The Role of Helsinki Group on the Observance of Human Rights in Ukraine

This Bachelor thesis discusses the history of Ukrainian dissidents, especially in their final stage known as the Ukrainian Helsinki Group. It focuses on the influence of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group on the observance of human rights in Ukraine. This organization was created after the Soviet Union signed the Final Act of the Conference in Helsinki, and was intended to inform the Ukrainian people and the world community about the human rights situation in Ukraine. Although it was a legal civil organization, soon after its founding all of its members were arrested and imprisoned for many years in labor camps and in exile. Despite this repression, and primarily due to the strong will of the political prisoners and members of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group abroad, this organization managed to continue reporting about the constant human rights violations perpetrated by the Soviet Communist regime. These violations occurred in spite of that fact that they were the very same human rights which the Soviet Union promised to observe and protect at the Helsinki Conference. The Group's members also managed to inform the world community about the status of political prisoners in the gulags. That information, coupled with pressure from the political representatives of the United States and Canada, was instrumental..