Ukraine has seen the most rapid deterioration of human rights globally in 2014 according to a new report released by a rights watchdog.
Continuing conflict, internal displacement, and worsening economic conditions in the country mean it has dropped 19 places in the past year – and is now 44th most “at risk” in the world according to the Maplecroft Human Rights Risk Atlas 2015, released on Wednesday
Ukraine, along with Thailand and Turkey, has deteriorated more than anywhere else since mass protests in Kiev ultimately lead to the toppling of former President Viktor Yanukovich in February 2014.
The decline was part of an ongoing trend in Ukraine, which has had deteriorating human rights since 2011 but the conflict in the country’s east and the civil unrest that came before it accelerated the situation, Maplecroft analysts told Al Jazeera.
The report highlighted the risks faced by the approximately 430,000 people now internally displaced because of the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine.
“The displaced people living in camps are very open to labour abuse and human trafficking,” senior analyst Marilu Gresens said.
“They are targeted by people who might make fraudulent offers of work, or say that they can get the IDPs refugee status in another country, and then they find themselves in a trafficking situation.
“There are also some indications that the pro-Russian rebels are using forced labour in some areas, and displaced people are very vulnerable to this.”
Regional differences
The report also looks at “divergent regional approaches towards human rights”, in particular the differences between the situations in Kiev and Crimea, the region annexed by Russia in March 2014.
“While the new Kiev government of President Petro Poroshenko has generally shown an improved performance on human rights observance during its short time in office, the occupation authorities in Crimea and the ‘People’s Republics’ of Donetsk and Luhansk have been notable for their brutality,” the report said.
“In Crimea, harassment and ‘disappearances’ of the indigenous Crimean minority have become routine, while the rebel authorities in Donetsk and Luhansk have engaged in routine kidnappings, torture and summary executions. Combined with the large number of internally displaced persons, or IDPs, due to the ongoing conflict, these factors have resulted in a continued deterioration in Ukraine’s overall rank.”
Maplecroft’s senior analyst for Europe and Central Asia, Daragh McDowell, told Al Jazeera some of the differences between the areas had been true even before the civil unrest that started in Kiev in late 2013.
“With a city like Kiev there is a great deal of civil society mobility,” he said
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