The Forum for local democracy in Ukraine, organised by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, gathered hundred participants - Ukrainian mayors, councillors and young local leaders, as well as Congress members and experts - from 4 to 7 July 2017 in Snovjanka, Chernihiv region, Ukraine.
In their final declaration, the participants committed to increase the quality of representative democracy and to develop participatory strategies to engage citizens in the decision-making processes at the local and regional levels, thereby contributing to the local self-government reform in Ukraine.
After exchanging ideas and experiences on innovative measures to achieve these objectives, they have decided to take steps to enhance trust in local authorities by applying and promoting principles of integrity and accountability, and to develop concrete tools to promote equal opportunities for women and men to participate in the political life.
Moreover, participants have agreed on the need for local authorities to empower youth and enhance their participation by implementing an open and regular dialogue between youth and local authorities, adapted to contemporary society. They also committed to provide adequate means and resources to implement tailored actions that meet the needs of youth for an inclusive society.
The declaration refers to the principles of the European Charter of Local Self-Government and its Additional Protocol on the right to participate in the affairs of a local authority (ratified by Ukraine in 1997 and 2014 respectively), as well as to the Recommendation 348 on Local and Regional Democracy in Ukraine (adopted by the Congress in 2013), and to the roadmap signed by the Congress and the Ukrainian national authorities on 20 May 2015.
The Snovjanka Forum is organised within the project “Promoting Local Democracy in Ukraine”, led by the Congress in the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2015-2017.
Final declaration: English version – Ukrainian version
Newsletter about the ForumForum website (photos, interviews and news): http://bit.ly/Forum-Ukraine-FR
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Contacts:
Council of Europe Office in Ukraine
Svitlana Gryshchenko, Project manager
Mob: +380 096 340 13 83
[email protected]
Congress Secretariat in Strasbourg (France)
Svetislav Paunovic, Project co-ordinator
Tel: +33 3 90 21 41 05
[email protected]
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