Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, 2000: Ukraine.

摘要

Ukraine is governed by a directly elected president and a unicameral parliament, the Verkhovna Rada (Supreme Council), which is elected partially according to proportional representation and partially by direct constituency mandate. Incumbent President Leonid Kuchma was reelected after two rounds of voting on October 31 and November 14, 1999. There were some irregularities during the election campaign and during the balloting, including those cited in the March 7 final report of the Office for Security and Cooperation of Europe/Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) which stated that the presidential elections of October and November 1999 'failed to meet a significant number of the OSCE election related commitments.' However, almost all observers agreed that the election results reflected the will of the electorate. Despite numerous flaws and irregularities, previous national elections in 1998 and 1994 also generally reflected the will of the electorate. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the Ministry of Internal Affairs (which controls the various police forces), and the Ministry of Defense have equal responsibility for internal security and report to the President through the Cabinet. Ukraine is making a difficult transition from a centrally planned to a market-based economy. The Government's human rights record was poor in some areas; however, the Government continued to respect the rights of its citizens in other areas.