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

Download full version (PDF): here.

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

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).

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.

The new report of Jesuit Refugee Service "Safe and Secure: How Do Refugees Experience Europe's Borders? Modern Challenges to Protection and the 1951 Refugee Convention" was published on December 2011. It also covers the situation in Ukraine (see p. 30-31).

- 15.551 deaths have been documented in UNITED's List of Deaths since 1993

- 1.478 have died so far in 2011

- 1.387 have drowned this year trying to reach Europe from Libya and Tunisia

- 20 June is the 10th International Refugee Day, marking 60 years of refugee protection under the Geneva Convention.

Rights of refugees, asylum seekers, migrants; racism

See full text of the report here

Author: Simone Troller, Senior researcher with Human Rights Watch

Source: 'New Europe'

The “No Borders” Project has developed a leaflet (on Russian) on safety for the citizens of Belarus who moved to Ukraine after the events of 19^th December, 2010.

This text is an English translation of a Chapter 10 of a report "Human Rights in activities of Ukrainian Police - 2010" compiled by the Association of Ukrainian Monitors of Human Rights Observation in the Activities of Law-Enforcement Agencies (UMDPL).
Original (Ukranian language): http://umdpl.info/index.php?id=1292003204

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.