. The Constitution contained a provision that in times of war or a state of emergency, limitations on rights and freedoms could be imposed, but they had to have a strict time limit. There could also be certain restrictions to maintain law and order and national security. On trafficking in persons, the police forces had tried to eradicate this phenomenon. On how the courts applied the Covenant, the Constitutional Court had taken decisions whilst referring to the rights and standards included in the Covenant. In Ukraine, the Ombudsman’s actual title was Commissioner Attached to the Supreme Rada (Cabinet). He did not receive appeals from citizens, normally they were sent to other bodies for decisions to be taken. This was to ensure that the Ombudsman got more detailed information in order to take a decision properly. The Ombudsman was obliged every year to provide a report on activities undertaken to the Parliament, and that included the current situation with regards to complaints submitted to the Office.

The Prosecutor oversaw general application of the rights included in legislation, and took the necessary steps to ensure this was done, the delegation said. In practice, this meant that the Prosecutor oversaw the implementation of human rights, and had the right to investigate and prosecute violations. The new Parliament had not yet assumed its functions, and once it did it would determine the members of the Parliamentary Committee on National Minorities - currently, in practice, it contained 20 to 25 members. The newly elected Parliament was planning to make changes to the legislation, and introduce a quota system for political parties when nominating candidates. The same went for the establishment of quotas for local representatives. On citizens’ access to the Constitutional Court, the Ombudsman had the right to take cases to the Court. Citizens had equal constitutional rights before the law, and there was no reference in the section on discrimination to just citizens - it referred to all people in the territory of Ukraine.

The Criminal Code included provisions for the violation of human rights on the basis of race or religion, and the maximum sentence was imprisonment for up to five years, the delegation said.

Continuing to respond, Ms. Drozdova said the Ministry of Justice had this year registered 9 unions and associations. The union movement was not put under pressure, nor did it have its rights limited - a large number, 125, professional unions had been registered, with 43 national unions and 36 territorial unions. The union movement was developing in a healthy way. The Ministry of Labour focussed on specific issues such as wages. The mandatory social unemployment fund for unemployment benefits also covered accidents at work, and worked on a tripartite basis - the State, employers and unions delegated representatives to work on the management boards of the funds, and all the issues considered on the boards were decided collegially. There had also been the formation of regional councils and boards, which worked to resolve issues in a sector, or to resolve issues specific to the region. The Government, in developing the social dialogue between all parties, was paying a lot of attention to agreeing on the standard-setting documents which represented the interests of a large part of the population. Ukraine was a young country, and thus the same standards that were applied to other countries could not be applied to it.

In the last few years, Ms. Drozdova said, a massive programme had been carried out by a wide range of unions in various industries to reduce quotas. The Government believed that its position of principle in this regard was appropriate, and that whatever the economic sector, it could not evade its responsibility. There was a set of complementary organizations and programmes to help manage this matter. There were vocational training organizations which helped re-train persons to acquire new skills. Six years ago, the All Ukrainian Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled had been created. The Government carried out monitoring of regions and districts to find out what needs were. On the basis of demand, there were changes on the labour market.

Today, in the Supreme Council of Ukraine, women accounted for only 7 per cent, the delegation said, and in the Cabinet of Ministers, women were not represented at all. Two State Committees were headed by women. However, to say that women were not represented at all in high leadership structures was false. There was no problem when women wished to change their professions. Women could apply to the Employment Services for training to acquire a new series of skills in order to obtain a new job or profession. All of the courses provided by Employment Services were free of charge, and accessible to all those who requested, both men and women. On trafficking in women and children and the role of the Coordination Council, to date, given the economic situation in Ukraine, many Ukrainians had left the country to work abroad. There were various trends in this regard. A new article was being introduced into criminal legislation which introduced the concept of trafficking. The numbers of those trafficked had increased. As a result of the activities of the Ministry of the Interior, the activities of nine organised criminal groups which trafficked persons had been halted, and some 100 crimes had been brought to court. Eleven transnational groups had been dismantled. Work was being done to reintegrate the victims. A normative and regulatory settlement was being sought, and work was being done to raise the awareness of the population of Ukraine about trafficking.

