Since the right to appeal is one of the important ways of restoring violated human rights, the Commissioner conducted Ukraine’s first generalized analysis of how these rights are complied with by the central bodies of the executive, the local bodies of the executive and bodies of and self-government as well as their officials and officers. The findings can be used to develop and implement measures to improve the authorities’ work in this area.

Appeals to the President. In 1998 the President received 67,334 appeals and 114,711 in 1999. In 1999 collective appeals signed by several hundred people exceeded 6,000. A total of 220,873 citizens appealed to the President in 1998 and 272,244 in 1999, i.e. 23,3% up on the year before. In their appeals in 1999 citizens raised 143,601 issues (22,010 or 18.1% issues more than in 1998). The largest number of appeals came from Donetsk oblast (29,466), Odessa oblast (20,050) and Luhansk oblast (16,173) and Kyiv (21,260).

According to the Presidential Administration, the increase in the number of appeals occurred because of the 1999 election campaign and its resultant higher political activity. However, the nature and number of issues raised in the appeals related primarily to violations of constitutional rights, mostly in the socioeconomic area.

The largest number of the latter concerned issues of social protection – 16,179 in 1998 (13.3%) and 29,680 in 1999 (20.7%). Citizens were complaining against delayed payment of salaries, pensions, awards of compensations and the like. Such appeals were arriving from all regions, filed mostly by retired people, large family and single mothers, and employees of institutions financed out of the state budget. A 45.5% increase in their number proved a lower level of satisfaction of the citizens’ rights to social protection.

In their appeals related to inadequate assurance of lawfulness and law enforcement the citizens raised 15,822 issues in 1998 and 25,049 issues in 1999. One-third of these appeals were complaints against court rulings. People expressed their dissatisfaction about the high crime rate, spread of corruption and abuse of office, unjustified actions of law-enforcement bodies, and the like.

A substantial part of the appeals (over 20,000 i.e. 13.9%) related to provision of housing and housing and municipal services. People complained against unsatisfactory housing conditions, decrease of housing construction, unsatisfactory services of municipal enterprises, and inability to pay for rent and municipal services. By the end of 1999 the number of appeals increased, especially from residents of rural areas where there were frequent electricity supply shutdowns.

Among the acute lingering issues were the return of cash savings and deposits (12,435 appeals or 8.7%) and employment (10,587 appeals or 7.3%). No less was the continuing inflow of appeals on issues of health care.

In 1999 the citizens’ attention was focused on the presidential elections (1,113 appeals), activities of national and local bodies of authority and administration (3,233), introduction of identity codes (3,501 against the 37,143 in 1998), citizenship and clemency (8,195 appeals), and the like.

According to data made public by the Presidential Administration, 7,500 of the appeals were followed up to check on how the citizens’ constitutional rights were complied with in the regions throughout 1999. Of the approximately 6,000 closed cases 3,400 petitions and complaints were resolved positively. This is a negligible share of the total of appeals addressed to the President. The information about the number of appeals sent to other branches of authority for review and their results were not made available.

President Leonid Kuchma pays a great deal of attention to responding to the citizens’ appeals, considering it an important component of his responsibilities as head of state. In 1999 about 650 appeals and complaints were reviewed under his personal control and the overwhelming majority of them was satisfied.

Appeals to Parliament. Judging from the information of the Parliament’s Secretariat, in 1999 parliamentary committees and the Secretariat received 100,529 appeals from the citizens, including 72,144 written appeals and 28,385 filed during personal appointments. This exceeds the number of appeals in 1998 by 21.4%. Most of the appeals in 1999 came from the citizens of Kyiv (10,851), Donetsk oblast (8,285), Dnipropetrovsk oblast (5,609), Kyiv oblast (5,549), Odessa oblast (5,213), and Luhansk oblast (4,875).

121,675 issues were raised in the appeals addressed to Parliament in 1999. The most frequently raised issues – 38,074, or 31.3% – related to unemployment, untimely payment of wages, pensions, social benefits, improper health services, labor safety and unsatisfactory medical care. Citizens complained against the local state bodies’ passive attitude to assuring social guarantees, formalistic practices and callousness, and unjustified refusal to deal with urgent social problems. People were indignant about the unfairness in assigning pensions and setting prices for public utilities. They demanded to revise pension legislation as quickly as possible, liquidate “leveling” in calculating pensions, and increase the size of pensions with allowance for the subsistence level minimum and the work contribution before retirement.

An increasing number of appeals complained against restriction of benefits payable to the disabled, participants of military operations and wars and other categories of citizens by state health institutions, housing and utility services, transport and communication enterprises. There was a substantial increase in the number of letters and complaints related to health protection. People were alarmed about the decreasing quality of services at health institutions, the large-scale reduction of their network, commercialization of health services, and high prices for medicines.

A substantial number of appeals focused on assurance of lawfulness and law enforcement – 18,980, or 15.6% of all problems mentioned. They covered the activities of courts, law enforcement bodies, and the like. People complained about violations of their rights during detention, sentencing, and execution of court orders. As available information showed, the increased number of appeals on issues of assurance of lawfulness and law enforcement, organized crime control and corruption, high crime rates, and personal safety of people were caused, first of all, by unsatisfactory legal reform, slow review of obsolete legislation, spreading impunity of offenses, and unlawful actions of law enforcement bodies.

