Ukraine: The treatment of minorities (specifically Jews, homosexuals and Tatars) by the United National Assembly - Ukrainian Self-Defense Organization (UNA-UNSO), and information on state action taken against the UNA-UNSO for ill-treatment of minorities

Established during "the period of the breakup of the USSR in the 1990s," the United National Assembly - Ukrainian Self-Defense Organization (UNA-UNSO) is a nationalist party (SICSA 1999), which has been referred to as one of two "main neo-fascist groups in Ukraine" (USCJ 14 Jan. 2001), a "neo-Nazi" group (The Review Nov. 1999), an "extremist, right wing group" (RIPN 21 Feb. 2001), and "the most popular radical right-wing party in the Ukraine" (SICSA 1999).

The Ukrainian Self-Defense Organization (UNSO) is the paramilitary wing of the Ukrainian National Assembly (UNA) (ibid.). In September 1995, the Ministry of Justice annulled the registration of UNA-UNSO as a legal political party, but re-registered UNA in September 1997 after its split from UNSO (Stephen Roth Institute 1998; Freedom House 2001; JPR June 1998).

Information on whether UNA and UNSO officially joined forces again could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate, but recent reports continue to refer to this group as UNA-UNSO (The Review Nov. 1999; BHHRG n.d.; Kyiv Post 18 Apr. 2002; UPI 3 Feb. 2002)

Jews

According to the Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism at Tel Aviv University,

Political antisemitism as well as vandalism of Jewish sites has declined in Ukraine in comparison to the early days of independence of that country. In accordance with this trend, the number and intensity of attacks decreased in 2001 compared with the previous year.

...

Although the government has done little to curb antisemitic propaganda, on 8 December 2000 a Kharkov court ordered the intellectual, government-funded association POSVIT to cease publication of its youth newspaper Djereltze (The Source), and fined them $4,400 for printing an antisemitic article in September 1999. This decision, taken after accusations by local Jewish organizations in March 2000, is a precedent, which could serve as a warning to all antisemitic and ultra-nationalist publications (2001).

According to an article in The Review, a monthly journal published by the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council (a "premier public affairs organisation for the Australian Jewish community" (AIJAC 28 Aug. 2001)),

[t]he UNA-UNSO has held large rallies where speakers denounce Jews for the country's economic troubles and, in familiar tirades, accuse Jews of stealing children, killing them and using their blood in preparing matzah.

Although no government members are openly anti-Semitic, very few stand up for Ukraine's Jewish community publicly, aside from insisting that public order is maintained. Periodic attacks on synagogues and cemeteries still occur ... (Nov. 1999).

In February 2001, the Russia Intercessory Prayer Network (RIPN) reported on an article that was published in January 2001 in the Ukrainian newspaper Postup (21 Feb. 2001). According to PostUp article, a rally took place on January 21 in Lviv in which the

... UNA-UNSO was in attendance, and a placard with antisemitic slogans was on display next to UNA-UNSO's party flag throughout the whole rally. The placard featured the following slogans: "Yids are the executioners of mankind;" "Jewish-Zionists destroyed millions of Ukrainians" and "The lot of the Yids-run the criminals out of Ukraine" (ibid.).

Homosexuals

According to an article published in The Internationalist, "a publication of Marxist analysis and commentary ... programmatic intervention and polemic" (Jan. - Feb. 1997),

[a]lthough homosexuality was decriminalized in 1991, gay groups still face government harassment, there is considerable anti-homosexual prejudice, gays are subject to hostility from the Stalinists (who preach traditional "family values" Reagan-style), and homosexuals are targets of the hatred of fascists, such as the Ukrainian nationalist UNA/UNSO    thugs who attack leftists in Lviv and elsewhere (Aug. 2001).

Additional and more recent information concerning the treatment of homosexuals by UNA-UNSO could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

Tatars

Appendix 1 of the publication by the British Helsinki Human Rights Group (BHHRG), entitled Ukraine 2001: Demonstrations and Political Crisis, includes the transcript of an interview between a BHHRG special correspondent and the General Secretary of UNA-UNSO, Andrei Vasilievich Shkill (also, Andry Shkil) (n.d.). The following is an excerpt from that interview:

"And if, looking at the Chechens, the Crimean Tatars rebel[s] ... demand freedom from Ukraine?" I [the correspondent] asked.

"Then we will come to Crimea, and – simply upon seeing the banner of UNA-UNSO – they will lose any hope they had of rebelling!"

"Excuse me?" I said with surprise. "Why freedom for the Chechens, but horseradish for the Tatars?"

