Testimony from Ukraine: Racist Violence and Need for Government Action

Check out this Huffington Post article from a partner working at the African Center of Kyiv.

The rise in racist violence has turned what was originally a cultural mission to one that deals largely with hate crimes and urging increased government response.

Charles Asante-Yeboa, the auth0r of this piece, was himself a victim of hate crime and knows firsthand why criminal justice is important for these heinous acts:

I am yet to recover fully from the wounds that I suffered, and the memory
of that evening still makes me cautious as I walk down even busy city streets.
Furthermore, I am still waiting for the perpetrators to be brought to
justice. Like in most other cases of racist violence in Ukraine, there is a
general climate of impunity for those who commit these brazen acts of
discrimination.

As Vice-President Biden meets with high-level officials in his visit to Ukraine, let’s hope he takes the opportunity to encourage the Ukrainian government to take practical and concrete steps – like those outlined in Human Rights First’s Hate Crime Survey to strengthen its response to hate crime.