Zur Situation ukrainischer Staatsbürgerinnen, die mit Kindern von afrikanischen Männern in die Ukraine zurückkehren, konnte in den ACCORD derzeit zur Verfügung stehenden Quellen keine Information gefunden werden.

Die folgenden Informationen beziehen sich auf die Situation von SchwarzafrikanerInnen in der Ukraine und auf die strafrechtliche Verfolgung rassistisch motivierter Übergriffe.  

 

Die Minority Rights Group International (MRGI) schreibt im Juli 2009 im Bericht „State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples“, dass sich durch die Wirtschaftskrise die Situation von Minderheiten in Europa verschlechtert habe. Auch in der Ukraine seien mehrere Ausländer aufgrund ihrer Hautfarbe ermordet worden, und es habe vermehrt Angriffe auf Mitglieder ethnischer und religiöser Minderheiten gegeben. Der Großteil der Opfer sei afrikanischer und asiatischer Herkunft gewesen:   

“As the continent plunged into economic recession, the crisis contributed to the strengthening of the far right discourse, further marginalizing minorities and increasing their vulnerability. In Russia, migrants already facing xenophobia and violence from extremist groups have also been singled out as scapegoats by the government in reference to the global economic crisis. According to some reports, in November 2008 alone, 18 persons suffered racist violence in Russia, causing three deaths. Similarly, in Ukraine, several foreigners have been murdered because of the colour of their skin, while there has been a marked increase in attacks on members of ethnic and religious minorities. The majority of victims have been of African and Asian origin. Violence against Jews also persisted and some members of Roma communities, according to reports, have been fingerprinted and photographed by the police apparently because of their ethnic identity.” (MRGI, 16. Juli 2009, S. 184)

Amnesty International (AI) veröffentlicht im Juli 2008 einen Bericht über rassistische Diskriminierung in der Ukraine, der unter anderem folgende Informationen enthält: Viele der Angriffe würden von Skinheads verübt, und da sie häufig AfrikanerInnen attackieren würden, herrsche unter afrikanischen AsylwerberInnen und Flüchtlingen Angst und Unsicherheit. Der Direktor der African Association in Kiew rate den Mitgliedern seiner Organisation, an Wochenenden und abends zu Hause zu bleiben, da zu diesen Zeiten Skinheads aktiv seien. AI habe E-Mails erhalten, aus denen hervorgehe, dass AfrikanerInnen Angst vor Angriffen auf ihre Kinder hätten, dass die Polizei tatenlos zusehe, wie Afrikaner, die mit Ukrainerinnen verheiratet seien, umgebracht würden, und dass auch Universitäten ihren ausländischen StudentInnen keinen Schutz bieten würden: 

“Many of these attacks have been carried out by young people who are identified as ‘skinheads’ by their victims. Africans appear to have suffered the most brutal assaults, and the escalating number of these attacks has created a climate of fear and insecurity among African asylumseekers and refugees.

Tomas Lukayi, the Director of an African Association in Kyiv, told Amnesty International that his organization advises its members not to go out in the evenings or weekends, as those are the times when neo-Nazi skinhead groups are active. There is growing panic among Africans resident in Ukraine, as these e-mails received by Amnesty International illustrate:

‘The most dangerous issue is that now we fear for our children who are going to schools and kindergarten. We have no guarantee for our children; they can be attacked or killed at any time. We know that the racist groups have the address of all refugees, asylum-seekers, immigrants, other non-white individuals living in Kyiv and we are just waiting for our turn. At the moment we are afraid to stand at bus stops and wait for a bus, minibus or at a metro station. Every day we are intimidated by members of racist groups.’

‘The police only watch while my brothers are being slaughtered like goats here. They call them illegal immigrants but all those who have been killed have Ukrainian wives and children.’

‘We are living under stress and we ask you to try and make an effort to find a solution.’

Despite the growing number of violent attacks, the Ukrainian authorities have been slow to take the necessary action to protect potential victims. Foreign students in Kyiv have complained to Amnesty International that requests to university authorities to provide protection from neo-Nazi skinheads, who often target university residences where foreigners live, are ignored.” (AI, 10. Juli 2008, S. 16 f.)