Also revealing was the substantial share of appeals concerning economic reform, market relations, privatization, price and tax policy, and the operation of commercial structures, accounting for 12,237 issues or 10.1% of all those raised in this group. What prevailed in the appeals were violations of constitutional rights, specifically the right to ownership and its exercise, to involvement in privatization, as well as immoderate and unchecked price hikes, especially for medicines, food products and primary necessities.

Quite a few issues raised in the appeals to Parliament concerned housing legislation (5,703, or 4.7%), employment (4,822, or 4.0%), the work of local radas and state administrations (3,024 or 2.5%), and the like. Other issues that were raised included education, science and culture, activities of the mass media, low standards of TV and radio programs, and the domination of advertising and materials that affect social consciousness, psychology and morals.

In 1999 parliamentary committees considered 35,612 appeals (20,251 written and 15,361 verbal during personal appointments). The largest number of appeals (8,173, or 22.95%) were reviewed by the Committee for Matters of Pensioners, Veterans and Invalids; the Committee for Social Policy and Labor reviewed 5,110 appeals, or 14.3%; the Committee for Human Rights, Ethnic Minorities and Inter-Ethnic Relations – 4,468 appeals, or 12.5%; and the Committee for Legislative Support of Law Enforcement and Organized Crime Control– 3,998 appeals, or 11.05%. These four committees reviewed 21,689 appeals, or almost 61% of those forwarded to all parliamentary committees, obviously because within their competence is drafting legislation directly related to human rights.

Unfortunately, the material provided by the Secretariat of Parliament made it impossible to trace how many of the appeals where resolved and how many were referred to relevant authorities. No recommendations were available on how the processing of appeals could be improved. It was only affirmed that the appeals were considered in compliance with operative legislation, analyzed systematically, referred to relevant bodies, the analytical materials were reported to the Parliament’s administration, passed on to committees and People’s Deputies, and forwarded to bodies of state authority for respective response.

Appeals to the Cabinet of Ministers. In 1998 the Cabinet of Ministers received 32,395 appeals, and in 1999 – 28,579. Most of them came from Kyiv (4,409 and 3,640 in 1998 and 1999 respectively), Donetsk oblast (2,460 and 2,036), Kyiv oblast (2,260 and 1,923), Lviv oblast (1,256 and 1,658), and Kharkiv oblast (1,591 and 1,325).

The largest number of issues raised in the appeals concerned economic reform and tax and price policy – 8,954 appeals (30.3%), social protection – 6,350 (22.2%); housing, municipal economy and road building and maintenance – 2,648 (9.2%); employment – 2,708 (9.5%); guarantee of lawfulness and law enforcement – 1,660 (5.8%). The mentioned issues figured in 22,320 appeals, or almost 79% of those submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers.

Unfortunately, the Cabinet of Ministers’ information forwarded to the Commissioner for Human Rights does not say how the appeals were examined and resolved on their merits and whether they were forwarded to courts or relevant state institutions for the latter to take respective steps to restore the appellants’ violated rights.

Appeals to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA). The Ministry of Internal Affairs received 16,499 appeals in 1998 and 20,976 in 1999. Of them, 4,865 and 5,806 in 1998 and 1999 respectively were complaints against violations of lawfulness – 306 and 310 (in particular, use of force by employees of internal affairs bodies – 80 and 86); actions of the State Traffic Inspectorate – 1,281 and 1,396 (specifically biased investigation of road and transport accidents – 219 and 243, unjustified fines – 113 and 104, unjustified confiscation of drivers’ licenses – 74 and 97, illegal detention of drivers and their vehicles – 68 and 65); and personnel problems – 1,436 and 1,441. According to the MIA’s data for 1998, the facts described in 373 appeals (2.3%) were confirmed completely, 634 (3.8%) confirmed partially, while in 2,457 (almost 15%) the facts were not confirmed. The rest of the cases (almost 89%) were probably not examined at all. In 1999 facts were confirmed in 539 appeals (2.6%), partially confirmed in 758 (3.8%), and not confirmed in 2 689 (12.8%). It is unknown whether the rest of the 16,900 complaints, or 81% of the total, were examined.

According to the MIA’s information, requests on the issues raised in 1,002 appeals (6.1%) were satisfied in 1998, and in 1999 their number was 3,550 (16.9%). However, it was not mentioned exactly what issues were resolved and in what manner. In 1998 explanations were provided for 5,448 appeals (16.9%). In 1998 requests were denied on 1,161 appeals (7.03%) and in 1999 the figure was 844 (4.02%).

As it is obvious from the data mentioned above, the MIA has been receiving complaints against violations of human rights with descriptions of what rights were violated by employees of law enforcement bodies and also in relation to what specific employees of these bodies.

Regrettably, the MIA’s information forwarded to the Commissioner for Human Rights lacked in-depth analyses of the violations of human rights of citizens that made them appeal to the employees of the MIA bodies, the reasons of these violations, the measures taken against offenders, and what the MIA did to protect the citizens’ rights. The results of examination of the appeals were not mentioned.

Appeals to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During 1998-1999 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs processed 133,601 appeal, of which 132,706 (99.3%) raised issues pertaining to activities of consulates, namely employment abroad, legalization and requests for documents on citizenship, search of relatives abroad, processing of documents for departure abroad, explanations of the procedure for exchange of former Soviet passports for Ukrainian passports for departure abroad. Most appeals related to guarantees of the social and legal status of Ukrainian citizens in other countries and consular protection of their rights and interests.

