On March 31, 2017 at the premises of the Secretariat of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights the First Steering Committee Meeting of the Twinning Project “Implementation of the best European practices with the aim of strengthening the institutional capacity of the Apparatus of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights to protect human rights and freedoms (Apparatus)” took place.
The Project is implemented in cooperation with the Lithuanian institutions (Seimas Ombudsmen’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania, Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson, State Data Protection Inspectorate, Law Institute of Lithuania, Vilnius University, Central Project Management Agency) and Austrian institutions (Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights) with the financial support of the European Union within the framework of European Neighbourhood Instrument.
The goal of the project is to ensure effective prevention and response of violation of human rights by strengthening the capacity of the Ombudsman Institution as an effective mechanism for parliamentary control over the observance of human rights and freedoms by improving legislation and internal procedures according to international standards. The project presupposes the capacity building of the Secretariat of the Commissioner.
Deputy Head of the Secretariat of the Commissioner, BC Project Leader Olena Smirnova in her opening speech welcomed the participants of the meeting as well as underlined the importance of support from the European Union in the Twinning projects implementation and expressed hope for the further effective cooperation.
Head of Operations Section 1 “Good Governance and Democratisation” of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Martin Klaucke, MS Project Leader, Head of the Seimas Ombudsmen’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania Augustinas Normantas and Junior Project Leader, Director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights Hannes Tretter also delivered welcome speeches.
RTA Aušra Rauličkytė expressed her gratitude to the participants for cooperation and introduced the first quarterly report of the project. She also outlined the measures implemented by all components as well as identified plans for the next reporting period.
Justice Sector Manager from the EU Delegation to Ukraine Andriy Spivak commented on the project quarterly report and expressed hope that the Lithuanian and Austrian experience will be useful for Ukraine.
As a result of the working meeting the first quarterly report was signed.
The representatives of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, Secretariat of the Commissioner as well as international experts took part in the event.
On behalf of the Center for Adaptation of the Civil Service to the Standards of the European Union the Senior Consultant of the SIGMA and CIB Project Division of the Projects Management Unit Olena Rachynska attended the event.
For reference:
according to the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On Approval of the Procedure for Initiation, Preparation and Implementation of the Twinning projects” as of October 11, 2016 No 700 the National Agency of Ukraine on Civil Service coordinates the implementation of Institution Building Instrument Twinning in Ukraine.
In addition, according to the relevant regulatory acts the National Agency of Ukraine on Civil Service is the national coordinator of institutional building instrument TAIEX and CIB programme implementation in Ukraine.
In order to provide effective coordination of Twinning, TAIEX instruments and CIB programme the Twinning Programme Administration office in Ukraine was created, its functions are executed by the Center for Adaptation of the Civil Service to Standards of the European Union.
