Cameron’s Dangerous Game Could Have Dire Consequences in the East

The ‘continuous delay’ of a European Court of Human Rights ruling will not go unnoticed by Eastern Europe’s authoritarian governments

On the face of it, David Cameron’s stance on the European Court of Human Rights’ ruling which would have allowed prisoners in the UK to vote seems the right one. He has upheld the will of the democratically-elected House of Commons against the whim of an intrusive ‘foreign court’.

It is not just that the UK is opting out of ECHR decisions, but it is how it is doing it. First London pursued the avenue of trying to make the court’s rulings ‘advisory’ to those of national courts, but failed to make the inroads it would have liked to have done in the Brighton Declaration. Now the UK is taking a different tack. The ECHR has given the UK 6 months to fall into line, but UK ministers have suggested they will just indefinitely put off the court’s ruling and leave it hanging in the air. They would simply submit annual 'progress reports',so kicking its implementation into the long grass for the foreseeable future. Such ingenuity is the kind the Kremlin would be proud of.

Now, on the specific issue in question many would sympathise with the UK government’s position. One could reasonably argue, in a moral sense, that the individual who has taken the rights of others should lose rights of their own, and many clearly think so, including the Shadow Chancellor. I happen to think that excluding these people further from society probably does little to help rehabilitate them, but if people who’ve done nasty things can’t vote I wouldn’t lose much sleep over it.

What bothers me, from a Europe wide perspective, is how this mechanism might be used elsewhere. Certain members of the Council of Europe already drag their feet when it comes to Strasbourg’s rulings, and consistently fail to bring their national standards into line with those of the Council of Europe. But at the moment, at least we can say with some justification that these countries are failing to achieve European standards, and to satisfy the conditions that they entered into when they joined the Council of Europe. Now however, they might just ‘indefinitely postpone’ judgements against them, arguing quite reasonably that there should not be one rule for them and different rules for others.

The UK on the other hand needs to look carefully at the path it has taken. It seems reasonable to lobby about what cases and issues might be excluded from Strasbourg’s reach. The backlog of cases at the ECHR is well documented, and perhaps, as some have suggested, there are issues of conscience which might reasonably be put firmly in the remit of national governments. What I would take issue with is the Prime Minister’s emotive language about the ECHR being a ‘foreign court’.

Nobody forces the UK to be a member of the Council of Europe. Belarus after all shows how you can manage without such foreign meddling. The metro bombers who were sentenced to death, and their families informed the following day, didn’t have to hang around for Strasbourg’s dithering. I’m not suggesting the UK wants to follow Belarus, but listening to some people you have to wonder. On the back of various cases, such as the infamous ‘pet cat’ case, human rights has become a dirty word in Britain. Sections of the press have become remarkably successful in pinning the blame for these things on these so-called ‘foreign’ organisations. However, I am reminded of Radek Sikorski’s succinct take on UK-EU relations in his famous speech of last November: “...please start explaining to your people that European decisions are not Brussels's diktats but results of agreements in which you freely participate.” Perhaps the UK needs to rethink that participation, if it’s such an issue for them. With UKIP still noisy, and even calls to pull Britain out of the Eurovision Song Contest, perhaps this is a discussion Britons urgently need to be having.

However, staying within but undermining an institution such as the ECHR, the last chance saloon for many in Europe’s east, seems irresponsible. The consequences of bending the rules will be seen far beyond Britain’s prisons.