On discrimination, xenophobia, and racial discrimination, the delegation said in Ukraine there were a large number of non-governmental organizations, 143 as a whole. Their role was very important in terms of monitoring and giving a full picture in terms of the socio-economic, political, and cultural aspects of the country. However, the information received by these groups needed to be verified, in particular with regards to reports of discrimination and violations of rights. This form of violation did not form an overall trend. With regards to the Roma people, in Ukraine there were more than 52,000 representatives of this nationality. There was a health programme for the Roma, including health cards. There had been no recorded instances of forced eviction of Roma. Different types of State and social assistance had been given to 8,627 Roma families - more than 10 per cent of all the families that had received assistance in the country as a whole. The assistance for maternity grants and childbirth grants was provided, as was assistance for childcare up to the age of three, assistance for children who were under guardianship or tutelage, assistance to single mothers, social assistance to poor families, and assistance to disabled children. The State constantly studied the overall situation of the Roma people. There had been a cultural event organised at nation-wide level for all Roma. The State also had links with Roma organisations and societies. The problem of employment for the Roma was indeed acute, the delegation said, mainly due to a lack of documents and appropriate education. However, if they addressed the employment office, they were given a list of services they could obtain, and the State Employment System continued to work with them in order to get as many as possible into employment.

With regards to reports of crimes committed against persons of African descent, the delegation said there had been such cases. This year, the authorities had received 23 complaints of crimes committed against African nationals, including two armed attacks with robbery, 5 cases of hooliganism, 2 cases of fraud, and three robberies. Ukraine recognised it had to work more closely with NGOs and get more information on State policies transmitted through the media on this subject. On anti-Semitism and vandalism in Jewish cemeteries, the Government had not detected any trend towards anti-Semitism, and could only refer to individual cases. For each specific case, the public authorities and judiciary had been involved, and some very tough sentences handed down. Vandalism in cemeteries was a problem everywhere, and not just in Jewish cemeteries. This was a matter of a general nature, and the people who carried out this sort of vandalism were treated as criminals. Acts of violence based on racism were isolated individual events, and the State was working to ensure that these were eliminated. The level of awareness of the population, and the specific preventive actions taken by the State to combat such negative trends as racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia were vital, however, evolution in awareness-raising did not happen fast.

The Ombudsman, the delegation said, had the right to attend court sessions, including sessions which were taped, with the prior agreement of the person in whose interest the session was being held. He could report on cases in which he found violations of the rights of citizens, in order for the necessary measures to be taken. His powers were wide-ranging, and Ukraine would like the Ombudsman to have even greater rights, as set down in the law. However, at the moment he was carrying out Parliamentary oversight and control. Today there was a session of the Ombudsman’s Office, the Ministry of the Interior, the Prosecutor General and others in order to discuss a recommendation that had been given to the country following its report to the Committee against Torture. A decision had been taken on 9 July 2007, to suspend or repeal the provisions in the State budget for the year. In the law on the budget there was no provision for resources to implement benefits. Today, the procedure to form the Parliament after the elections had not yet been completed, and there was not yet a Government.