The rest of the appeals related to a large range of issues, such as the Ukrainian government’s foreign policy on restoration of violated human rights, protection of the honor and dignity of the person, requests for addresses of international and charity organizations and Ukrainian diplomatic missions abroad and foreign diplomatic missions in Ukraine, search for foreign business partners, and the like.

Throughout 1999 an increased number of appeals was registered with requests for explanations to settle civil law disputes related to personal, property, labor and family and marital relations.

There was also a substantial increase in the number of appeals requesting explanations of the provisions of other countries’ legislation, bilateral legal instruments, and the provisions of international treaties or current Ukrainian legislation.

Unfortunately, the MIA’s information did not mention the number of citizens whose rights were violated, how the Ministry was involved in restoring these rights, how many of the addressed issues were resolved positively, and how many of the appeals were rejected.

Appeals to the Ministry for Emergencies and Protection of the Population Against the Aftereffects of the Chornobyl Disaster. In 1998 the Ministry received 7,868 written appeals and 7,207 in 1999, i.e. 661 less than the year before. During personal appointments the Ministry’s administration and its structural subdivisions met with approximately 2,526 citizens in 1998 and 1,837 in 1999; of these the Minister met 18 persons in 1998 and 36 in 1999. The Ministry reviewed 2,380 and 1,790 issues within it jurisdiction in 1998 and 1999 respectively.

As in the previous years, in 1999 most appeals were received from the Chornobyl disaster victims and the cleanup operators of its consequences. Issues of social protection were raised in almost 65% of all the appeals, followed by issues of housing (22%), namely compensations for abandoned homes in contaminated areas, relocation to clean zones, and improvement of living conditions for invalids. The other issues pertained to health care (5%), financing medical operations, free and preferential distribution of medicines, medical treatment at resorts, and the like.

In 1999 the largest number of appeals came from Kyiv – 1,277, Kyiv oblast – 1,084, Zhytomyr oblast – 686, Donetsk oblast – 560, Cherkassy oblast – 335, Kharkiv oblast – 317, and Luhansk oblast – 264.

The main reason behind the appeals was the reluctance of respective oblast and Kyiv city state administrations, especially their divisions in charge of dealing with the Chornobyl issues, to examine the addressed issues more thoroughly and take respective measures to resolve them.

The increased number of appeals, repeated appeals included, was occasioned, as the Ministry’s officials informed, by the appellants’ disagreement with the justified and exhaustive explanations they received in compliance with operative legislation on such issues as temporary suspension of the effect of Parliament’s Resolution On the Procedure for Financing in 1999 Measures Related to Mitigating the Consequences of the Chornobyl Catastrophe and Social Protection of the Population of February 18, 1999, confirmation of the status of cleanup operators of the Chornobyl aftereffects in violation of the Cabinet of Ministers’ Resolution On the Examination of Correct of Issuance of “Cleanup Operators of the Chornobyl Accident Aftereffects” Certificates of February 4, 1997 on the basis of respective documents; and violations of legislation governing the distribution of housing.

All these reasons made citizens address the Presidential Administration, the Cabinet of Ministers and People’s Deputies in the hope that the central bodies of the executive would at last settle the painful problems.

In 1998 bodies of state authority and People’s Deputies forwarded 1,408 requests to review citizens’ letters and appeals, and 1,565 in 1999. The Ministry considered and responded to 1,478 appeals (123 a month against 108 in 1998). Putting it otherwise, in 1998 a monthly average of nine appeals were not reviewed in good time, while in 1999 – given an 7% increase in inflowing correspondence – a monthly average of seven appeals were not processed properly.

Therefore, the information the Commissioner received on how citizens’ appeals were processed by the Ministry of Emergencies showed prevailing violations of social and economic rights

. Although the Ministry carries on respective work in considering the citizens’ appeals, the information made available to the Commissioner lacked critical analyses of the violations and the results of examinations of the appeals.

Appeals to the Ministry of Defense. In 1999 the Ministry received 10,977 appeals, which exceeded the figure for 1998 by 2,040. 985 citizens were granted personal appointments (compared to 991 in 1998).

The Minister personally reviewed 157 appeals, his deputies 911, and managers of the main departments 5,861. Thus, the administration of the Ministry reviewed more than a half (63.1%) of all the appeals received. Of the total, 46.3% were positively resolved, 27.5% received preliminary responses, and 23.6% were rejected.

In 1999 unstable logistics support and the absence of proper social and housing conditions for servicemen generated a growing number of appeals related to service of officers (transfer to new locations of service, back pay, etc), conferment of successive ranks, granting of nuclear tests participant status, legality of summons for military service, timely disbursement of pensions and full severance pay upon retirement from the ranks. 1999 also saw more appeals and complaints related to provision of housing and timely pay. At the same time there were fewer appeals related to establishment of the place of service, investigation of reasons of servicemen’s deaths, early retirement of privates and sergeants, and the like.

Appeals to the Ministry of Education and Science. During 1998-1999 the Ministry received 7,979 appeals, of which 1,708 were forwarded from the Presidential Administration; 841 from the Secretariat of Parliament; 594 from the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers; 587 from other institutions and agencies; and 4,249 letters addressed by citizens. Among the citizens’ appeals were 529 collective appeals and 156 repeated appeals.