Es gebe laut AI zwar einen Paragraphen (161) über rassistische Gewalt im Strafgesetzbuch, dieser sei jedoch in den Jahren 2007 und 2008 nur je zweimal angewendet worden. Das Innenministerium der Ukraine begründe dies damit, dass nur der Staatsanwalt eine Person aufgrund dieses Paragraphen anklagen könne und dann auch für die Ermittlungen zuständig sei, was den Prozess für die Polizei zeitaufwändiger mache:

“Article 161 of the Criminal Code (Violation of citizens’ equality based on their race, nationality or religious preferences) criminalizes ‘deliberate actions whose aim is inciting ethnic, racial or religious animosity as well as hatred aimed at humiliating the national honour and dignity of a person or offending citizens’ feelings based on their religious views’. […] According to information received by Amnesty International, this provision has been used infrequently on its own: in 2007 charges were made using Article 161 in only two cases, once in connection with the desecration of graves and once in connection with the murder of Kunuon Mievi Godi in 2006 (the sentence was pronounced in 2008).

Kunuon Mievi Godi, a 44-year-old Nigerian man, had been living in Ukraine for many years, and was married to a Ukrainian. He was stabbed and killed by a group shouting racist slogans near Poznyaky metro station in Kyiv on 25 October 2006. The attackers did not steal the US$400 that the victim was carrying. Three people were detained in connection with this murder. In March 2008, one of the three was granted an amnesty as he was a minor, and on 17 April 2008, Darnytskyi district court in Kyiv delivered its verdict. One person was sentenced for murder and for ‘inciting ethnic, racial or religious Animosity’ under Article 161 and received a combined sentence of 11 years. The second person was accused under Article 161 Part 2, and received a sentence of four years and six months.

Sentences have been passed using Article 161 in two cases in 2008. On 17 April 2008 a far-right ‘activist’, Vjacheslav Dmytruk, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment in accordance with Article 161 Part 2, for taking part in the beating of a Japanese tourist on 27 October 2007 after a neo-Nazi march, and Article 161 was applied in the conviction of the four young men who fatally attacked a Korean citizen, Jeong Kwon Kang, in April 2007 (see below). Article 161 is almost always used in conjunction with other articles of the Criminal Code. NGOs informed Amnesty International that they believed that this article was rarely used because of the need to prove that actions were specifically aimed at inciting racial hatred. However, in meetings with Amnesty International, Ministry of Internal Affairs employees disagreed with this assessment; they said: ‘We work on them [the suspects] and they soon tell us.’ Instead, the Ministry of Internal Affairs attributed the low application of this provision to the fact that under the law only the Prosecutor can charge a person under this provision, and is responsible for investigating the crime.This makes the process more time-consuming for the police and adds to the obstacles preventing the use of this article because prosecutors are very reluctant to invoke this article (see below).” (AI, 10. Juli 2008, S. 20 f.)

AI sei besorgt darüber, dass diejenigen Paragraphen, die speziell rassistische Verbrechen beträfen, vor allem §§ 161 und 67, sehr selten angewendet würden. Somit würden rassistische Motive unerkannt bleiben. Ein Grund sei, dass diese Paragraphen geringere Strafen ermöglichen würden, ein anderer, dass sie keine klare Definition eines rassistischen Verbrechens enthalten würden. Dazu komme ein mangelhaftes Verständnis des Begriffs rassistische Diskriminierung bei Polizeibeamten. Opfer rassistischer Übergriffe hätten angegeben, dass die Strafen oft nicht die Schwere des Verbrechens widerspiegeln würden und manchmal schwere Gewalt als „Hooliganismus“ behandelt würde. Viele AfrikanerInnen hätten gegenüber AI erklärt, ihre Anzeigen rassistischer Übergriffe würden von der Polizei häufig ignoriert:  

„FAILURE TO APPLY THE LAW

Amnesty International’s main concern with legislation against racist crimes in Ukraine is that those articles which relate specifically to racist crimes, in particular Articles 161 and 67, are very rarely applied. As a result, the racist nature of the crime remains unacknowledged. One reason for this is that these articles allow for less severe sentences than other articles of the Criminal Code, and this issue is addressed in some of the amendments that are currently before parliament. Another issue is that the articles do not offer a clear enough definition of what constitutes a racist crime or a racist motivation. This is compounded by a lack of understanding among police officers of what racial discrimination is (see section on Failure of police to respond adequately, below).

