Ukraine Human Rights Essay

Just recently a known political activist, Vedzhie Kashka, abruptly died after meeting with Russian Security forces. She collapsed during the meeting then died shortly after it was over. Since she was from Crimea Stalin banned her as well as many other Crimeans from Russia when the Soviet Union was in power. When Putin annexed Crimea she spoke out for her people, she was known as “a legendary woman of the Crimean Tatar national movement”. She worked with many people to advocate and improve the rights and civil liberties of displaced persons. Earlier in the month and before her meeting she heavily scrutinized the Russian government for the persecution of the Tartar minority. Russia has perpetually tried to put end end to Tatar Crimeans and “Silence the Peninsula” of Crimea.

The news reported from the ravaged cities within Chechnya is more than disturbing, but as disturbing as this is, media bias does need to be accounted for. The eyewitness accounts and the various reports from Human Rights activists are all informative but of a distinct nature, to disgrace the west into doing some thing about the disintegrating situation in the state. Russian forces have committed grave abuses, but the situation is one that needs to be rendered regardless of how it is reported. Human Rights Watch have documented both Russian and Chechen acts of war crimes. The situation is dire in all cases from massacres, rapes and beatings, to completely ignoring the well fair of civilians. The Russians have disregarded completely the Geneva Convention obligations, with central market bombings; civilians’ deaths in Chechnya weigh heavily in the total death toll of the war. This situation is unacceptable for wartime in the twenty first century. The war has taken its toll on many parts of Chechnya; most areas look more like wasteland, especially the capital Grozny.

Human rights are protected under Australian law in three key ways; statute law, the constitution and common law. It could be argued that if Australia adopted a bill of rights, human rights would be more clearly defined, consistent in all states and territories and more easily understood.

In Syria we see massive civilian displacement and casualties due to fighting. The specific symptoms are armed conflict, air strikes, and purported chemical weapon usage. In following step two and collecting data we have verified proof that the problem exists via independent and state sponsored journalists reporting to all major news syndicates worldwide. The beginnings of the conflict formed over many years of pro-democracy civilians being suppressed in lieu of an authoritarian government. The beginning of the actual anti-regime uprising started in March of 2011 following the arrests of teens and children for political graffiti (Syrian Civil War Fast Facts, 2015). This lead to mass demonstrations in the country's capital and surrounding cities, and let to Syrian police and military forces beating and even killing protesters. This led to the formation to militias forming which split the country into the military and security forces of the Syrian state and militant rebels attempting to overthrow the government. The impact of the problem is that Syria has spiraled into a constant state of chaos throughout the country, resulting in almost complete devastation of all the country's main cities, as well as, constant war and the death of many innocent people and

The sharing of the image across social media of Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi’s dead body washed up on a beach in Turkey has brought the Syrian’s plight into the eyes of the world. Thousands of men, women, and children make illegal and unsafe journeys across entire oceans just to get away from the conflict that is occurring in their home country. In view of the root of this horrible situation, one observes events dating back to 2011, when pro-democracy protests began throughout Syria. These protests displayed the anger prevalent among the people against President Bashar Al-Assad’s authoritarian government. The attempt by Assad to suppress the numerous protests with violence only induced more wrath from the irate Syrian people. Rebel militias

Millions of citizens in Crimea have been left in the dark and have to depend on candles and back up generators. The blackout was executed by the Tatar a far right Ukrainian nationalist group in Crimea who were against the annexation. The situation has become so bad that authorities have stopped trade with Crimea until they have the situation under control. Russia reaction to the blackout is it’s threatening to cut gas and coal supply to

Russia has been recognized for torturing people through the Cold War, the KGB, and tyrants. Putin has many malevolent deaths written under his name and the killing of people is torture because one is “inflicting severe pain on someone” (Merriam-Webster). As proof of the bodies built up in a ten year period, Putin has chosen to execute at least ten activist fighting him to keep them silent (JNCG). These deaths infringe on the right of freedom from cruel and unusual punishment because the act of causing death is, by law, cruel. Moreover, Putin sent a human right defender to death, “in June 2011 two unidentified men severely beat Bakhrom Hamroev… a leading Russian human rights group—in his Moscow apartment building” (World Report 2012). The human right defender was helping people go to court against Putin for torture and deaths he has caused at the time when Hamroev died. Beatings are generally part of prisoners’ lives to get information out of them, however in this case it is for the use to keep Hamroev silent. On the other hand, the KGB participates in the culture torture; recently a torture house became open to the public to expose the culture of Russia in 2014 (Presser). People such as, Putin and the KGB, are calling torture part of Russian culture to be able to permit opening of torture houses as historical landmarks. However, it is part of the