Applications and complaints pertained mostly to delays of salaries and stipends, certification, training of teachers’ staffs, organization of educational and methodological work, support and financing of innovations and inventions. Most of the appeals expressed frustration about the difficult financial status of scientific and educational institutions. Many appellants were worried by the absence of resources to pay for the higher education of their children. Issues were raised about the status of the Ukrainian language in the country, some of the petitioners insisting on introducing the Ukrainian language in all educational establishments. Quite a few appeals addressed the issues of inadequate financing of research and development, introduction of inventions, and the like.

Personal appointments by the Minister, deputy ministers and ministry officials were made by established procedure. The Ministry informed that all letters from citizens were thoroughly considered and respective measures were taken and explanations given. However, this was not always confirmed by the appeals the Commissioner received from citizens complaining about violations of human rights to education. Neither did the education departments and agencies operating under local bodies of authority forward any information about the citizens’ appeals.

The information that originated from the Ministry of Education and Science confirmed the Commissioner’s conclusion that the right to education (Article 53 of the Constitution) was not completely ensured in the country.

Appeals to the Ministry of Health Care. In 1999 the Ministry received 24,169 appeals, which exceeded by 2.2 times the respective amount in 1998. Of this number 2,075 appeals were forwarded from the Presidential Administration, i.e. 8.6% and in absolute terms twice as much as in 1998; from the Cabinet of Ministers 429 appeals, or 1.8% of all the appeals, which was 2.1 times more than in 1998; and People’s Deputies forwarded 2,067 inquiries and petitions, 38% more than in 1998.

Behind the increase in the citizens’ appeals was the higher than usual sociopolitical and civic activity during the year of the presidential elections as well as the deteriorating status of medical care, although, as the Ministry claimed, the level of medical care in 1999 did not change much compared with 1998.

In 1999, 7,529 (31.2%) of all appeals (compared to 39.7% in 1998) forwarded to the Ministry were readdressed to local health care bodies, 372 (1.5%) were redirected to other agencies (4.4% in 1998), and 15,407 (63.8%) of the raised issues were resolved by the Ministry itself (compared to 5,963, i.e. 52.1%, in 1998).

The share of appeals, which are resolved by the Ministry, is growing with each year. In particular, the number of petitions received by the Ministry in 1999 surpassed the respective number for 1998 by 9,444. Judging from the information provided by the Ministry, the drop in the appeals readdressed to other local health authorities by 8.5% proves that a lot of problems can be resolved locally. Nevertheless, the information did not reflect how many citizens addressed their petitions to local health authorities and why so many appeals were addressed to the President, Parliament and the Cabinet of Ministers on public health issues that could be solved at the local level.

1999 saw the largest number of petitions by medical staff submitted to the Main Directorate for Medical Personnel and Civil Servants – 8,217 petitions or 34% of the total, which was five times more than in 1998. This demonstrated that violations of the medical staff’s rights tended to grow.

The Main Directorate for Organizing Medical Care for the Grown-up Population was the second largest recipient of appeals – 5 997 (24.8%) in 1999 compared to the 3,687 (32.9%) in 1998, which confirmed the conclusion that medical care for a substantial part of Ukraine’s population was unsatisfactory.

Among the appeals quite a few questioned the correctness of conclusions by medical-social experts when establishing disability groups (2,330 appeals in 1998, 2,607 in 1999), provision of medicines and medial items and the high prices for them. Incidentally, before 1998 complaints against provision of the latter tended to go down. But in 1999 petitions on this issue increased 5.3 times and amounted to 6% of all the complaints.

In absolute terms, as compared with 1998, the number of appeals related to unsatisfactory service at the hospitals, dispensaries and outpatient clinics, death rates of patients, and formalistic attitude to patients still remains at the same level. The number of appeals related to abuses by medical employees has grown by three times. The number of appeals regarding salary of medical employees has grown four times.

The number of appeals by People’s Deputies addressed to the MHC increased 2.5 times. They addressed issues on medical care for children, free treatment at the Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery under the Academy of Medical Sciences, free purchase of imported hearing aids, treatment of haematolytic and oncological patients, growth hormones, and dietotherapy for people suffering from phenylketonuria.

Appeals to the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy. The appeals to this Ministry explicitly characterize how human and civic rights and freedoms are complied with in the country. The Ministry rightly believes that the appeals are “a living chain” linking them with “the most socially vulnerable categories of citizens – pensioners, invalids, war and labor veterans. The overwhelming majority of those forwarding appeals or complaints are in difficult straits caused by a grave economic crisis. Behind every letter there is the destiny of a definite person and a problem that must be settled to create proper conditions for life.” This message addressed to the Commissioner shows that the Ministry’s employees are well aware of their duties.

In 1999, 29,651 person addressed the Ministry, i.e. 1,525 more than in 1998. There were 26,282 written appeals (1,307 appeals more than in 1998), and 3,369 appellants were granted personal appointments (by 219 more than in 1998). In 1999 there were 2,410 repeated appeals (217 more than in 1998). Although the percentage of the latter was insignificant (only 8.1%), they prove that at first the case the complaint was studied formalistically, making the person repeat the appeal.

A growing number of appeals were readdressed to the Ministry from the higher authorities (President, Parliament, Cabinet of Ministers). While in 1998 such appeals numbered 7,624 appeals, in 1999 there were 9,728, an increase by 27.6%.

