UKRAINE: HATE CRIMES CONTINUE

C O N F I D E N T I A L KYIV 001516

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/24/2016
TAGS: PHUM PGOV UP
SUBJECT: UKRAINE: HATE CRIMES CONTINUE

Classified By: Acting PolCouns Robert Scott for
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: Since the beginning of 2008, human rights
NGOs have reported over 40 apparently racially motivated
attacks in Ukraine, five of which proved fatal. While the
Government introduced new initiatives in 2007 and 2008 aimed
at intensifying efforts to combat racism and intolerance,
these have not proven effective in countering the negative
trend. In a recent report, Amnesty International (AI)
claimed that despite the growing number of attacks,
authorities were reluctant to acknowledge the existence of
intolerance and racial discrimination in Ukrainian society.
AI also noted that the Ministry of Interior's Department for
Ethnic Crimes released statistics only on the number of
crimes committed by foreigners in Ukraine and not on crimes
targeting foreigners, making it difficult for the GoU and
human rights group to fully assess the scope of this trend.
During a meeting with DAS Merkel and the Ambassador on July
25, Interior Minister Lutsenko implied that the problem of
xenophobia is a result of illegal immigration rather than the
rise of hate groups.


2. (C) Comment: Current government initiatives, which
include President Yushchenko's directive to the Interior
Ministry and Prosecutor General's Office to take unspecified
steps against xenophobic crimes, and the Cabinet's
establishment of an interagency working group on xenophobia,
have not as yet generated tangible actions or results. The
response has tended to focus on post-event law enforcement
and not on addressing the social conditions and norms leading
to ethnic/racial intolerance and the growing number of
racially motivated attacks. Interior Minister's Lutsenko's
attempt to paint the issue as a problem of illegal
immigration is disappointing as it shifts the blame onto the
victims rather than the perpetrators of the violent attacks.
Post will continue to monitor general trends, including the
government's response to the problem of hate crimes, and
strongly encourage it to follow through on its promises to
take the problem seriously. End of Summary and Comment.

Update on Hate Motivated Violence
--------------


3. (U) Since the beginning of the year, human rights NGOs
reported over 40 racially motivated attacks, five of which
resulted in the deaths of the victims. While trend
projection remains an inexact exercise, it seems that 2008
may match or exceed the 60 attacks and eight fatalities
recorded in 2007. The majority of the assaults continue to
occur in Kyiv and targets are mainly individuals of African
or Asian heritage. This year's five fatal incidents:

- The killing of a Palestinian student in Kyiv on June

19. Kyiv police detained two suspects and launched a
criminal case on charges of premeditated murder.

- The purported killing of a Congolese national in Kyiv on
June 9. The MOI has announced that the cause of death was a
heart attack, while members of the African community insist
it was a racially motivated killing.

- The killing of a 40 year-old Nigerian market trader in
Kyiv on May 29. Police said the motive for the fatal attack
was unknown. On June 3, the UNHCR and International
Organization for Migration, joined by some 30 human rights
organizations, released a statement condemning the murder and
urging Ukrainian authorities to conduct a thorough
investigation of the killing, including the possibility that
it was racially motivated.
- The killing of a 39 year-old refugee from Sierra Leone in
Kyiv on March 8. Police opened a criminal case on charges of
premeditated murder and detained a teenager.

- The killing of a 19 year-old Congolese refugee in Kyiv on
January 27. Kyiv police detained two young men for the
murder. The media reported on July 10 that, despite earlier
evidence pointing to skinhead groups, investigators have
dropped hate crime charges and are now considering
hooliganism as the main motivation for the crime.

Report by Amnesty International Critical of GoU
-------------- --


4. (U) AI recently stated in a report that &Inadequate
provisions in the law, poor police responses, and a failure
to acknowledge the gravity of racially motivated crimes have
led to virtual impunity for the perpetrators of racist
crimes.8 According to AI, the victims of hate crimes
occasionally find themselves the subject of prosecution for
acting in self-defense. For example, a Nigerian market
trader who was attacked and knifed in the chest by three
young men in Kyiv on February 19, was charged with
hooliganism for having reportedly hit the attacker on the
head, while no charges have been made against the assailants.
Nicola Duckworth, AI's Europe and Central Asia Program
Director, called on the government to show clear political
will to combat racism, end impunity for racially motivated
crimes, combat racism and discrimination in society, as well
as end racial discrimination by state officials.

Government Responds but Lacks Effective Follow-Through
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5. (U) The Ukrainian government took initial steps to address
xenophobic attitudes and actions during the first months of
this year. On April 11 President Yushchenko sent official
letters to Interior Minister Lutsenko and Prosecutor General
Oleksandr Medvedko instructing them to take urgent steps to
fight xenophobia and pointing to the increasing number of
racist attacks and to the international attention that they
raised. On April 2, the Cabinet of Ministers ordered the
establishment of an interagency working group on racism,
xenophobia, and discrimination to address this problem
through concerted efforts of the Ministries of Justice,
Internal Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Education and Science, as
well as the SBU, State Committee on Nationalities and
Religions, and other relevant offices and NGOs.


6. (U) At the same time, the GoU lacked effective
follow-through on its initiatives to combat xenophobia. For
example, the MOI,s Department for Ethnic Crimes continued to
release only statistics on the number of crimes committed by
foreigners in Ukraine. On July 9, Deputy Interior Minister
Mykhailo Verbenskiy informed Nicola Duckworth, AI's Europe
and Central Asia Program Director that 285 crimes were
committed against foreign nationals and 1,165 by foreign
nationals in the first five months of the year. Human rights
advocates claim that references to crimes by foreigners are
irrelevant because these incidents mainly involve nationals
of the former Soviet republics involved in a wide range of
possible criminal activities and do not reflect the growing
number of violent attacks against people of non-Slavic
heritage. At a press conference on July 25, Minister of
Interior Lutsenko called for the Government to focus more on
fighting xenophobia and racial intolerance and emphasized the
importance of adopting a comprehensive policy on preventing
racism and xenophobia. He also encouraged all foreigners who
suffered from hate crimes to report all such incidents to the
police.

Interior Minister Implies Problem is Caused by Illegal Migrants
-------------- --------------


7. (C) During a meeting July 24 meeting with DAS David
Merkel and the Ambassador, Interior Minister Lutsenko claimed
that he was the first Ukrainian senior official to publicly
acknowledge the problem of racism and highlighted his
decision to establish a special anti-xenophobia unit at the
MOI. When asked about violent hate crimes, Lutsenko
initially took a constructive approach to the problem
attributing them the increase to economic hardships and the
influence of Russia-based extremist groups. He claimed that
the police had solved almost all murders of foreign nationals
but expressed concern that police suppression of extremist
movements might backfire and lead to their becoming more
popular among youth. As the meeting neared completion, he
voiced his views that the problem of racism and xenophobia is
not a major human rights concerns in Ukraine and compared it
favorably to the problems of discrimination against the Roma
in Slovakia and hate-motivated violence in Russia. He
attributed the increase in racially motivated attacks to the
increased numbers of illegal migrants in Ukraine and
expressed hope that assistance from EU will help decrease the
level of xenophobia by reducing illegal immigration. These
comments seemed to echo recent statements attributed to him
by the press about illegal migrants and not letting Kyiv
become another "Chinatown", which many human rights advocates
felt were inappropriate.


8. (U) Visit Embassy Kyiv's classified website:
www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/kiev.
PETTIT