The Diversity Initiative Group report has also identified reluctance by prosecutors to bring cases under the relevant provisions as a problem: ‘For Prosecutors, whose career advancement is tied to their records of success, it is all too easy to simply avoid such Articles of the code rather than to risk bringing a case that they may lose.’

Victims of racist attacks complained to Amnesty International that if they report an attack to the police and the case goes to court, the charges often do not reflect the gravity of the crime. In some cases, extreme acts of violence have been prosecuted as ‘hooliganism’. In one case it was only after intervention by the South Korean Ambassador that a case of murder was tried as murder rather than as grievous bodily harm and hooliganism. […]

“Many Africans told Amnesty International that the police often ignored their reports of racist attacks. One asylum-seeker from Zaire told Amnesty International that, in November 2007, he was coming out of a football match in Odessa with three other Africans when a group of eight ‘skinheads’ attacked them and beat one of them up. A police car happened to drive past, at which point the attackers ran away. When the victims told the police what had happened they were reportedly told: ‘What do you want us to do about it? If you don’t want to be beaten you should stay at home.” (AI, 10. Juli 2008, S. 23 f.)

Zu den Forderungen von AI an die Ukraine in Bezug auf strafrechtliche Verfolgung von rassistisch motivierten Verbrechen siehe:

 

AI - Amnesty International: Ukraine: What is racial discrimination? [EUR 50/008/2008], 10. Juli 2008

 

Auch das US-Außenministerium (USDOS) stellt in seinem Menschenrechtsbericht vom Februar 2009 fest, dass die Misshandlung von AusländerInnen nicht-slawischen Aussehens in der Ukraine ein ernstes Problem sei, und dass Paragraph 161 selten zur Anwendung komme. Internationale und lokale Menschenrechtsorganisationen hätten wachsende ethnische Intoleranz und Straflosigkeit für die Verantwortlichen bemerkt. NGOs zufolge hätten fremdenfeindliche Übergriffe an Systematik und Brutalität zugenommen, wenn dies auch von manchen Beamten dementiert werde. Im April habe das Ministerkabinett eine Arbeitsgruppe zur Bekämpfung von Rassismus, Fremdenfeindlichkeit und Diskriminierung unter Beteiligung mehrerer Ministerien und von NGOs eingerichtet. Es sei schwierig, Statistiken über Hassverbrechen zu finden, was laut Menschenrechtsorganisationen daran liege, dass solche Straftaten oft als “Hooliganismus” behandelt würden. Die Dokumentation der Polizei gebe nur etwa fünf bis zehn Prozent aller Hassverbrechen wieder. Monitoring-Organisationen hätten über 70 rassistisch motivierte Übergriffe im Jahr 2008 angegeben, die vor allem ZentralasiatInnen, AsiatInnen und AfrikanerInnen betroffen hätten und in fünf Fällen tödlich ausgegangen seien. Der Bericht von USDOS enthält eine Liste von kurzen Beschreibungen derartiger Fälle:

“The constitution and the 1992 Law on National Minorities contain general language about the protection of ethnic groups, but the law refers only to citizens. The constitution prohibits discrimination based on race; skin color; political, religious, or other beliefs; gender; and ethnic and social origin; however, there were no implementing laws. The mistreatment of minority groups and foreigners of non Slavic appearance remained a serious problem.

Incitement to ethnic or religious hatred is prohibited by Article 161 of the criminal code. Although human rights organizations in earlier years expressed concern that the law's requirement to prove ‘direct intent,’ including proof of premeditation, made it difficult to apply in practice, there were four guilty verdicts in hate crime trials during the year. Nevertheless, the application of Article 161 remained rare; both police and prosecutors preferred to treat racist crimes under the laws dealing with hooliganism or other offenses that were easier to prosecute.