UK press show that racism works both ways

British press reports about Ukraine are well wide of the mark, and in some cases just plain offensive --- Before even getting onto Euro 2012, the British press is letting itself down badly over Ukraine. For many years that country was ignored by most of the British papers (with the notable exception of the FT) and tended to spew out occasional clichéd pieces on the failure of the Orange Revolution. The Daily Mail has bought into the Tymoshenko story as one of their 'human interest' stories, to the extent even of reporting lovingly on the white tiger from her presidential election campaign. Back in the winter of early 2010 I distinctly remember most people being unimpressed by the ads as we slid around on ice and snow that had not been cleared (with some suggesting that funds for snow clearing might have been diverted into her election campaign). By all means highlight accusations of mistreatment in prison, but please don't start doting. --- I must say at this point that the last thing I want to do here is just indulge in straightforward 'whataboutism' of the kind peddled by Russia Today or the absurdly-named 'Pravda'. I have no truck with people who say that just because British MPs stole cat food, or even duck islands on their expenses that we're 'just as bad' as ministers in CIS countries stealing companies and mansions, or that the inadequacies of western democracies are no different to rigged elections and constitutional vandalism in the CIS. I think we could be a little more humble at times (Freedom House should not rate western democracies as a perfect '1'-the people living in those countries certainly don't feel that way) but we have a right to criticise abuses where they take place. --- It was the aforesaid (nye)Pravda that ran a story on the Luis Suárez racism row claiming that English football was 'riddled with racism', in a clear effort to deflect from the story that Roberto Carlos had again had a banana hoyed at him in a Russian league match. The fact that Suárez was banned for ten matches, and that John Terry is being hauled in front of the courts, while nothing has been done (to my knowledge) about the Carlos situation in Russia tells its own story. We know that the British media too is 'not perfect', hence the Leveson Inquiry, although some of the UK papers' most recent abuses are unlikely to arouse much concern in the isles, directed as they are towards the distant poorer half of the continent. --- Interesting though the politics is, for the tabloids it's coverage of Euro 2012 that's going to shift newspapers. Enter The Sun (and on the topical subject of boycotts, The Sun has form here), who started spewing out various negative articles on the host nations, as soon as England had managed to qualify of course. They have picked up on three apparently salient issues, those of racism, hooliganism and sex tourism. I won't say that these problems don't exist (as Ukrainian government representatives have tried to) but the reporting of them is not even sensationalist, just plain absurd. Theatrical-looking photos accompany stories about nationalist training camps for hooligans. Nobody I know here in Ukraine knows anything about it and it looks like far-fetched nonsense. I think what is more likely is that there could be isolated flare-ups due to a combination of alcohol, the language barrier, and cultural misunderstanding. Some of the shoving on the metro or aggressively bad customer service (some people here have a way of saying 'zakrita'-we're closed-which might as well be f*** off). That's the kind of thing which Ukrainians routinely live with but can flick the switch of the average Brit pretty easily. Ukrainian police can also not be relied upon. These are genuine things to be concerned about. Semi-fictional militarised hooligan firms are not. The visit of 6000 Scotland fans to Kiev in 2006 gives an idea of what to expect. There was a nasty incident in the city centre which affected some supporters. For the vast majority however, the experience of coming to Kiev was a positive one, and the locals took to their kilted visitors.

--- On another issue The Sun also offers up an equally staged-looking photo of sex workers lined up in front of Shakhtar's Donbas Arena. Now in one sense there is a very serious issue here. Ukraine does indeed have high levels of HIV and AIDS, particularly in the east and south of the country, but I don't see that the issue is any different from elsewhere. People who use sex workers anywhere are playing with fire, not only in Ukraine. Should we portray British men with revolting habits as the victims in this?

--- Then there are the Walcotts, brother and father of Theo, who have decided not to come, and a broad consensus amongst various people in the UK that this is probably sensible. Again, it doesn't make much sense to people on the ground here in Kiev. Do they think that they'll be racially-abused in the hotels and restaurants? Are Arsenal paying their players so little these days that the Walcotts can't afford taxis and will need to take the metro late at night? It's true that Ukraine doesn't have a history of multi-culturalism, but there are plenty of countries that don't. Moscow is famous for its racism problems and neo-Nazism which includes celebrating the birthday of Hitler (the very man who ransacked their country and regarded them as 'untermenschen'), but I would still bet on a racist attack being just as likely in London, probably more likely. Kiev is a pretty safe city. --- On the issue of racism there is one more thing that needs to be said, that the very treatment of Ukraine and its stereotypes in the British press illustrates a widespread racism against Eastern Europeans in Britain which is only just beginning to be tackled. Would the racist rant lady on a Croydon tram have been arrested if her rant had only been against Polish people? The Polish are given a horrendous time in the British press and on message boards and phone-ins, although they are net contributors to UK coffers, staying typically for short spells before returning to Poland with what they've saved. The 'Borat' stereotype is all over the place. I remember a contributor once on a football message board referring to Eastern European countries collectively as 'Eastbumistan'. Would he have written something like that about Africa or Asia without being censured? --- There are plenty of legitimate areas in which to go after Ukraine, whether it be the rip-off hotel prices, lack of readiness for the tournament, alleged corruption in improving the facilities or the worsening political climate in which the tournament is being held, but cheap racist shots from the British press are shameful. Theo Walcott's brother is probably right about one thing though-“some things aren’t worth risking”-judging by the performance of the England team in major tournaments, people are probably best off staying home.

