Another Assault on Human Rights: Civil Society May Be Excluded from Monitoring Places of Detention
The Ministry of Justice is proposing a bill that will restrict the access of human rights defenders to penitentiary institutions. The most serious human rights violations in these places are typically uncovered during unannounced monitoring visits, specifically by assistants to Members of Parliament, journalists, and doctors.
The penitentiary system of Ukraine actively proclaims and publicly emphasises its reform. Yet, over thirty years of Ukraine’s independence, the criminal executive system has failed to change its repressive and punitive paradigm. Despite the legislatively prescribed purpose of criminal punishment – the resocialisation of the person who committed a criminal offence, followed by social adaptation – we frequently observe the exact opposite: brutal human rights violations in places of deprivation of liberty – systemic torture, and cruel and inhuman treatment. The leadership of the prison authority is once again attempting to shield penitentiary institutions from public oversight and conceal human rights violations.
