Pressure on British Government for Complete Boycott of Eurocup 2012, Protest Host Ukraine’s Human Rights Record

By Pearl Rimon
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

LONDON, England – The British government is being pressured by the Labour party to continue its current boycott of the Eurocup 2012 tournament. The soccer tournament is being jointly hosted by Poland and Ukraine. Due to deteriorating human rights violations and the actions of Ukranian President Yanukoyvch in the trial of Yulia Tymoshenko, a political rival, several European governments have announced their boycott of the tournament. All of the participants in Group D of the tournament, England, France and Sweden boycotted the group stage.

David Lidington, Europe minister (Photo Courtesy of Press)

The Labour party wants Prime Minister David Cameron’s office to completely boycott the entire tournament, as opposed to their current decision of only boycotting the early stages.

Emma Reynolds, shadow Foreign Office minister said, “Why does the Government still take the position that human rights don’t seem to matter in the knockout stages of the European Championships? Is it that they don’t have confidence in their own policy or they don’t have confidence in our team?”

The British Europe minister David Lidington has commented that the government will review the attendance by ministers at later stages of the tournament under review.  “We have made it clear in every conversation at official and ministerial level with our Ukrainian counterparts that if they want to have the democratic future, the closer links with Europe that the Ukrainian government says it wishes to see and we believe needs to happen, then they have to show that they are serious about democratic as well as about economic reform.”, Lidington has said.

David Cameron’s office also faces pressure from Eugenia Tymoshenko, Yulia Tymoshenko’s daughter who is calling for the Prime Minister to rescind President Yanukoych’s invitation to the opening ceremonies for the   2012 Olympics this summer. She also calls for visa bans on high ranking Ukrainian officials and for their assets to be frozen.

President Yanukoyvch’s handling of the Tymoshenko case has caused concern for the country’s human rights record. Tymoshenko was convicted for abuse of power charges and is currently undergoing investigation after Yanukoyvch linked her to a 16 year old murder case.

For further information, please see:

ITV News — Labour Urge Government to Boycott Euro 2012 – 20 June 2012

United Kingdom Press Association — Government Under Euro 2012 Pressure – 20 June 2012

The Guardian — Yulia Tymoshenko’s Daughter: Bar Ukraine President from Olympics – 18 June 2012

Author: Impunity Watch Archive