On December 10, on International Human Rights Day, Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union confers true thistles to the biggest violators of human rights in the country. They become winners of Anti-prize “Thistle of the Year”.

The purpose of Anti-prize is to draw public attention to the flagrant violations of human rights that occurred in the state during the year and to stimulate public debate about unsafe human rights trends in the domestic legal system.

Anti-prize is awarded for the most shameful and dangerous violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms which are of national significance and had occurred in the period from November 1 last year to November 1 this year.

According to Larysa Denysenko, writer, human rights activist, show master of Hromadske radio, a member of the jury of the “Thistle”: “There is no hierarchy for human rights, every breach is painful and unacceptable. “Thistle” does not aim to establish who is the greatest rights violator, but helps to identify offenders and trends, call the positions and names, so that then it would be easier to weed this stuff from the fertile soil”.

Ivan Lishchyna, lawyer, partner of law firm Trusted Advisers, Head of International Human Rights Protection Practice, member of the jury “Thistle” is convinced: “Human rights protection is the same «asset» of a state as minerals or qualified labour. It is not possible to attract serious investors with long-term business development programs to the countries with low levels of human rights, poorly functioning system of justice, and corrupt law enforcement agencies. Therefore, the «Thistle» makes not only social meaning, but also has a very specific economic meaning for our country”.