14 January 2011, 16:18
Mykola Tomenko: The Yardstick of Human Rights Protection is not the Number of Laws, but the Ability of the State to protect the Rights and Freedoms of every Citizen
Mykola Tomenko, Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, regrets that the parliamentary majority had not given the opposition any chance to express remarks and suggestions, after the Ombudsperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine presented the report on the state of observance of human rights and freedoms in Ukraine. He emphasized that there should be two points of view on the present situation with human rights: the point of view of the Ombudsperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the authority - on the one hand, and the point of view of the opposition on the other hand. "However, they gave only one minute for the opposition to express its point of view", M. Tomenko stated.
The Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine stressed that observance of rights and freedoms in Ukraine was even worse than the international experts declared. According to the international experts, Ukraine has lost the status of a free country and has a depressed economy by the economic indexes. In fact, Deputy Chairman is convinced that it counters the present situation in the country. He supposes that it is the Ukrainian citizens that confirm the deterioration of life standards.
The Deputy Chairman declared that the education establishments would shortly face up to another challenge.
"Generally speaking of the cultural rights, half of the citizens of Ukraine believe that the authorities protect the Soviet and the Russian cultures", M. Tomenko stressed.
Summing up, the Deputy Chairman stated that if one wanted to see the real situation with the human rights, one should ask the general public.