There have been more and more People’s Deputies appealing to the Ministry. While in 1997 they addressed 1,120 appeals, in 1998 – 1 349, in 1999 there were 1,957, i.e. 45% more than in 1998 and 74.7% less than in 1997. Obviously this proves, first of all, the growth of human rights’ violations and impossibility of having them restored locally.

Also, a growing number of appeals were addressed to the directorates for social protection in the Crimean Autonomous Republic, in the oblasts and the cities of Kyiv and Sevastopol. In 1999 these directorates received 266,326 written appeals, which exceeds the 1998 figure (192,331) by 73,995, and also 11,003 repeated appeals, 2,506 more than in 1998. In 1999 the higher authorities forwarded to these directorates 95,187 appeals, and the editor’s offices of central newspapers – 2,112 letters from citizens. 2,136,361 citizens was received by personal appointments, which was 405,003 persons (23.4%) more than in 1998. Besides, in 1999 the directorates for labor and employment in the state administrations in the oblasts as well as the cities of Kyiv and Sevastopil registered 6,877 written appeals (1,162 or 20.3% more than in 1998), and 30,260 citizens were received by personal appointments (1,284 persons more than in 1998).

In 1999 citizens addressed the following issues in their appeals: pension problems – 10,863 (36.6% of all appeals); granting benefits to disabled and war and labor veterans – 2,709 (9.1%); establishment of war participant status – 2,601 (8.7%); provision of vehicles – 2,235 (7.5%); assistance to single parents and families having many children – 1,423 (4.8%); medical treatment at sanatoriums and health resorts – 1,109 (3.7%); appropriate granting of housing subsidies – 754 (2.5%); requests for prosthetic appliances – 332 (1.1%); servicing in boarding schools – 208 (0.7); interpretation of specific laws and standards – 2,388 (8%).

In 1999 the largest number of letters arrived from the following oblasts: Kyiv (1,185, in 1998 – 1,300), Poltava (1,072, in 1998 – 1,140), Cherkassy (934, in 1998 – 1,064), Luhansk (1,706, in 1998 – 1523), Donetsk (2,935, in 1998 – 2381), Lviv (1,278, in 1998 – 1,059), Chernihiv (789, in 1998 – 853), Rivne (540, in 1998 – 492), Ivano-Frankivsk (639, in 1998 – 700), and also from Kyiv (3,113) and Sevastopol (197). The largest number of people received by personal appointments came from the following oblasts: Kyiv (455), Chernihiv (117), Cherkassy (104), Zhytomir (81), and from Kyiv (1613), i.e. 10,000 persons more than in 1998.

The total number of appeals concerning the accuracy of pension calculation grew by 15% in comparison with 1998. In certain oblasts this figure went up by 19% in Donetsk, 21% in Poltava, 15% in Kharkiv, 59% in Chernivtsi, and 40% in the city of Kyiv.

The appeals related to rendering assistance to single parents and families with many children grew by 47%. The largest number of such appeals came from Volyn, Dnipropetrovsk, Zhytomyr, Transcarpathia, Zaporizhia, Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv oblasts.

In 1999 the Ministry was addressed by 8,798 invalids (29.6% of the total number), 1,042 war participants (3.5%), and 14,729 old-age pensioners (49.7%). In 1998 the respective figures were 9,405 (38%), 1,160 (4.6%) and 12,247 (49%).

The analysis showed that a large number of petitions and complaints reflected, first of all, the urgent need of people to settle problems related to social benefits and social protection. The reasons behind the problems were deteriorating living standards of different social groups (pensioners, invalids, families with many children) and the desire of people to check on the accuracy of decisions made at a local level, or on an official’s formalistic consideration of appeals. From this follows the conclusion that citizens are compelled to address central bodies of authority, since at the local level the appellants’ social welfare rights are not adequately ensured.

However, the material provided to the Commissioner for Human Rights did not specify the number and what violations complained against were resolved positively, the number of rejections, and how many people addressed the Ministry for no justified reason. In consequence, the number of violated and restored rights remained unknown.

Appeals to the Ministry of Justice. In 1998 the Ministry received 18,016 written appeals, of which 10,478 (58.16%) of the total addressed issues of non-compliance with the court’s orders and 889 appeals (4.93%) on appeals against actions of court employees and other shortcomings of the courts’ activity. Of the total number of appeals received by the Ministry of Justice in 1998, as the latter informed the Commissioner for Human Rights, the major part – 5,028, or 27,9%, addressed issues that were not within the competence of the Ministry. 3,072 citizens were received by personal appointment in 1998. Unfortunately, specific information about who received the visitors and what issues were discussed was not presented. Neither did the information specify the outcome of consideration of the citizens’ appeals in 1998.

In 1999 the Ministry received and previewed 23,253 written appeals, which was by 6,237 (34%) appeals more than in 1998. Of this number 3,838 (15.8%) appeals related to issues beyond the Ministry’s jurisdiction. 3,392 citizens, i.e. 320 citizens more than in 1998, were received by personal appointments.

In 1999 the Ministry’s structural subdivisions considered 20,256 appeals, i.e. 83.5% of the previewed. Of this number 18,989 comprised complaints (93.7% of the ones considered at the Ministry), 1,171 (5.8%) applications, and 99 (0.5%) proposals. As it proved, 1,064 appeals (5.6%) were substantiated, and 16,963 appeals (89.3%) were untenable. 783 applications were satisfied and 357 applications were rejected. It is not known what happened to the remaining 31 applications. 43 proposals were taken into consideration and 56 were turned down.