The Government was developing machinery to ensure equal rights between men and women, and to ensure true equality between men and women in the political, socio-economic and education spheres, the delegation said. There had been a need to make changes in a number of laws and to adopt prescriptions in order to ensure equal rights. In March 2007, Parliament had adopted changes to a number of pieces of legislation, including the Labour Code. There also needed to be changes in the law on the Ombudsman, establishing machinery to make it possible for the latter to monitor the assurance of equal rights between men and women. On the insufficiency of measures aimed at involving NGOs in developing appropriate measures to ensure equality between men and women and the inadequacy of measures geared towards Governmental activities aimed at ensuring equality, in 2000 Ukraine signed the Millennium Declaration, and assumed the obligation to carry out the most essential measures with a view to improving and stabilising the living conditions of people, and further promoting and enhancing standards in order to bring them into line with the best current practice. In 2003 one particular feature in the preparation of Millennium documentation was that the Government shouldered the responsibility for taking the initiative in drawing up a document which included as a goal ensuring equal rights for women and men. The State had drawn up a periodical report on the Millennium Development Goals, and was working towards achieving the goal of gender equality through setting out clear goals and objectives as well as clear tasks for achieving this goal.

There was a domestic problem with regard to domestic legislation, the delegation said - Ukraine ratified Conventions, and Parliament then received a submission of the changes to legislation that was required. Currently, there was a need to amend more than 40 laws, after which two Conventions would be submitted to Parliament. On the subsistence minimum, this was determined on the basis of a basic standard, which also determined the basic social guarantees, including minimal wage, minimum pension, and minimum social assistance. This was determined through cost elements, including food and non-food products, and a range of services, and was set for specific population groups. Local authorities worked to ensure equal opportunities for men and women. Centres for rehabilitation of victims of violence had been created, with medical care provided as appropriate. On the religious activities of the Crimean Tatar people, on 1 January 2007, there were 366 Muslim organizations, 325 Muslim communities, and 5 madrassahs. The number of recorded Muslim organizations had increased by nine since the previous year. The Supreme Leadership of Crimea had some 120 prayer establishments, five more than last year. Since independence, 70 places of worship had been constructed. In Crimea, there were 328 religious workers, including foreigners. The Ministry of Labour was working on ratifying ILO Conventions.

Questions by Experts

Taking up articles 10 to 12 of the Covenant, Experts raised a range of issues, including the right to health and the need for figures on the number of children born with diseases, disabilities or other problems; what was being done to combat stigmatisation and discrimination against those living with HIV/AIDS in society, the attitudes of public officials in this regard, and the lack of knowledge among the population age groups that were the most affected, as well what was being done with regards to HIV/AIDS in prisons, and what concrete harm reduction programmes had been taken or would be taken; issues related to the provision of social housing and the situation of the Roma, who lived with little access to basic amenities and in substandard conditions in settlements, being subject to forced evictions; whether forced evictions were carried out in respect of the Committee’s General Comments Four and Seven; what was the policy of the Government to deal with the problem of street children, especially in winter time; issues related to the conditions in detention centres; and when the draft law on domestic violence would come into force, and whether it included criminal law or just administrative measures.


Response by Delegation

Responding to these questions and others, the delegation said with regards to the issue of inappropriate living conditions for the Crimean Tatars, since Ukraine attained independence, it had spent $ 200 million in setting up the Tatars in Crimea, and had taken active steps in this regard. Ukraine, as the successor state to the USSR, did so on a voluntary basis. Many Crimean Tatars had returned to their historic homeland, as had Greeks, Bulgarians and Germans, all of whom fell under the category of “unfairly deported historic peoples”. In Ukraine, there was a programme for setting up the Crimean Tatars and other returned nationalities, including adaptation and integration into Crimean society. The programme which would last until 2010, and covered a wide range of problems, including economic integration. It provided assistance on a range of levels. Some 4,905 Crimean Tatars were in the State service of Ukraine. A lot had been done over the last 16 years in terms of capital and construction efforts, and 440,000 square meters of housing had been built, and some 9,000 school places for children constructed.

