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Ukraine’s Human Rights Acknowledged
// US Department of State evaluated democracy in CIS countries
US Department of State is quite critical of the human rights situation in former Soviet republics. Out of all CIS countries, only Ukraine got praised by Washington in the report on human rights.
Among the post-Soviet states, US Department of State criticized Belarus more than others. The report concludes that in 2006 “Lukashenko’s administration strengthened the policy of repressions”, mentioning the presidential elections of March 2006 as the most evident proof.
The report went down on Kazakhstan. Astana is charged with “politically motivated accusations against the opposition, limiting the freedom of mass media and the activities of NGOs”.
Kyrgyzstan was the next to be criticized. The Department of State spoke negatively of the new constitution ratified by Kyrgyz parliament in December, for it “does away with many essential elements of the checks and balances system”. Among other CIS states, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan were especially criticized.
The only country to receive US approval was Ukraine. The report says it made the largest step towards democracy, among other CIS countries, in 2006. “After the ‘Orange Revolution’, Ukraine is showing progress in human rights sphere,” says the Department of State.
Nonetheless, the latter made it clear that it is early for Kiev to rest on democracy oars yet. “There is still a number of serious issues, primarily corruption, in Ukraine,” said the report.
However, Kiev should be satisfied with the evaluation it received, in comparison to other CIS states.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 07, 2007
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