The Ministry’s departments and directorates considered 861 applicatios on their merits and referred 18,640 appeals to its subordinate bodies. Departments and directors kept under their direct control 3,285 appeals, and the Ministry 1,088 appeals.

In 1999 most of the appeals focused on non-compliance with the courts’ orders on collection of money – 10,248; non-compliance with courts’ orders on withdrawal of alimony – 5,100; non-compliance with other courts’ orders – 812; delays in review of lawsuits – 821; failure to issue copies of courts’ decisions, orders, rulings and other matters related to the courts’ organizational activities– 738; operation of notaries – 343; explanations of operative legislation – 181.

Regional departments of the Ministry of Justice received 74,726 appeals, of which 11,242, or 15%, were repeated ones. Complaints comprise 61% (45,654), applications 37% (27,972), proposals less than 1% (124). The number of substantiated complaints forwarded to the oblast departments of the Ministry of Justice comprised 5,784, or 8% of the total. Within this period 1,873 of the appeals, or 2.5%, were substantiated.

Judging from the information furnished by the Ministry of Justice, it received a considerable amount of unsubstantiated complaints sent by the citizens directly to the Ministry (16,963 complaints) and to its oblast directorates (68,943).

The Ministry did not give the reasons why the complaints and applications were unfounded. It can be assumed that the appellants (applicants) really had no reason to complain (which is improbable) or did not know how to set forth their grievances because of lack of legal knowledge. Therefore, it might be appropriate for the Ministry of Justice to energize its function of organizing the legal education of the population in accordance with Item 32 of Regulation on the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.

Unfortunately, the Ministry failed to provide information about the number of positive decisions on issues addressed in the appeals, the number of appeals that received substantiated replies, and also the measures taken in relation to unsubstantiated appeals (89.3%).

Appeals to the State Committee of Ukraine for Religion. In 1999 the Committee received 329 appeals, which exceeds the respective figure for 1998 by 117 appeals (212). They centered on the following subjects: relations between religions – 14.2% of all appeals; the Pope’s visit to Ukraine – 13.1%; granting or return of religious premises – 5.8%; relations between the churches – 5.5%; registration of religious communities – 4.0%.

The reports submitted to the Commissioner for Human Rights do not contain any information about violations of rights, in particular the constitutional right to freedom of personal philosophy and religion (Artictle 35 of Ukrainian Constitutions).

Appeals to State Tax Inspectorate (STA). In 1998 the STA received 34,691 appeals. Out of these 1,947 appeals were considered, or 5.6% of all the appeals submitted to the STA. The rest of them – 32,731 – were forwarded for review by the regional tax bodies. In 1999 the STA received 18,980 appeals, 45.3% less than during the previous year. Such a decrease, as the STA informed, was explained by the fact that the issues related to interpretation of tax legislation were resolved in the majority of cases. Of the 14,773 petitions almost 78% were forwarded for consideration by regional tax bodies. 12% of appeals were left for review by the central office of the STA. The majority (94.4% in 1998 and 78% in 1999) of the appeals are being forwarded to the local STA.

The head of the STA, Mr. Azarov, informed the Commissioner for Human Rights about the increased amount of complaints against the actions of the tax bodies’ employees: from 789 in 1998 to 1,168 in 1999. However, there was no information about the number of substantiated and untenable complaints. Not all of them were reviewed by the STA’s Central Office. Of the 1,168 appeals 1,149 were referred to the regional tax bodies.

At the same time, there is no information about violation of citizens’ rights by tax administration’s officials.

The STA claims that its staff regularly carries out work to protect the rights and legitimate interests of taxpayers when they complain against the tax bodies’ financial sanctions and resolutions on administrative violations. Unfortunately, this is not confirmed by what the Commissioner for Human Rights is notified about, while the information of the STA presents a different picture.

Thus, in 1999 taxpayers and individual citizens filed 726 complaints against 809 decisions, resolutions and orders of regional tax bodies. Of this number 423 appeals, i.e. 52.2% of the total, were reviewed and 94 were revoked, or 11.6% of all the appeals. At the same time, there have been many cases of gross violations of the rights of taxpayers. One case in point was the violation of rights of the editorial staff of the newspaper Silski Visti (Village News) and its individual employees. Such a situation of things raises a natural question: if the complaints against the actions of tax officials were justified, why then were 530 tax officials disciplined and 729 “denied premiums” in 1999?

The STA established a public reception room, which in 1999 was visited by 2,499 persons. However, the STA information does not say how many of these citizens received appropriate responses to their complaints and who of the managers and officials carried out the personal receptions.

The STA also set up a “telephone of trust”. In 1998 it was used by 40 persons, in 199 by 11, but, judging from the STA information, only in four cases (34.6%) the unlawful actions by tax officials were confirmed. The decrease in the number of appeals via the “telephone of trust” could prove that this particular form of the STA’s communication with the citizens regarding violation of their rights is not effective.

Appeals to the State Department for the Enforcement of Penalties. In 1999 the Department received 2,891 appeal, which was 12.8% more than in the previous year. Among the appeals 1,932 were from the Ukrainian citizens, 348 from convicts serving sentences, 182 from the staff of the Department’s divisions, 84 from World War II invalids, 30 from participants in the cleanup operations at Chornobyl, and 27 were collective appeals.