The Syrian Civil War continues to be a major issue in the world today. Though it began as an issue over the resignation of President Bashar Al Assad against the government and Syrians, the war has greatly escalated. It currently involves over 50 different groups, all supporting either the government or the Syrian people, but possessing a slightly different goal. All of this violence poses a threat to individual nations all through the world, focusing on the immigration of refugees into such nations and the impact of such a movement upon that nation. Furthermore, all of this violence has violated the human rights of millions of people, with rape , torture, and harsh execution style killings occurring on a daily basis. Millions of people caught

While millions of refugees have fled from war torn countries like Syria, Yemen, and Afghanistan, countless internally displaced peoples are trapped within the stronghold of Assad forces, particularly in Aleppo. While the world seems to have turned away from Aleppo since a decrease in media coverage, the threat of genocide in Aleppo is an all too real reality that could happen under the control of Assad forces. Furthermore, the question of refugee rights and their access to asylum has become a concerning issue within human rights and IR. Refugees are increasingly being met with resistance, particularly in increasingly right wing nations in Europe and now in the US under the trump administration. Where does the line between sovereignty and basic human rights

But given this history of one invasion after another, one can see why Russians are paranoid about security, and how wary Moscow is of the looming encirclement by NATO forces and bases, particularly should Ukraine enter NATO. Russian nationalists and revisionists not only fear threats from abroad, but from within as well. Many Russians today view even the establishment of the Soviet Union as a power grab by Russian Jews, who as Vladimir Putin recently revealed, formed the majority of the first Soviet government https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pDtgWUtdUM

Subsequently, human trafficking in Ukraine needs to end and the government has to take more action in stopping it. Human trafficking needs to end because women and children are the main victims. Also, it is unfair that the government isn’t taking action to help and is sitting back and

According to an issue of the Wall Street Journal dated 27/March-2014, Russia is still massing troops near the Russian/Ukraine border; the question is “Will Russia/Putin’s uses this buildup as a staging platform for another attack on Ukraine?” These actions by Russia are occurring despite President Putnuns assurances that he has no intentions of violating Ukraine territorial integrity. In addition Putin’s actions runs contra to a an agreement called “The Budapest Memorandum” of 1994, where Russia along with the US pledge to uphold that same integrity- Crimea would seem to make that Russian so much hot air.

In war-torn eastern Ukraine, both the Ukrainian government and the separatists acting on behalf of Russia violate the human rights established in the Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.Ukraine has been a nation in crisis since 2013, when then-president Viktor Yanukovych refused to sign an association agreement with the European Union that had been in the works for years, instead choosing to strengthen ties with Russia. This led to a political movement and revolution now known as the Euromaidan, which pushed Viktor Yanukovych out of office and championed their new president, Petro Poroshenko, to sign an association agreement and take the first steps toward joining the EU. Unfortunately,

After twenty six years, the nations that were granted independence from the Russian Federation are still dealing with the affects of the fallout; In particular, Russia’s European neighbor, Ukraine. In an article dated September 29th, from the Russian News Agency TASS, it gives an overview of the recent implications of the civil war in the Donbass region. Russia and Germany are urging the Ukrainian Government to follow the Minsk Protocol, in order to keep peace and maintain a working relationship between all the countries listed on the agreement (TASS 2016). There has been constant conflict in the Donbass region since the beginning of 2014, with times of cease-fire, but nothing significant. The conflict is a result of the Russian demographic in Eastern Ukraine, wanting separation from a Western influenced Ukraine. This paper will examine the geographical aspect of this relationship and how it has affected the conflict.

The invasion of the Crimea, and Donbass regions of Ukraine sent shock waves through European capitals. Protests were made, sanction were applied, and thus started a spiral of events that have brought Russia’s relations with the West to an all new low. In recent years many in the West (western democracies of Europe and North America) have been caught off guard by the actions of the Russian state. In order for the West to find a way forward that reduces conflict there must be an unbiased examination of the problem, and the actions taken by everyone involved. In doing so we will have to talk about how Russia sees NATO as a threat, how country’s see Russia as a threat. Doing this may help us gain a greater understanding of Russian actions in