And now the news - 67 years ago there was a war

Ukrainian tv viewers take the blue pill --- A few months ago it was still noticeable that Ukrainian news programmes on major networks were continuing to cover all the major news stories, in contrast to Russia where major events such as mass protests and terrorist attacks are completely absent from the country's tv screens. There was perhaps pro-government bias in evidence, but not the complete absence of these events from the news. That has now all changed. More recently the main news programme on Ukraine's most popular television channel, Russian language channel INTER, seems totally devoid of serious news. --- In the most absurd example, the Easter Day broadcast contained a feature lasting a good 15 minutes or so about Easter Island, solely for the fact that it's named after Easter. It was very nice, interesting even, but by no remote stretch of the imagination could it be considered news. --- It was of course the 9th May last Wednesday, Victory Day, and as expected, commemorations have continued to be higher profile, and distinctly re-Sovietised from the more low key commemorations of previous times. It seems to be having the 'desired effect', with plenty of people this year sporting the Dundee United coloured ribbons on bags and cars. On the 9th May itself it's perhaps understandable, but 'Great Patriotic War' related items have fronted the news every day for the past week. It can hardly be called news. --- One worries that the powers in control of the media would like Ukrainians to take the blue pill, to disengage their minds from the serious issues facing the country. After all, many of these news items are interesting, and seem harmless enough, and bad news can be very fatiguing in a country that has plenty of it. To me, however, this is very saddening. People here are already isolated enough. --- Today the issues relating to Tymoshenko's hospital treatment eventually made it on around 16 minutes into the broadcast, and there was even a statement from the opposition. Protests against Putin in Russia were also featured. Perhaps there is still hope.

Merkel boycotts Ukraine? Business as usual.

Germany has been boycotting Ukraine's interests for some time. --- I realise this assertion might grate with some poeple, particularly as I know and work with Germans here in Kiev who are working hard on the various civil society initiatives that Germany generously funds, but I can't get excited about Chancellor Merkel's threat to boycott the European Championships. It seems somewhat pious when one considers that Germany has not made Ukraine or Ukrainians' lives very easy in the past couple of years. Germany sees itself in all things as a benign actor, but the reality is rather different. --- Go back to 2008, when Germany made it absolutely clear that its relations with Russia were more important than the security of those countries sandwiched between them. For Ukraine and Georgia, that meant an effective veto of Russia, a non-member, over their bid for NATO MAPs. Go back further, and it was her predecessor Schröder who signed up to Nord Stream, a game-changer in the energy security geopolitics of the region which greatly undermines the position of Ukraine. German EU commissioner Günter Verheugen quipped that the idea of Ukraine joining the EU was as absurd as that of Mexico joining the United States. More recently, German police arrested and jailed a group of Ukrainian tourists on a two day visit to Germany on their one year Polish Schengen visas. They were released without apology. Apparently, quite absurdly, they should have gone and cancelled their one year visas and got two day tourist visas. The Schengen system isn't working, but it is Germany's job to work that out, rather than to label all Ukrainians as undesirables. What kind of message does that send? --- The boycott threat is of course not made in such a wide context, but is part of the current political game. Some kind of a statement does need to be made. It also recognises that there is indeed something deeply unpalatable about Holland v Germany being played, and beers being guzzled on Kharkiv's Ploshcha Svobody, just a stone's throw from Europe's most high profile political prisoner (the authorities have already moved her once, and may conceivably do so again in a feeble attempt to minimise such embarrassment). Perhaps Merkel is doing the right thing, but against the wrong things which preceded it it looks less impressive. Germany should in fact, albeit indirectly, accept some responsibility for what has happened here since 2010. --- As one leading commentator said a couple of years back, it would have meant an awful lot if Chancellor Merkel had come to Kiev and made a speech in support of Ukraine's European ambitions. Don't forget how narrowly Tymoshenko lost the Presidential election. German endorsement of a European and Euro-Atlantic choice for Ukraine might well have been enough to swing the election for her, but instead it was held against a background of resignation, that Europe didn't want Ukraine and rapprochement with Russia was paramount. Merkel was not there for her then.