2,164 appeals arrived from convicts and their relatives. The majority of the appeals raised the following issues: transfer to other penal institutions – 1,268; early discharge– 91; advance payment of maintenance – 60; permission of meeting – 39; pardoning of a convict – 32; provision of information about convicts – 24; other – 561 (issues unspecified).

According to the State Department for Enforcement of Penalties, the requests of the appeals were allowed in 455 cases, rejected in 568 (653) cases; explanations were provided in 1,552 (886) cases. The information set forth in 161 appeals was not confirmed; in 38 appeals it was partially confirmed; and in only one appeal it was confirmed completely. Official investigations were conducted by the results of these examinations and the guilty officials were disciplined. No more definite information was made available to the Commissioner.

Appeals to the State Property Fund. The State Property Fund (SPF) informed that it registered 1,480 appeals form citizens in 1998, and 820 appeals in 1999. The majority of the appeals were letters, complaints and proposals related to the activities of such trust funds and companies as Kyiv Rus–MDS, RiznoexportTrust and Riznoexport, Olbi-Dovira, First Ukrainian Privatization Fund, Naftoenergoinvest. Some of the letters related to the case of Slid-Trust, which was investigated by the MIA Department of Kyiv’s Minsk district.

The citizens wrote that joint stock companies, trust companies, investment funds and investment companies failed to pay dividends and did not respond to the applicants’ appeals. Also, complaints were considered about the activities of trust companies. The typical issues concerned the terms and conditions of terminating agreements on agency and receipt of securities on the personal accounts of the principals.

Regrettably, no specific information was provided on whether or not complaints about the violation of citizens’ rights were confirmed and what of the rights were restored.

Appeals to the Security Service. In 1998 the Security Service and its regional bodies registered 22,663 written appeals and 16,728 persons were received by appointment. In 1999, 28,054 written appeals were received and 16,692 persons were granted appointments. In 1998-1999, 6,785 visitors appealed directly to the Central Office and 299 were granted personal appointments with the Security Service management. The appeals focused on crime and corruption (1,709), drug trafficking and smuggling (330), abuses of office (993), discharge of convicted persons and payment of compensations for withdrawn or confiscated property (3,125), requests to study the archives on criminal cases, and the like.

Regrettably, the Security Service did not analyze how many of the appeals were considered and checked against the information they contained, how many of the raised issues were confirmed, and how many received substantiated or positive responses. All this makes it impossible to arrive at any conclusion on whether citizens’ rights were really violated. But even the listed issues and their amount speak of what citizens worry about and what alarms them most of all.

An analysis of the citizens’ right to appeal to the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, the Attorney General’s Office, the Central Election Commission, and Supreme Council of Justice merits special attention.

In 1998-1999 the Constitutional Court of Ukraine received 4,762 appeals, of which 29 appeals were referred to court chambers for consideration. The other 4,733 appeals, as the Constitutional Court informed the Commissioner for Human Rights, did not comply with the requirements of the Law On the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, of which the appellants were notified as provided for by the Regulations of Constitutional Court of Ukraine.

The Constitutional Court informed that quite a few of the appeals concerned the constitutionality of laws and regulations of Parliament, acts of the President and acts of the Cabinet of Ministers that to a certain extent govern the rights of citizens.

The majority of the citizens turned to the Constitutional Court with requests to explain issues that reflect their rights and the constitutionality of laws. Obviously, the citizens had a reason to do so, since they see that their rights are violated because of inadequate legislation. This prompts the conclusion that the legal education of citizens should be improved and amendments be introduced to the Law On the Constitutional Court of Ukraine on extending its duties inasmuch as it concerns the justification of refusal to review the appeals of citizens.

Appeals to the Attorney General’s Office. In 1999 public prosecutors received 305,600 applications and complaints, i.e. 6.8% more than in 1998 (286,000). The increase was registered in all the oblasts, except for Rivne oblast (-6.8%) and Ternopil oblast (-8.9%). The Attorney General’s Office received 52,400 appeals, which exceeded the respective figure for 1998 by 5,500, or 10.8%. 210,000 citizens applied during personal appointments at prosecutors’ offices in 1998 and 220,000 in 1999; of these 2,600 and 4,500 appeals respectively were filed with in the Attorney General’s Central Office.

496,000 citizens appealed to public prosecutors in 1998 (286,000 in writing, 210,000 during personal appointments), and in 1999 the number was 525,600 (305,600 in writing, 220,000 during personal appointments).

In 1998 public prosecutors’ offices considered 207,000written applications and complaints, or 72.6% of the total. In 1999 there were 223,800 such appeals, or 73.2% of the total, and only 11.8% of the reviewed appeals were allowed. However, the Attorney General’s Office did not inform what decisions the public prosecutors adopted.

Judging from the information about the complaints by areas of the prosecutor’s activity, in 1999 most of the reviewed complaints pertained to investigation and inquest – 84,400, of which every tenth was allowed; on issues of general supervision – 83.5%, 14,300 or 17.1% of them allowed; on decisions of courts in criminal and civil cases – 35,500, allowed – 2,200, or 6.2%. In all, 26,5000 appeals were allowed, which was 2% less than in 1998.

The information of the Attorney General’s Office showed that a large number of citizens addressed the prosecution authorities (496,000 in 1998, and 525,600 in 1999). While 27,000 complaints were allowed in 1998, in 1999 the number was 26,500.

Unfortunately, the Commissioner was not informed about the results of reviews of the appeals and what sort of issues the citizens raised in them. The Attorney General’s Office responded formalistically to the Commissioner’s inquiry, actually ignoring the provisions of Article 22 of the Law On the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights.