The Law on Printed Mass Communication Media allows for the suspension of publications for inciting religious or ethnic hostility. It has not been invoked in practice.

International and domestic human rights groups noted signs of growing ethnic intolerance and the impunity of those responsible for acts of violence during the year. According to NGOs, in recent years xenophobic attacks have became more systemic and brutal, although some officials have denied signs of xenophobia or racism and insisted that hate incidents were isolated and did not represent a trend. On April 2, the Cabinet of Ministers ordered the establishment of an interagency working group to combat racism, xenophobia, and discrimination. It includes the ministries of Justice, Interior, Foreign Affairs, and Education and Science, as well as the SBU, the SCNR, and other offices and NGOs. The working group met throughout the year and submitted a two year action plan to the cabinet, which approved it in August.

Statistics on the frequency of hate crimes remained difficult to find. The department responsible for ethnic crimes in the Ministry of the Interior did not record statistics on reported hate crimes. Human rights groups noted that police often failed to admit the existence of ethnically motivated crimes and often qualified such acts as ‘hooliganism.’ NGOs estimated that police crime reports reflected only five to 10 percent of all hate crimes.

Although no official statistics were available, human rights monitoring groups reported more than 70 attacks that appeared to be racially motivated during the year. They involved mainly Middle Eastern, Asian, and African nationals. Five of the attacks, all in Kyiv, were fatal. The Diversity Initiative, a network of NGOs, recorded 63 violent incidents and 18 nonviolent incidents that appeared to be racially motivated.

On January 27, a 19-year old Congolese refugee was killed in Kyiv; police detained two young male suspects. On July 10, the media reported that, although earlier evidence pointed to skinhead involvement, investigators dropped hate crime charges and viewed hooliganism as the main motive for the crime. The investigation was ongoing at year's end.

On March 8, a 39-year old refugee from Sierra Leone was killed; Kyiv police detained two teenaged suspects on March 12. Both suspects, who claimed to belong to a skinhead group, remained in custody and the investigation was ongoing at year's end.

On May 29, unknown persons killed a 40-year old Nigerian in a market. Police stated that the motive for the attack was unknown. On June 3, the UNHCR and the IOM, joined by approximately 30 human rights organizations, released a statement urging authorities to conduct a thorough investigation, including of the possibility that the killing was racially motivated.

On January 10, Charles Asante Yeboa, the director of the African Center in Kyiv, was attacked at a bus stop near Kyiv's Shulyavska metro station by approximately 10 young men. Asante Yeboa, who suffered serious injuries, was told by police that the attack was a robbery and not racially motivated. Four suspects were detained but later released.

During the year courts convicted a number of persons for crimes against foreigners. On April 17, the Darnytsia District Court in Kyiv announced its verdict in the 2006 killing of a Nigerian medical doctor, 47 year old Kunoun Mievi Goddi, in Kyiv by three youths apparently associated with local skinhead groups. The court convicted two defendants under the hate crime statute and sentenced them to 11 and four years in custody; the third defendant was amnestied due to his young age.

On April 17, the Podilskiy District Court in Kyiv sentenced an 18 year old skinhead to three years' confinement under the hate crimes statute for assaulting a Japanese tourist in Kyiv in October 2007.

The Web site of the Kyiv Jewish community reported that on April 22, a court in Kirovohrad found a local schoolteacher, Mykola Yakymchuk, guilty of incitement to ethnic hatred for making anti Semitic statements to his class. The PGO reported that Yakymchuk was later granted amnesty.

On May 5, the media reported that the Kyiv Court of Appeals convicted four persons of committing a hate crime and sentenced each to 13 years in prison for the 2007 murder of a Korean national, Kang Jongwong. The defendants, who appeared to have links to an extremist group, claimed the death was an accident.

