Tag Archives: Ukraine

Race + Color + Ethnicity

Ukraine News | Roma

Attack on Roma camp leaves one dead, several wounded outside Lviv
  • A 24-year-old Roma man was stabbed to death and another four wounded in an attack on a Roma community on the outskirts of Lyiv.
  • The attack comes amidst a wave of far-right violence against Roma communities, where groups of nationalists have destroyed living quarters and assaulted individuals.
  • Police have been accused of refusing to intervene in attacks or conduct arrests, leaving few stopgaps to mob violence and the implicit sanction of anti-Roma sentiment.
Read

“U.S., Canada condemn deadly attack on Roma camp in Ukraine” (Reuters | June 2018)

“No Relief: Wave Of Attacks, Police Indifference Heighten Fears Among Ukraine’s Roma” (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty | June 2018)

Additional

“A year on from Odessa ‘pogrom’, Ukraine’s Roma face rise in mob justice” (Reuters | September 2017)

Religion + Belief

Europe & Eurasia Research | Religious & Belief Minorities

Religion and National Identity in Eastern Europe and Eurasia

The Pew Research Center recently conducted a survey on the relationship between religious and national identity in Eastern European and Eurasian countries, noting changes in the way that religious identification has influenced national identity since the fall of atheist fundamentalism with the USSR. For religious and belief minorities—now including atheists—the relationship can be a troubling one, particularly as resurgent nationalism in the region has been accompanied by xenophobia and religious discrimination.

Here are highlights from the findings:

70% (Orthodox-majority) / 57% (Catholic-majority)

Average among countries who believe majority religious identity is very or somewhat important to national identity

82% (Armenia)
81% (Georgia)
78% (Serbia)
76% (Greece)
74% (Romania)
66% (Bulgaria)
63% (Moldova)
57% (Russia)
51% (Ukraine)
45% (Belarus)

Percentage within Orthodox-majority countries who believe Orthodox religious identity is very or somewhat important to national identity

64% (Poland)
58% (Croatia)
56% (Lithuania)
43% (Hungary)

Percentage within Catholic-majority countries who believe Catholic religious identity is very or somewhat important to national identity

Read

Religious Belief and National Belonging in Central and Eastern Europe (Pew Research Center | May 2017)

Sexual + Gender Minorities

Europe & Eurasia Research | LGBTI

The State of LGBTI Security in Europe

ILGA-Europe recently released its annual report on the state of LGBT rights and security across the Europe. Covering developments in individual countries and transnational institutions from 2015, the report notes increasing legal protections for gender minorities and family and partnership rights for sexual minorities in Southern and Western Europe as well as ongoing political exclusion, persecution, and violence in Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Here are some of the highlights:

Malta

Rated the most progressive European country, Malta’s groundbreaking law prohibiting surgical intervention into a person’s sex characteristics without consent and inclusive education policies for trans, intersex, and other gender minorities were cited as distinctive policies.

Finland, France, Greece, Ireland

Other countries with significant judicial or policy victories regarding the rights of gender minorities.

Ireland, Luxembourg

Countries extending marriage rights to same-sex couples

Cyprus, Greece

Countries extending civil partnership rights to same-sex couples

Austria, Portugal

Countries extending adoption rights to same-sex couples

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia

Bottom three countries for LGBTI security

Armenia, FYR Macedonia, Slovenia

Countries blocking same-sex marriage rights

Hungary, Montenegro, Russia, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine

Countries denying, limiting, or antagonizing organization and assembly rights of LGBTI civil society groups

Read:
Annual Review of the Human Rights Situation of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex People in Europe 2016 (ILGA-Europe)

Additional:
Rainbow Europe
“Azerbaijan worst place to be gay in Europe, finds LGBTI index” (The Guardian)
“Which EU states are out of touch on gay marriage?” (euronews)

Sexual + Gender Minorities

Ukraine News | LGBT

Far-right protesters in Ukraine attack LGBT festival attendees after officials ban event
  • Police and city officials in Lviv refused to give official permit to the equality-themed event, whose program included film screenings, literary discussions, and a public march.
  • After a last-minute court hearing banned the festival’s public events, far-right protesters descended on the hotel housing festival attendees, throwing stones and allegedly shouting “kill, kill, kill” as attendees were evacuated.
  • Although Lviv’s mayor admonished both victims and attackers, Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs condemned the attack and announced police had begun an investigation.

Read more:
“LGBT festival in Ukraine abandoned after far-right protest” (The Guardian)
“U.S., Canadian ambassadors condemn attack on LGBT activists in Lviv” (Ukraine Today)
“Ukrainian LGBT festival cancelled as far-right groups surround venue, chant ‘kill’” (PinkNews)

(Image Credit: Mykola Tys/EPA, via the Guardian)

Race + Color + Ethnicity

Ukraine News | Black

Ukraine football team faces sanctions, assailants face charges after black fans attacked at Ukraine football match
  • At least four black individuals were attacked during an Oct. 27 Champions League match between Dynamo Kyiv and Chelsea.
  • The individuals–along with at least three white fans who came to their aid–were attacked in the stadium section of Dynamo’s Rodychi fan group.
  • While the assailants face charges of hooliganism, UEFA has initiated disciplinary action against the team for racist behavior by fans.

Read more:
“Dynamo Kiev consider calls to segregate black fans to prevent racism inside stadium” (The Telegraph)
“Dynamo Kyiv charged with racist behaviour of fans during Chelsea draw” (The Guardian)
“Attacks on Black Fans Show Tide of Fan Racism in Ukraine” (AP via ABC News)

Nationality + Migration
The NY Times has published a graphically enhanced look at the global migration crisis that is being called the worst since World War II
  • 38 million have been displaced within their own countries, while 16.7 million refugees have fled internationally.
  • Roughly 11 million Syrians and 3 million Iraqis have been internally displaced, while 4 million Syrians have left the country, straining the intake abilities of neighboring countries like Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey.
  • Approximately 25,000 Bangladeshi and Rohingya migrants have been trafficked via sea in Southeast Asia, some finding conditional acceptance in Indonesia and Malaysia and others being repatriated.
  • To date, around 78,000 have traveled across the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa and Turkey, fleeing violence, persecution, and poor economic prospects in North, West, and East Africa.
  • Finally, the conflict in Ukraine has displaced 1.3 million inside the country and sent 867,000 abroad, mostly to Russia with few European countries willing to accept them.

More on this story at The New York Times.

Sexual + Gender Minorities
Clashes erupt between marchers and ultra-right nationalists at Pride march in Kiev.
  • Nine (including five police officers) were injured among the 300 marching in the parade.
  • The march was only the second of its kind in Ukraine’s post-Soviet era.
  • President Petro Poroshenko had stated earlier that while he would not be attending, the marchers were constitutionally guaranteed the right to march and should not be disrupted.

More on this story at VICE.

(Image Credit: Roman Pilipey/EPA, via VICE)

The Rounds

The Week’s Rounds

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Israel nixes bus segregation plans, the U.K. takes strong stance against undocumented immigrant labor, Russian bill looks to criminalize abortion procedures, a British Muslim woman takes on ISIS through poetry, Ireland celebrates passing of same-sex marriage referendum, and 35 other stories in this week’s news rounds… Continue reading The Week’s Rounds →

The Rounds

The Thursday Rounds

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Black Brazilian youth’s vulnerability to homicide, child grooms in Cambodia, police raids on Bosnian Muslims, a ruling on physician-assisted suicide in South Africa, and more in today’s Rounds… Continue reading The Thursday Rounds →