GOAL 16

THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS 13

GOAL 16. PROMOTE PEACEFUL AND INCLUSIVE SOCIETIES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, PROVIDE ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR ALL AND BUILD EFFECTIVE, ACCOUNTABLE AND INCLUSIVE INSTITUTIONS AT ALL LEVELS

Target 16.1. Reduce the prevalence of violenceTarget 16.3. Increase confidence in courts and ensure equal access to justice

Target 16.9. Strengthen social stability, and promote peacebuilding and community security

HOW LGBTQI PEOPLE HAVE BEEN LEFT BEHIND:

Criminal legislation of Ukraine does not include the commission of an offense based on homophobia, biphobia and transphobia to the list of circumstances aggravating punishment.

(p. 1 article 67 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine includes only the commission of an offense based on racial, national or religious enmity and hostility, sex).

In 2018 Monitoring network of LGBT Human Rights NASH MIR Center documented 358 cases of homophobic/transphobic acts, discrimination, and other human rights violations towards LGBT in Ukraine. 34 cases are referred to the acts that took place in 2017, the remaining 324 acts took place in 2018 .

In 30 cases, violations by law enforcement bodies were reported .

Case:

In March 2018, a Ukrainian NGO Parents’ Initiative TERGO organized a 2-day training for school and children psychologists and social workers in Poltava. The training took place at the rented private property (a hotel). In the middle of the training a group of 20+ men wearing masks entered the premises, destroyed printed materials, turned the furniture upside down and addressed participants and organizers of the training in aggressive manner. With the efforts of the hotel administration and police forces that arrived at the place, the right-wing activists were made leave. The organizers of the training submitted a written claim to the police officers demanding to investigate this case as a homophobic hate-crime. In spite of the facts that the police officers confirmed that they would proceed with the investigation, there was no progress with the case since March 2018, none of the attackers was held responsible or brought to the court. This case is just one among numerous similar incidents taking place in Ukraine lately.

THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS 14

RECOMMENDATIONS. ADDRESSING HATE CRIMES AND PREVENTING HOMO-, BI- AND TRANSPHOBIC VIOLENCE IN UKRAINE

It is clear that it is impossible to build a free democratic society in a country when a vulnerable group or groups are facing every day high risks of becoming a victim of a hate crime. The data on homo- and transphobic violence including verbal and physical abuse, physical/sexual violence, teasing, bullying, threatening behavior, online abuse, and damage to property towards LGBTQI people in Ukraine collected by civil society organizations demonstrate that until today the government proves unable or reluctant to guarantee peaceful and safe enjoyment of human rights to LGBTQI citizens. To move forward with solving this issue, the following recommendations are proposed.

1. The national legislation on hate crime has to be revised and its implementation is to be monitored and controlled closely. For better results, it is recommended to engage with the foreign experts and introduce trainings and educational activities on recognizing and preventing hate crimes in law enforcement organs.

2. The process of data collection, analysis, and publication in open access should be strengthened and improved. At the present it is fully performed by civil society organizations only. Apart from providing civil society organizations and human rights defenders with full scale state support, it is necessary that a part of public budget is designated to hate crime and hate violence monitoring and prevention activities.

3. Close work has to be done with the courts and judges of Ukraine. There is a well-founded mistrust of population and representatives of vulnerable groups in Ukraine towards law enforcement bodies’ representatives as well as towards the judges. A national policy should be developed and implemented to increase the level of awareness and education of people working in judicial and law enforcement systems with regard to human rights of LGBTQI people, hate crimes prevention and elimination, basic principles of non-discrimination and equality.

4. It is important to create and promote positive examples of cases of discrimination and hate crimes brought to the courts and solved in favor of victims. For that, free legal assistance should be available and accessible for LGBTQI people across Ukraine. Hotlines for victims of hate-crimes should be established in Ukraine. A social campaign informing population on hate crime/violence cases processed by the courts should be launched to clarify to the citizens the concept of hate crimes and to explain why idea of hate crime is incompatible with freedom and democratic values.

5. Promote educational policies for police and organize trainings on recognition of hate crime and its prevention. Within international cooperation framework to introduce staff exchange programs and send trainees to countries where there was a positive experience of eliminating hate crimes and decreasing level of homo- and transphobic violence. Include police into ongoing discussion with civil society organization and stress idea of mutual accountability and trust among the sides.

6. Launch national campaign encouraging citizens’ participation in recognizing, monitoring, and reporting discrimination and hate crime. Develop local, regional anti-violence programs and initiatives.