There were no developments reported in a number of incidents in 2007 that appeared to be racially or ethnically motivated, including an attempt by skinheads to break into a Lviv nightclub to disrupt a concert by supporters of the Belarusian antifascist movement; the fatal stabbing in February of 34 year old Georgian Moris Dzugashvili; the arrest of the organizer of a March rally of ultranationalists in Kyiv to protest the presence of African traders in Kyiv's Shuliavka market; the fatal stabbing in March of an Iranian Ukrainian person near Kyiv's Lukianivka market, or the fatal stabbing in Kyiv in June of a 43 year old Iraqi refugee.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, the 2006 stabbing in Kyiv that resulted in the death of Lamin Jarjjou, a Gambian student at the National Aviation University, was not a racially motivated attack. Police detained four persons whom they claimed killed the victim while committing a robbery.

A report released during the year by AI concluded 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.’” (USDOS, 25. Februar 2009, Sec. 5)

Weiter heißt es im Bericht des USDOS von 2009, dass Schikanen von ethnischen Minderheiten durch Exekutivbeamte weiterhin ein Problem seien, etwa durch vermehrte Kontrollen von Dokumenten, wobei auch Verhaftungen vorgenommen würden. Amnesty International (AI) und lokale Hilfsorganisationen hätten auf das Risiko für Opfer rassistischer Gewalt hingewiesen, für ihre Notwehr strafrechtlich verfolgt zu werden. Die Europäische Kommission gegen Rassismus und Intoleranz, sowie Monitoring-NGOs hätten wachsenden Rassenhass und Fremdenfeindlichkeit festgestellt, die von verschiedenen Seiten beeinflusst und verbreitet würden:

“Harassment of racial and ethnic minorities by law enforcement authorities was a continuing problem. There were reports that police occasionally detained dark skinned persons for arbitrary document checks, whereas document checks of light skinned individuals were rare. On March 27, the Kharkiv District Administrative Court refused to hear a lawsuit filed by a local lawyer, an ethnic Armenian and long time resident, who alleged that he was regularly stopped by police for identity checks because of his physical appearance. On July 29, the Kharkiv Administrative Court of Appeals overturned a lower court's decision and determined that a local police chief failed to inform an ethnic Armenian of his rights during detention. However, the court did not support his claims of discrimination.

On August 28, a foreign citizen of African descent was detained by plainclothes police officers while he was disembarking from a bus in Kyiv. Police beat him and took him to a police station, where they tied him to a chair with a belt and held him for several hours. He was then released without charge. The victim believed that he was singled out because of his ethnicity. Police claimed that the detainee resembled one of the suspects in a series of taxi robberies that occurred in June and July. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs later stated that the officers involved had been disciplined.

AI and domestic advocacy groups asserted that the victims of xenophobic attacks could find themselves prosecuted for having acted in self defense. For example, Daniel Osaemor, a Nigerian who was attacked and stabbed by three youngsters on February 19 in Kyiv, was subsequently charged with hooliganism for hitting one of the men.

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance and international and domestic monitoring NGOs reported increasing racial hatred and xenophobia, influenced by foreign skinhead and neo Nazi groups, soccer hooligans, as well as such locally based neonationalist organizations as the unregistered Ukrainian National Labor Party, the Patriot of Ukraine organization, the Ukrainian Movement against Illegal Immigration, and the National Action ‘RID.’ Ombudsman Karpachova opened an inquiry into claims that extremist political groups held a torchlight procession on the campus of the National Technical University in Kyiv on March 23, shouting anti immigrant slogans. The media and NGOs also reported protests against irregular migrants and foreign students by extremist youth groups in Kharkiv, Ternopil, Chernivtsi, and Chernihiv.

On May 29, the SCNR released a statement expressing concern about a threat posted on a hate group's Web site against Mridula Ghosh of the East European Development Institute, an Indian national who was active on combating xenophobia. The SCNR requested a legal assessment of this publication from the SBU, the PGO, and the Ministry of the Interior. The threatening material was eventually removed from the Web site.” (USDOS, 25. Februar 2009, Sec. 5)