Appeals to the Central Election Commission. In 1998 the Central Election Commission (CEC) received 956 written appeals from the citizens, 42 telegrams, and 201 citizens were granted personal appointments. In all, 1,199 persons appealed to the CEC in 1998. In 1999 the CEC received 1,474 appeals. In their letters the citizens complained against being denied registration as candidate deputies, about being denied payment for electioneering, irregularities of election returns, violations of election legislation, inefficiency of certain election commissions, and the like.

In violation of the requirements of Article 22 of the Law On the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for HumanRrights Central Election Commission did not inform the Commissioner whether or not the information in the appeals was confirmed, what measures were taken, and whether all appellants received substantiated replies. To a certain extent it characterizes the CEC’s carelessness in reviewing the citizens’ appeals. Small wonder, since the CEC lacks a separate organizational unit of specialists who would deal exclusively with appeals and complaints of citizens.

Appeals to the Supreme Council of Justice. In 1999 the Supreme Council of Justice received 1,191 written complaints from citizens. 338 citizens were granted personal appointments. According to the information of the Supreme Council of Justice, most of the complaints were not within its competence, and, therefore, they were forwarded to proper bodies.

Unfortunately, the information of the Supreme Council of Justice was insufficient for making any conclusions on whether or not the citizens’ rights were violated.. There was no analysis of the number of complaints that were redirected as well as a list of specific issues mentioned in the citizens’ claims. There was just a general statement: “Citizens complained against the actions of employees of law enforcement bodies as well as the actions or inactivity of state executors, and the like.” It was difficult to understand what the actions or inactivity were about and what employees were complained against.

Such an approach of the Supreme Council to the review of appeals made it impossible for the Commissioner to analyze more thoroughly the nature of the appeals to this institution.

Appeals to Local State Administrations and Bodies of Local Self-Government. According to the statistics provided by the Presidential Administration, the Council of Ministers of the Crimean Autonomous Republic, the local administrations and bodies of self-government received 1,690,897 appeals in 1999, which was by 64,729 appeals more than in 1998. The largest number of appeals appeals were filed in Lviv oblast (131,835), Ivano-Frankivsk oblast (97,003), Kharkiv oblast (95,666), Dnipropetrovsk oblast (83,100) and Kyiv (85,288).

In 1999, 3,310,226 citizens appealed during personal appointments, which was by 149,856 more than in 1998. Of these 553,797 (9.8%) were invalids, participants of hostilities and wars, widows of servicemen killed in action; 241,014 (4.2%) – families with many children and single mothers; 1,478,240 (26.4%) – veterans of labor and pensioners; 3,349,049 (59.6%) – other categories of the population. The information did not specify who was included into “other categories of the population”.

The furnished data proves that the majority of the Ukrainian population turns for solution of problems to local bodies of authority and bodies of self-government. Thus, in 1999, 6,646,095 citizens applied to all structures of state authority and bodies of local self-government, i.e. 84.7% applied to the local bodies of state authority and bodies of local self-government, 9.3% to central bodies of the executive, and 6.0% to the President, Cabinet of Ministers or Parliament. Village radas received 32.3% of all the appeals, township radas – 21.9%, district state administrations – 14.0%, oblast administrations – 8.9%.

In 1999 the directorates for social protection at the local state administlrations received 266,326 appeals from citizens in; 95,197 appeals were forwarded to them by the higher authorities; and 2,136,361 citizens were granted personal appointments. The departments for labor received 6,877 written appeals; 2,216 appeals were forwarded to them by the higher authorities; and 30,260 persons were granted personal appointments. The regional directorates for justice received 74,726 appeals.

But as analyes prove the majority of issues mentioned in the citizens’ appeals are within the competence of local bodies of state administration. Lack of attention and of proper response to the issues raised and the lack of people’s trust in local officials explains the large number of appeals addressed to the legislature and executive.

In 1999 local authorities received 5,241,645 appeals on such issues as social protection – 157,312 (30.0%); utility and road services – 541,592 (10.3%); housing – 438,911 (8.3%); law and order – 260,427 (5.0%); labor – 201,982 (3.9%); health care 139,137 (2.7%); education – 135,675 (2.6%); and others – 1,498,609 (37.1%).

The cited data proves that people are most of all concerned about their economic, social and personal rights. Unfortunately, the provided material usually lacked information about the results of review of the mentioned problems, and also the item “and others” was not specified.

Compared to 1998, the appeals addressed to the President, Cabinet of Ministers, Parliament, Constitutional Court and other bodies of state authority as well as bodies of local self-government makes it possible to arrive at certain conclusions on how citizens actually exercise their right to appeal and how the issues they raise in their appeals are resolved today.

The reason for the increase in the number of appeals to different state institutions could have been the high political activity that prevailed during the presidential elections, as explained, for instance, by the Ukrainian President’s Administration. But when analyzing the raised issues and the specific bodies they were addressed to, it becomes evident that the appeals result first of all because of the general socioeconomic crisis in the country and the numerous violations of the social, economic, civil, personal and political rights of the citizens. The appeals confirm the statistical and sociological information about the general deterioration of living standards of a substantial part of the population, violations of their constitutional right to work, disbursement of wages, social benefits and pensions in good time, health protection, education, and fair and timely protection of civil rights by courts and law-enforcement bodies.