European Commission’s Ukraine Report 2023: Progress, Challenges, and Human Rights Agenda
On 8 November 2023, the European Commission published the Ukraine Report 2023 – this is the first such report on Ukraine which cover both the progress on previously set up 7 major goals Ukraine had to achieve since 2022 for EU to start the candidacy dialog and very thorough analysis of the progress Ukraine made in the recent years on the rule of law, democracy and good governance.
Even before the publication of this report, the European Commission had repeatedly emphasized that Ukraine had fulfilled most of the 7 goals demanded by the EU, and that the parties would be advised to start preparing for enlargement negotiations. This is a huge advance for Ukraine and a huge credit of trust from EU.
And while recongnising substantial progress of Ukraine, the Report goes much byend the 7 goals and provided in-depth overview of the real state pf play when it comes to much more issues around rule of law, democracy and good governance, that can actually be fitted into the short 7 lines from summer 2022.
How prepared is Ukraine in terms of providing for human rights of persons with disabilities – this is something that was not debated as part of the European agenda, at least not so much widely inside the country.
Fight For Right advocacy team had spent some time reading and analysing the Report to outline what developments are recognised by EU, and what areas to be further developed and what kind of homeworks lays ahead Ukraine candidacy negotiations.
First of all, of course EU recognised Ukraine progress in certaine areas related to fulfilment of human rights and specificly accesibility for persons with disabilities:
- “Ukraine complies overall with international human rights instruments and has ratified most international conventions on the protection of fundamental rights.
- Ukraine also ratified the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence in July 2022 and adopted the 2030 state strategy on ensuring equal rights between men and women, which should now be implemented.
- Ukraine has several strategic documents to foster civil society engagement, including the 2021- 2026 national strategy for promoting civil society development as of September 2021, the national barrier-free strategy, and the national human rights strategy. As part of human rights strategy implementation, work is ongoing to improve the anti-bullying legislation.
- Existing legislation, for instance the Labour Code, already provides some level of protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation, and reforms to ensure equal rights are currently underway. The National Human Rights Action Plan 2021-2023 envisages progress in the status of LGBTIQ persons”
But much more attention and detail is devoted to pointing out the areas where Ukraine still have to progress to come close to EU standards, this is our homework for the years to come:
- “On the rights of persons belonging to national minorities, Ukraine needs to address the remaining recommendations from the previous reports. Further efforts are also needed to ensure that persons with disabilities can enjoy their rights as per the UN Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities.
- Only limited progress was made in the field of prevention of torture and ill treatment in prisons and other forms of detention, where a cultural change within state authorities needs to materialize and further measures are required to prevent and ensure accountability for such acts.
- The situation of children (but also of older persons) in care institutions as well as persons with disabilities remains difficult, but commitments on the deinstitutionalisation of childcare and to rebuilding Ukraine in a barrier-free manner are promising and need to be implemented as a priority.
- The situation for persons with disabilities remains very challenging as regards equal participation and opportunities. There is a distinct lack of accessible transportation, healthcare, social services and public buildings. Legislation does not provide incentives for employing persons with disabilities in the open labor market”.
Fight For Rights had been working on monitoring one area of concern mentioned by the Report – human rights violations and conditions in so called places of detention to which also belong the residential care institutions. FFR opinion coincide with the EU Commission conclusion – Ukraine has to immediately start the deinsitutionalisation of all such places, not just for children but for the adults with disabilities and elderly people.
Given the existing problems and the need for urgent reforms in social sphere, in its conclusion on social policy in Ukraine, the European Commission makes the following recommendations that should be implemented:
“Ukraine remains at an early stage of preparation in social policy and employment. Over the reporting period, it made limited progress. In the coming year, Ukraine should in particular:
→ adopt new framework legislation in the field of labour relations and occupational health and safety to bring it in line with applicable EU directives and ensure an enabling environment for bipartite and tripartite social dialogue and strengthen the capacities of social partners;
→ develop and adopt a comprehensive de-institutionalisation reform of childcare and launch its implementation, considering the situation of displaced children;
→ address shortcomings and further align with EU legislation on non-discrimination in employment”.