"Different nations," the General made clear. "The Tatars are civilized, and they can and must live with the civilized Ukrainians. But the Chechens are a wild people, and they will never be able to live with the Russians, just as the Negroes cannot live with the French... But the French understood this and withdrew from their colonies" (ibid.).

Additional and more recent information concerning the treatment of Tatars by UNA-UNSO could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

State Action against UNA-UNSO

In January 2001, the author of an article that was published in the Ukrainian newspaper Obshchaya Gazeta accused "Ukrainian authorities of having a 'surprisingly loyal attitude' towards UNA-UNSO, and report[ed] that the group's textbook 'War in the Crowd' is 'openly sold inside the Verhovna Rada' (the Ukrainian parliament)" (UCSJ 14 Jan. 2001).

But on 9 March 2001, 16 members of UNA-UNSO, including its leader, Andry Shkil, were arrested for their involvement in anti-presidential protests that took place outside President Kuchma's administration building in Kyiv (UPI 3 Feb. 2002; Kyiv Post 18 Apr. 2002). While imprisoned, Shkil was elected into parliament during the March 2002 elections, winning against Leonid Tkachuk, a pro-presidential candidate (ibid. 11 Apr. 2002; ibid. 18 Apr. 2002). He was subsequently released from jail on 12 April 2002 (ibid.), although opposition forces accused the government of stalling his release (ibid. 11 Apr. 2002).

Additional and more recent information concerning state action taken against UNA-UNSO for its ill-treatment of minorities could not be found among sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

For additional information concerning UNA-UNSO and its treatment of minorities, please consult UKR34407.E of 11 May 2000, UKR33444.E of 14 January 2000 and UKR32483.E of 11 August 1999.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC). 28 August 2001. "AIJAC." [Accessed 20 Nov. 2002]

British Helsinki Human Rights Group (BHHRG). n.d. Ukraine 2001: Demonstrations and Political Crisis. [Accessed 21 Nov. 2002]

Freedom House. 2001. Nations in Transit 2001. Edited by Adrian Karatnycky, Alexander Motyl and Amanda Schnetzer. New York: Freedom House. [Accessed 12 Nov. 2002]

Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR). June 1998. "Ukraine." [Accessed 12 Nov. 2002]

The Internationalist. August 2001. No. 12, Fall. "Declaration of Fusion Between the League for the Fourth International and the Revolutsionnaya Kommunisticheskaya Organisatsiya of Ukraine." [Accessed 21 Nov. 2002]

_____. January - February 1997. No.1. "Introducing The Internationalist." [Accessed 25 Nov. 2002]

Kyiv Post. 18 April 2002. "Shkil Released from Jail Kyiv Court Frees Former UNA-UNSO Leader and Deputy-Elect from Pre-Trial Detention." (Global News Wire/NEXIS)

_____. 11 April 2002. Peter Byrne. "Despite Rada Win, UNA-UNSO Leader Remains in Jail." [Accessed 21 Nov. 2002]

The Review. November 1999. Michael Shannon. "In the Heartland." [Accessed 20 Nov. 2002]

Russia Intercessory Prayer Network (RIPN). 21 February 2001. "Ukraine: Antisemitic UNA-UNSO Propaganda in Lviv." (news release) [Accessed 12 Nov. 2002]

The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism, Tel Aviv University. 2001. "Anti-Semitism Worldwide 2000/01: Ukraine." [Accessed 12 Nov. 2002]

United Press International (UPI). 3 February 2002. Boyan Soc. "Analysis: Ukraine Opposition in Trouble." (NEXIS)

Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union (UCSJ). 14 January 2001. "Russian Newspaper Profiles Ukrainian Neo-Fascist Groups." [Accessed 21 Nov. 2002]

Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism (SICSA), Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 1999. Liudmila Dymerskaya-Tsigelman and Leonid Finberg. "Antisemitism of the Ukrainian Radical Nationalists: Ideology and Policy." ACTA No. 14. Translated by Yisrael Cohen. [Accessed 21 Nov. 2002]

Additional Sources Consulted

World News Connections

Internet sites, including:

Annual Report on International Religious Freedom for 2002.

Den.

Fifteenth and Sixteenth Periodic Reports of Ukraine on the Implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. 18 October 2000. (CERD/C/384/Add.2)

Human Rights in the OSCE Region: The Balkans, the Caucasus, Europe, Central Asia and North America. 2002. International Helsinki Federation.

Human Rights Watch.

World News.

Zerkalo Nedeli.

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