Providing land to the Crimean Tatars was a very complex issue, the delegation said, as land in the Crimean Peninusula belonged to and was managed by local councils, and the central authority did not have much influence over these local bodies. There had been no recorded evictions of Roma, and no information could be given with regards to the Crimean Tatars, as if there had been any such case, it would have been due to the historical land seizing. Crimean Tatars were formally included as a national minority, but the option of whether to bring in the concept of “indigenous minority” was being considered. Ukraine had a law on refugees, which dated from 2001, and it had acceded to the Covenant on Refugees and its Optional Protocol, however, there was a lack of infrastructure and policy on how to integrate refugees into society. The Government was working on producing a document and a law introducing a new status - that of “temporary humanitarian assistance”, until refugee status was determined.

With regards to financing in the health system, there had been a two-fold increase. Funding for healthcare was a function of GDP figures, and in the draft budget for 2008, it would be further increasing. Funding per capita was also showing positive trends. In 2007, financing was about $ 100 per person. This also covered free medicine, which latter depended on the amount allocated by the State for health purposes. Priorities for financing were determined by mortality indicators, the delegation said, as well as the extent of morbidity. Priority was given to children, mothers, cardio-vascular diseases, tuberculosis and certain other diseases. The Government carried out more than 20 national and State programmes on various diseases, with funding from the State and national and regional budgets.

On family violence, the Government had figures showing the organization of the work to prevent domestic violence, including warnings given and cases brought before the courts. The Government also had a programme providing for anti-violence measures. The Ministry for Youth, Family and Sport was responsible in this regard, and took action to prevent violence in the families, and provided assistance to victims of such violence. Assistance had been given to those complaining of ill-treatment, and the Government paid particular attention to claims of ill-treatment coming from children, working together with parents to educate them as to their parental duties, the delegation said. Social inspection and social assistance were given to families where there was a suspicion of possible cruelty to children and to women. When a situation arose where the violence had already taken place and no measures had helped to solve the problem, then social assistance was provided to the victim in order to help them find a haven away from the violence, with centres that provided psychological and medical assistance. Work was also being conducted on a draft law which was temporarily called “Rapid Intervention Centre”.

On child pornography and prostitution, in Ukraine there had been both of these phenomena, and the internal affairs bodies ascribed these problems to the misuse of child labour. Criminal offences were linked to prostitution, including spreading pornography and involving others in prostitution. The prerogative for combating this phenomenon was with the Ministry of Internal Affairs. A number of measures were being taken by the criminal police, which dealt with minors, the delegation said. There were subdivisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs that were responsible for identifying those who had been victims of sexual abuse. Criminal law had a provision to bring the perpetrators to account. Official figures stated there were 7,000 street children, but figures might be higher. However, 12,000 as mentioned was too high a figure. The Government had various programmes, including working with the families in prophylactic measures, adoption, the establishment of sponsors, the establishment of homes for children, and adoptive families. Ukraine believed that in the very near future this problem would be solved.

There would be better care for children in boarding homes, the delegation said. There was currently only administrative provisions for domestic violence, however, changes were being made to this to ensure that it became a criminal offence. Changes were being made to ensure that there were better facilities for those being treated for tuberculosis. There was every reason to believe that the issue would be solved in an appropriate way. In the Constitution of Ukraine, the right to housing had been covered in wording that was lifted from the Covenant, and the State had assumed responsibility for ensuring that whenever any citizen had the opportunity to build or rent, then they should be able to do so. Concerning social housing, a number of normative acts had been implemented. Ukraine was working on reducing greenhouse gases in order to live up to the Kyoto Protocol, and had significant potential with regards to selling CO2 emissions. Last year Ukraine had adopted a concept paper and programme for the environmental development of Ukraine, which provided for a whole arsenal of measures and actions. The Millennium Development Goals for Ukraine were one of the main monitoring instruments which it used to measure its progress.

With regards to HIV/AIDS, morbidity was constantly growing. The State had a policy to combat the disease, and had developed a State Concept Strategy Paper for the strategies of the Government aimed at preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS up to the year 2011, which fully complied with the provisions of the United Nations Declaration of 2001. The paper lay out two main areas of work: preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS, and ensuring that treatment, care and support was provided to patients. The implementation of this took the form of a national programme, which had begun, and was expected to end in 2008. Ukraine had organised a network for medical care facilities. Around 6,656 patients were being treated, about half of them under State funding.

