Evgeny Zakharov

Biography of Evgeny Zakharov

Date of Birth:12.11.1952

Evgeny Yefimovich Zakharov - Chairman of the Board of the Ukrainian Helsinki Union for Human Rights, Director of the Kharkiv Group for the Protection of Rights. Participant in the dissident movement of the 1970s-1980s, journalist.

Place of Birth. Education. Born in Kharkiv. In 1975, he graduated with honors from the Mechanical and Mathematical College of Kharkiv University (in the field of Applied Mathematics), in 1982 he defended his dissertation at the Rostov Institute of Railway Engineers.

Social Engagement. In the 1970s, he began to actively participate in the human rights movement. According to Zakharov, there were 14 victims of political repression among his close relatives. Moreover, the family was always closely connected with dissident circles. In short, the transition from problems with asynchronous motors to human rights issues turned out to be coincidental. By the way, the future human rights defender was already engaged in reading and disseminating banned samizdat literature in the USSR during his school years.

In 1989, Zakharov became deputy chairman of the city commission for the restoration of the rights of the rehabilitated and simultaneously editor-in-chief of the magazine Human Rights in Ukraine. He organized the Kharkiv Human Rights Group (KHG). This group quickly developed into one of the most respected domestic human rights organizations. In 1998, the KHG was awarded the prize of the European Union and the USA for Democracy and Civil Society - for its active work on human rights education, analysis of the situation regarding the observance of human rights in Ukraine, and for providing legal assistance to hundreds of specific individuals whose rights were violated. He holds the position of deputy chairman in the KHG.

Since 1989, Zakharov has been a member of the Moscow Helsinki Group, since 1995 of the International Society for Human Rights (Ukrainian Section), and since 2003 of the Ukrainian Internet Society. In 2004, he became the chairman of the board of the Ukrainian Helsinki Union for Human Rights, and is currently a member of the board.

Since the year 2000, the prominent human rights defender has been editing the magazine Human Rights. Since 1987, he has published more than 150 works on human rights issues in Ukraine, Russia, Lithuania, Germany, France, the USA, Denmark, and Poland.

In the years 2014-2015 - member of the competition commission responsible for the nomination of the director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, appointed based on a quota from the President of Ukraine.

Aspirations for the Ombudsman. Zakharov has been and is non-partisan. He states that he has been pressured into politics multiple times, but in order to preserve his independence, he had to decline. The only public position he is willing to accept is that of the Ombudsman, as the Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights, if acting properly, can actually stop 'the arbitrariness of power towards the 'little Ukrainian.' The human rights defender considers it appropriate to introduce several Ombudsman positions in Ukraine (analogous to some Western countries): for children's affairs, access to information and the protection of personal data, and the rights of minorities (ethnic, religious, etc.). In addition, according to Evgeny Zakharov, the introduction of representatives of the Ombudsman in the regions is extremely necessary (especially since this is made possible by a special law) - from among the local residents who have experience in human rights work and possess solid moral authority. By the way, regarding reputation: In August 2006, at the height of the political crisis following the elections, Zakharov was one of the few social activists invited to a roundtable discussion of the National Unity Universal of President Viktor Yushchenko with the leaders of the parliamentary factions.

In February 2007, the human rights defender attempted to obtain the position of Ombudsman. Zakharov was proposed as a candidate by about 300 Ukrainian civil organizations, including human rights organizations, and recommended to the Verkhovna Rada for confirmation. However, the ruling coalition wanted to see Nina Karpachova, a member of the Regions Party faction, who previously held this position, as the Commissioner for Human Rights. Zakharov lacked the votes in the supporting factions Our Ukraine and the BJUТ for a victory.

In March 2012, after Karpachova's term expired, Zakharov was again proposed by the opposition as a candidate for the position of Ombudsman, but ultimately Valeria Lutkovska, the candidate of the pro-government majority, was appointed.

Views. Zakharov identifies among the main problems leading to serious human rights violations violence by law enforcement agencies, the vast gap between rich and poor, the lack of an independent judiciary, various state interventions (including violations of the right to privacy, attempts to restrict information exchange, controlling the Internet). On the latter, the human rights defender stated in an interview: 'The state always strives for control. It may come to the point that a person's entire life flows into a state information database. Everything is leaning towards that. They want to make the tax number the only universal code.