Lily

State Department: Ukraine Has 'Significant' Human Rights Issues
By: Terry Jeffrey - 04-24-2024

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives last Saturday voted 311 to 112 to approve a bill to spend $60.89 billion on aid for Ukraine.

Among House Republicans, this bill lost 112 to 101. Among House Democrats, it won 210 to 0. As of this writing, the bill was expected to pass the Senate. President Joe Biden has said he would sign it.

Just two days after the House approved this $60.89 billion in aid for Ukraine, the State Department released its 2023 report on human rights in that country. It cited both the Russian military, which has invaded Ukraine, and the Ukrainian government itself for human rights abuses.

"Significant human rights abuses committed by Russia's forces in areas that were under Russian control involved severe and wide-ranging cases," said the State Department report. These included, among other abuses, "credible reports of: arbitrary or unlawful killings, including extrajudicial killings; enforced disappearance; torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment ... serious restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom, including violence or threats of violence against journalists, unjustified arrests or prosecution of journalists ... severe restrictions on religious freedom ... and the existence of the worst forms of child labor."

So, what happened with human rights in those areas of Ukraine not controlled by Russian forces?

"There were also significant human rights abuses involving Ukrainian government officials, although not comparable to the scope of Russia's abuses," said the State Department report.

These "included credible reports of: enforced disappearance; torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest or detention; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; restrictions on freedom of expression, including for members of the media, including violence or threats of violence against journalists, unjustified arrests or prosecutions of journalists, and censorship."

The State Department also cited Ukraine for ”serious restrictions on internet freedom; substantial interference with the freedoms of peaceful assembly and association; restrictions on freedom of movement; serious government corruption; extensive gender-based violence; systematic restrictions on workers' freedom of association; and the existence of the worst forms of child labor."

The war, of course, was partly responsible for the situation in Ukraine. "Some of these human rights issues," said the State Department, "stemmed from martial law, which continued to curtail democratic freedoms, including freedom of movement, freedom of the press, freedom of peaceful assembly, and legal protections."

However, the State Department report on human rights in Ukraine for 2021 -- the year before Russia's invasion -- also cited Ukraine for human rights abuses. "Significant human rights issues," said that report, "included credible reports of: unlawful or arbitrary killings, including extrajudicial killings by the government or its agents; torture and cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment of detainees by law enforcement personnel; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest or detention" and "serious problems with the independence of the judiciary."

"The government," said that 2021 report, "generally failed to take adequate steps to prosecute or punish most officials who committed abuses, resulting in a climate of impunity."

The 2023 report on human rights in Ukraine made virtually the same assertion: "The government often did not take adequate steps to identify and punish officials who may have committed abuses."

"Civil society and media noted corruption remained common at all levels in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, influencing judicial and law enforcement institutions, the management of state property and state companies, and state regulation," said the State Department.

The appropriate question for the U.S. Congress is not whether Ukraine and Russia protect human rights. As the State Department's report makes clear, they do not. The question is whether it is in the interests of the American people to involve itself in the conflict between these two nations.

George Kennan, one of the greatest American diplomats of the last century, explained how American foreign policy should and should not work in his 1951 book "American Diplomacy." It was a chronic mistake in American foreign policy, he argued, to take a "legalistic-moralistic" approach.

"As you have no doubt surmised, I see the most serious fault of our past policy formulation to lie in something that I might call the legalistic-moralistic approach to international problems," Kennan wrote. "This approach runs like a red skein through our foreign policy of the last fifty years."

"It is the belief that it should be possible to suppress the chaotic a dangerous aspirations of governments in the international field by the acceptance of some system of legal rules and restraints," he said.

The U.S. Congress cannot control the war in Ukraine or determine its outcome.

But in a nation where the federal debt is now $34.59 trillion and federal spending is projected to hit $6.94 trillion in this fiscal year, Congress can -- and should -- turn its attention to ending the deficit spending and bringing down that debt.


Here’s looking at you CIA and Victoria Nuland for helping out Zelensky in office and helping Ukraine continue to be one of the worse governments.

kemmer

[quote=Lily][b]
Here’s looking at you CIA and Victoria Nuland for helping out Zelensky in office and helping Ukraine continue to be one of the worse governments.[/quote]
Then there was the Russian mass murders of civilians and looting in Bucha and other villages, plus the kidnapping of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia and giving them to Russian forced “foster” parents.

Weasel Loc: In the Great State Of Indiana!!

Thank God we found out about Zelensky and his ring of criminals sooner rather than later. Even though Washington has eeg all over their faces, we the people may still be able to stop Ukraine in their tracks before these Monstrosities of Zelensky's Government Gets Any Worse.
.And Thank God that the Military Aid wont reach Ukraine until 2025. By then Mr. TRUMP Should be able to wrap things up, and stop the insanity thats going on over there.

Lily

Reading is not one of your skills is it?

The State Department named Russia first.

LogicallyRight Loc: Chicago

While they have consistently labeled Russia as bad on human rights in this war, the media has completely ignored the abuses of Ukraine. I've know of much of this in Ukraine well before Feb 2022 when Russia moved in to protect the ethnic Russia citizens of Ukraine. Oh, and Nuland is one of the architects of this war ever starting and is a total leftist bitch.

kemmer

Hahaha…. Ukraine will probably chase the Russians home and by 2025 Trump will most likely be in jail.

AuntiE Loc: 45th Least Free State

You need to keep up. Ukraine is barely holding the front line.

Weasel Loc: In the Great State Of Indiana!!

👍 B A R E L Y IS RIGHT.

But the point is, we all know what Zelensky is
now. 👎

AuntiE Loc: 45th Least Free State

Not to mention Russia managed to put our multimillion dollar tanks out of commission. Who thought giving illiterates something that sophisticated would work? Rhetorical question.

Weasel Loc: In the Great State Of Indiana!!

Russia is a master of technology when facing the challenges put before them.

kemmer

Ukraine just received a massive influx of armaments from Germany and the US’s stuff is on the way.
A Russian zoo sent 2 peacocks to the Russian front “to lift the troops’ spirits.” Russian internet exploded with laughter and mockery, and the zoo shut down its website.

AuntiE Loc: 45th Least Free State

Considering the illiterates could not manage our multi million dollar tanks, which have been rendered unusable, hopefully they can manage German armaments. It is going to come down to which army has a higher number of desertions.

On another note, Raytheon and other military contractors, plus Senators thank you for your continuing support. The CIA and Victoria Nuland use you as an example of success.

kemmer

Except when Ukraine shoots down their bombers.

WEBCO

Ukraine lost this war before it ever started.

Why are we giving $100s of billions to a corrupt government of Nazis in the first place?

Our money and weapons will only lead to the deaths of more Ukrainian people.

Why does the US want to prevent our ally, in Israel, from winning its war against terrorism while also holding the opposite belief about a corrupt country that the US has never had a relationship with, or given a damn about?

LogicallyRight Loc: Chicago

And you will be on a funny farm having a gay old time.