Ukraine sees sharp rise in number of protests in 2012
There were 60% more protests in Ukraine in 2012 compared to 2011. This according to Volodymyr Ishchenko, an expert at the Centre for Society Research, who presented the report “Protests, Victories and Repression in Ukraine: 2012 Monitoring Results” in Kyiv on March 20. The research was conducted with support from the International Renaissance Foundation’s Civil Society and Good Governance Program and the National Endowment for Democracy.
Volodymyr Ishchenko highlighted that a record number of protests was recorded in 2012 since the start of monitoring activities in 2009 (3,636 events).
According to the expert, the increase in protests in 2012 was mainly due to election-related political protests (from 25% in 2011 to 34%). For the third consecutive year, the majority of protests involved socioeconomic issues (43% of protests in 2012). The number of socioeconomic protests increased from 1,374 in 2011 to 1,546 in 2012. The most common demands made last year concerned illegal construction and privatization of urban space, the interests of small businesses, wage arrears, social welfare payments and the environment.
Volodymyr Ishchenko emphasized that the absolute majority of socioeconomic protests (58%) took place free of political parties, trade unions, NGOs or non-partisan political groups. Commenting on this data, the expert said: “Leading political forces in Ukraine, including the opposition, do not represent the socioeconomic interest of most citizens of Ukraine.” “Support of socioeconomic protests by political parties is often just self-PR,” he added.
The expert said the most common protests were against the activities of President Viktor Yanukovych and the Party of Regions (29% and 26%, respectively); illegal construction and privatization (25% and 27%); and the interpretation of Soviet history and WWII (46% and 30%).
Contacts:
Centre for Society Research
Volodymyr Ishchenko
+380 97 396 44 99
info@cedos.org.ua
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The goal of the Civil Society and Good Governance Program is to promote development of a system to protect the rights of public and municipal service consumers and to support NGO policy capacity building.