Die internationale Menschenrechtsorganisation Human Rights First veröffentlicht im September 2008 eine Studie zu Hassverbrechen in der Ukraine. Darin heißt es, dass vor allem AfrikanerInnen, AsiatInnen, JüdInnen, sowie Menschen aus dem Kaukasus und aus Zentralasien von Gewalt betroffen seien. Asylsuchende, Flüchtlinge, ArbeitsmigrantInnen, aber auch DiplomatInnen, MitarbeiterInnen ausländischer Firmen, Angehörige von Minderheiten und UkrainerInnen, die Opfer von Hassverbrechen unterstützt hätten, und vor allem ausländische StudentInnen seien unter den Opfern. EinwanderInnen afrikanischen Ursprungs seien unübersehbar und einem besonderen Risiko ausgesetzt. Obwohl relativ wenige AfrikanerInnen in der Ukraine leben würden, seien sie überdurchschnittlich oft Opfer von Gewalt und permanenten Schikanen ausgesetzt:

„B. The Victims of Intolerance and Violence

Bias-motivated violence has been largely committed against people of African and Asian origin and Jews, as well as people from the Caucasus and the Middle East. Asylum seekers, refugees, and labor migrants are among the victims, which have also included diplomats, expatriate employees of foreign companies, members of visible minorities in Ukraine, and Ukrainians who have assisted hate crime victims. Foreign students, of which there are some forty thousand, have been among the principal victims of hate crimes.

Small populations of citizens and immigrants of African origin are highly visible and particularly vulnerable targets of racism and xenophobia. Although relatively few people of African origin reside in Ukraine, the rate of violence against this group has been extraordinary. African refugees, students, visitors, and the handful of citizens and permanent residents of African origin have lived under constant threat of harassment and violence.” (Human Rights First, 24. September 2008, S. 5)

Human Rights First berichtet von einem Fall, in dem ein afroamerikanischer Basketballspieler von zehn Angreifern zusammengeschlagen worden sei, während die Polizei ohne einzugreifen davongefahren sei. Weiters sei der Vorsitzende des Afrikanischen Zentrums der Ukraine im Jänner 2008 in Kiew auf offener Straße von mehreren Männern schwer verletzt worden. Im August 2008 sei noch immer keine Anklage gegen die Täter erhoben worden. In Lemberg sei ein dunkelhäutiger Gast einer Pizzeria in der Nähe der Universität angegriffen worden. Nach Angaben von StudentInnen würden ähnliche rassistische Angriffe in Universitätsnähe häufig auftreten:

“On January 11, 2008, in Kyiv, some ten assailants attacked Marcus Faison, an African-American basketball player, while screaming racist epithets (‘Blacks—get out of Ukraine!’). According to the victim, he ran toward a police car for help, but the officers drove off, after which the skinheads continued beating Faison.He required stitches for multiple lacerations in the arm.

On January 10, 2008, in Kyiv, over a dozen young men attacked Charles Asante-Yeboa, a citizen of Ghana and the president of the country’s African Center. Charles was on his way home from a visit with a man from Nigeria who had been a victim of a violent attack a few days earlier. While waiting at a bus stop near the Shuliavska metro station in the early evening, Charles was attacked from behind by a group of young men. One of the attackers first hit him with a metal bar in the back of the head, as others—up to 15 persons—joined in kicking and beating the victim with a variety of objects. Asente-Yeboa was also stabbed in several places, including one deep wound in the back of his head. He heard his attackers say ‘let’s slit his throat’ and ‘no, let’s cut his head in two.’ The attackers eventually fled when a car approached. He was taken to the hospital in serious condition. As of August 2008, no charges have been brought against the perpetrators in this case.

* On January 10, 2008, in Lviv, in a pizzeria located on the ground floor of a building that houses foreign students, a young man attacked a patron with dark skin, beating him in the head with a wooden chair. According to students, similar racist attacks in the vicinity of the university are a frequent occurrence.“ (Human Rights First, 24. September 2009, S. 7)

AI – Amnesty International: Ukraine: Government must act to stop racial discrimination [EUR 50/005/2008], 10. Juli 2008

AI - Amnesty International: Ukraine: What is racial discrimination? [EUR 50/008/2008], 10. Juli 2008

Human Rights First: 2008 Hate Crime Survey, 24. September 2008

MRGI - Minority Rights Group International: State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2009, 16. Juli 2009

USDOS - US Department of State: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2008 - Ukraine, 25. Februar 2009