Human rights activists help voters and victims of protest events in Ukraine

Since March 2014, Ukraine has been implementing a large-scale project “Protection of Civil and Civic Rights in Ukraine”, which is aimed at facilitating transparent and fair elections of the President of Ukraine, as well as overcoming the negative legal consequences of the current socio-political situation in the country.

The project is being implemented in 11 regions of our country, including Chernihiv region. It is implemented by the All-Ukrainian Coalition for Legal Aid in cooperation with 13 regional non-governmental organizations with the support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

As part of the project, citizens are informed about their legal rights, legal remedies, and the availability of legal services. Qualified lawyers also provide primary and secondary legal assistance: they advise citizens, in particular, via Skype, prepare the necessary procedural documents and, if necessary, represent people’s interests in courts. The main target groups of the project are those affected by the current socio-political events, as well as voters who will take part in the upcoming presidential elections.

“The tragic revolutionary events of the last few months, when the former government tried to severely suppress the protests, led to widespread cases of violations of citizens’ civil rights,” says

Vitaliy Misyats, executive director of the All-Ukrainian Coalition for Legal Aid

. – Many people have suffered as a result of violations of the right to freedom of assembly and association and expression of opinions. Some citizens have lost their jobs, others have been deprived of legal benefits and services, and some have suffered property damage. The most tragic cases are when people have been injured and lost their lives. Also, today there are more and more citizens who, due to difficult socio-political conditions, are forced to leave their homes and move to other regions of the country, in particular, from Crimea. Therefore, one of the tasks of the project is to provide broad free legal assistance to such people.

In addition, one of the most important tasks for the state today is to hold free, fair and transparent early elections for the President of Ukraine on May 25. First of all, it is necessary to ensure the opportunity for all voters to vote and make an informed choice. In particular, past experience of elections in Ukraine has shown that a significant number of citizens were deprived of civil rights due to violations of legislation on voter lists or problems with proper registration. This is especially relevant today, when many citizens are outside their permanent place of residence. Therefore, members of the Coalition will provide all possible assistance to voters so that there are as few such cases as possible.

“Chernihiv region, like the entire country, was directly affected by the recent revolutionary events in Ukraine and their consequences, a tangible negative impact on the life of the region was also left by external aggression against our country,” says

the head of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights Viktor Taras

ov. – Therefore, there is a lot of work for human rights defenders and lawyers now, there are also many people who need our help. We plan to provide free legal assistance to participants in protest actions who have suffered persecution, damage to health or property, as well as to displaced persons from other Ukrainian regions. And of course, as voters ourselves, we are interested in respecting the electoral rights of our fellow citizens and will work on this within the framework of the All-Ukrainian Coalition for the Provision of Legal Aid.”

The project “Protection of Civil and Civic Rights in Ukraine” is also being implemented in Volyn, Dnipropetrovsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Rivne, Kharkiv and Khmelnytskyi regions.

To receive free legal assistance in the field of civil and electoral law, citizens can contact the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights at the address: 57/1 Gorkogo St., Chernihiv, 14000, hotline number: (0462) 612-532.