Questions by Experts

Taking up articles 13 to 15 of the Covenant, Experts asked whether education was truly free at all levels, including University and vocational training, and whether there was really equal access to everybody for basic primary education; whether children in distant provinces had access to the same quality of education as did others; a request for more information on the Kiev Objective and whether it had had positive effects and might be extended; what was the status of the Crimean Tatar minority in accordance with legislation; what was State policy with regards to determining which groups were “ethnic groups” and which were “national minorities”, and how this was in accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; and whether there was an affirmative action policy to facilitate admission to University for minorities.

Response by Delegation

Responding to these questions and others, the delegation said in 2001 those who came into higher education free of charge were about 30 per cent of all students. Subsequent to this, a decision was adopted that higher education institutions would accept 50 per cent on a free basis. Secondary education was compulsory and also free of charge, and was accessible to all levels of the population. On the quality of education in the various regions, this issue depended first of all on how well higher education teachers were prepared and trained. Schools in certain areas received a higher quality type of equipment, even though the budget and equipment into the development of secondary education was unified for all regions and areas. The programme for the investment in education in various regions depended not only on budgetary factors, it could also be supported by the municipality, and so in some regions there was greater or easier access to computers or Internet or other forms of equipment. There were quotas for various sections of the population for access to higher education, namely for orphans, the children of Chernobyl survivors, and of miners, but not for Crimean Tatars, for whom the standard of access had to be observed. Crimean Tatars did, of course, have access to schools, and this point existed in the statutes on Crimean Tatars. They were provided education in their own language. The language as a subject was also included in the curriculum at both necessary and optional levels. There was a programme which provided for the reconstruction of some 600 school buildings where Tatar language education would be dispensed.


Ukraine took steps to protect the cultural heritage of ethnic minorities - the Constitution had legislation on which this work was based, the delegation said. On the Charter for minority languages, no special privileges were given to national minorities - they all had a status, and all wished to conserve their particular heritage. With regards to indigenous populations, at this time there was no official definition of what constituted such an indigenous population. The issue was however being studied. Legislation defined national minorities as being those ethnic groups that were not Ukrainian - thus the Tatars were a minority from the legal point of view. This issue required further consideration. Education in Ukraine took place in various national languages, including Russian, Hungarian, Romanian, Crimean Tatar, Moldovan, Polish, Bulgarian, Yiddish, Slovak, modern Greek, Armenian, Turkish, Latin, and Czech. Some discrepancies had been observed between education between rural and urban areas, but there was a whole range of State programmes aimed to remedy this. The framework Convention on National Minorities was ratified in 1996.

There had been cases of illegal mines, Ms. Drozdova said, and raids were organised by local bodies, the Interior Ministry and the labour authorities. These mines were closed, and between 2005-2006, some verification had been made. There were 3,500 miners working, including 60 children working in difficult labour conditions. Some of the labour prohibitions had also been violated with regards to the adult miners, such as long working hours.

Concluding Remarks

LYDIA DROZDOVA, First Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of Ukraine, in concluding remarks, said Ukraine, in its fifth periodic report on the implementation of the Covenant, had informed the Committee of everything that was happening in the country. In the written replies, the Government delegation had tried to supplement parts of the report, as it had in answering the oral questions, trying to give the broadest possible picture of the situation. The delegation would also submit further written replies. The concluding observations would be considered by the Government, and all the Ministries and establishments that were directly involved would also be acquainted with their text. The delegation was grateful to the Committee for its understanding and for the positive assessment that had been given, as well as the criticisms that had been voiced. All the points that had been made concerning accuracy of information had been understood. Ukraine understood that the work was still ongoing, and that it still had a great deal of work to do.


For use of the information media; not an official record

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