In connection to the events, which took place in the early morning of 30 November 2013 at Maidan Nezalezhnosti square in Kyiv, the Ombudsperson of Ukraine is officially stating the following.

According to this year's survey of Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) the Ukrainian rating of the corruption level has remained practically unchanged – 25 points of 100.

The Secretary-General has been closely following events in Ukraine. He appeals to all parties to act with restraint, avoid any further violence and to uphold the democratic principles of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

Disadvantaged groups are the ones most likely to face problems accessing justice, due to the high costs of legal services, remoteness of legal aid centres and poor coordination of free legal aid providers with one another. Other barriers to justice occur when disadvantaged groups are not aware of their rights, or where legal processes are excessively complex.

Violence against women and girls directly affects individuals while harming our common humanity. In response to this global challenge, I launched my UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign in 2008. Since then, partners around the world have joined our drive to protect the human rights of women and girls to live free from violence.

On Friday the venue of the Council of Ministers of Crimea hosted a cross-regional round table as to the prospects for the development of the civil society through adoption and implementation of oblast-level target programmes and implementation of the Law of Ukraine on public associations. The event served as an introduction to the conference "State of the art and challenges for the development of the civil society in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea".