This annual report reflects important achievements and contributions of the Social Action Centre/No Borders Project during 2011.

Download full version (PDF): here.

To: President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych

Head of the State Migration Service of Ukraine, Mykola Kovalchuk

Minister of Internal Affairs, Vitaliy Zakharchenko

General Prosecutor of Ukraine, Viktor Pshonka

Head of the Human Rights Committee of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine,

Oleh Zarubynskiy

Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights,

Nina Karpachova

Copy to: Office of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights,

Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine,

UNHCR Regional Representation for Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine

The media

17 February 2012

Ukrainian Refugee Council received from Somali nationals, detained in Migrants' temporary detention centres, an appeal to the Ukrainian Government, which it considers necessary to make public. The text of the appeal follows:

A group of activists came with this message on 13 February 2012 to the State Migration Service and Ministry of Interior of Ukraine in Kyiv. Protest was organized by No Borders Project of “Social Action Centre” NGO. Protesters declared support to detained Somali refugees, who demand from Ukrainian authorities to regularize their status in Ukraine.

6 February 2012

The Ukrainian Refugee Council (URC) has requested that Ukrainian authorities immediately grant URC member organizations access to migrants detained in Zhuravychi Migrants Accommodation Centre (Volyn region).

UNHCR is concerned about the reports it has received from a detention centre in Ukraine where asylum-seekers claim to have been denied effective  access to international protection and due process. Several asylum-seekers are known to have resorted to the desperate measure of refusing food and starting a hunger strike.

19 January 2012

Amnesty International is calling on the Ukrainian authorities to release Somali nationals who are currently on hunger strike in protest at being detained for up to a year “for the purposes of deportation” following court orders issued in December last year.

On 10 January 2002 Ukraine acceded to the UN 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. These documents are the cornerstone for the contemporary system of international protection for persons who apply for asylum abroad while trying to escape persecution at home. Ukrainian Refugee Council has to underline the fact that ten years after, Ukraine is still not a safe country for refugees and asylum seekers.

Warsaw, OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting – September 26 – October 7, 2011

October 4, 2011, plenary session № 13: “Tolerance and non-discrimination II: Review of the implementation of commitments on promotion of mutual respect and understanding”.

Warsaw, OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting – September 26 – October 7, 2011

October 3, 2011, plenary session № 11: “Humanitarian issues and other commitments I”.

Kyiv (Ukraine) – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees continues to be concerned about the situation of a Kyrgyz national who was denied access to Ukrainian territory in Boryspil airport where she arrived by the flight from Kazakhstan on 29 March 2012.

Statement of the international transborder meeting in Turkey, made on March 18, 2012 in front of Edirne detention centre

Kyiv (Ukraine) – The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has noted that on 3 March 2012 European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ordered Ukrainian authorities in response to a petition to the Court under Rule 39 that 3 stowaways on the ship docked at Mykolayiv seaport (2 from Eritrea, 1 from Ethiopia) should be allowed to disembark from the vessel and be granted access to asylum procedure to exercise their right to seek asylum.

Further information on UA: 29/12 Index: EUR 50/002/2012 Ukraine Date: 22 February 2012

URGENT ACTION

detained asylum-seekers stop hunger strike

The strike, held in protest by the group of Somali asylum-seekers and migrants, against their illegal detention and alleged ill-treatment, lasted for six weeks. The strike was halted by the group on 17 February after they received assurances from the State Migration Service that their asylum applications would be considered.

UNHCR is relieved to hear that the hunger strikes have ended at both detention centres in the Volyn and Chernigiv regions of Ukraine. The detainees, including many asylum-seekers and minors, were protesting against the length of their detention and demanded that the authorities consider their asylum claims in compliance with international standards.

Source: Human Rights Watch site

(Moscow, February 1, 2012) - The Ukrainian authorities should immediately stop police harassment and threats against Somali asylum seekers held at the Zhuravychi Migrant Accommodation Centre, Human Rights Watch said today. In a letter sent to the Ukrainian authorities, Human Rights Watch also called for the immediate release of all Somali asylum seekers who are being held in administrative detention pending deportation.

Source: UNHCR site

UNHCR remains concerned about the situation of detainees, including many asylum-seekers and minors who are currently held in two detention centres in the Volyn and Chernigiv regions[1] of Ukraine. Their situation remains problematic even after several visits of UNHCR staff and NGO lawyers and Government officials. To obtain clarity more visits and interviews are scheduled for the coming weeks.

Amnesty International has urged the Ukrainian authorities to stop the ill-treatment of a group of detained asylum-seekers and their supporters, who were attacked by security forces attempting to forcibly end a hunger strike.

To: Vitaliy Zakharchenko, Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine

Dear Mr. Zakharchenko:

We are writing to raise our concern about the arbitrary detention of some or all of a group of 125 Somali nationals detained at the  Zhuravychi Migrant Accommodation Centre (MAC). Some of them are  registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees  (UNHCR) or the Ukrainian authorities as asylum seekers. Around 80  have told UNHCR they want to apply for asylum in Ukraine, but have  not been allowed to do so.

Below is a part of Human Rights Watch report 2012 about the situation with human rights in Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan’s human rights record remains appalling, with no meaningful improvements in 2011. Torture remains endemic in the criminal justice system. Authorities continue to target civil society activists, opposition members, and journalists, and to persecute religious believers who worship outside strict state controls.

Freedom of expression remains severely limited. Government-sponsored forced child labor during the cotton harvest continues. Authorities continued to deny justice for the 2005 Andijan massacre in which government forces shot and killed hundreds of protestors, most of them unarmed.

Reacting to the pro-democracy Arab Spring movements, the Uzbek government increased the presence of security forces across the country and widened its already-tight control over the internet. Despite the government’s persistent refusal to address concerns about its abysmal record, the United States and European Union continued to advance closer relations with the Uzbek government in 2011, seeking cooperation in the war in Afghanistan.