Council Of Europe Project "Protecting the Rights of Ukrainian Children during and in post-war context” in cooperation with the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, held the first four-day training “Models of effective interagency cooperation in criminal proceedings involving children" between 2 October to 5 October, 2023 in Kyiv.
The objective of the training is to develop child-friendly approaches and effective Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) of interagency collaborative response model interaction in the process of implementing a pilot project on the practical implementation of international standards of child-friendly justice. The Pilot Project was established through Joint order of The Office of the Prosecutor General, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine and the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine.
The training brought together 25 representatives of the prosecutor's office, investigators, juvenile prevention, probation authorities, lawyers of the free legal aid system, penitentiary institutions and places of pre-trial detention, children's services, guardianship and guardianship bodies, psycho-social support services of children, working in Kyiv.
Maciej Janczak, Head of the Council of Europe office in Ukraine, welcomed the participants and drew attention to the Council of Europe's activities in Ukraine, in particular the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine for 2023-2026 “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” and its special section on the protection of children's rights during the war and in the post-war context. "It is important to continue ensuring the best interests of children and introduce standards of child-friendly justice, and therefore, today's event is of particular importance in support of interagency interaction within the framework of the pilot project, which aims to adapt the criminal process to the needs of children, promote their reintegration and rehabilitation."
Viktoria Litvinova, Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine, thanked the Council of Europe for its continuous efforts to support the implementation of child-friendly justice standards and long-standing cooperation. «Today's training aims to develop a single algorithm for interaction between all subjects of the pilot project. With the support of the Council of Europe, similar trainings will be held in other regions of Ukraine in order to form a unified child-centered approach based on the best European standards and practices."
The training consists of three modules:
1. Foundation module in child-friendly justice, including relevant Council of Europe standards.
2. Interagency collaborative response as a core element of child-friendly justice.
3. Introduction of the child-friendly approach and application of child-friendly procedures and practices based on specific scenarios.
During the four days of the training, participants developed comprehensive interagency SOP involving all relevant actors based on the example of a real case during the pre-trial investigation, at the trial stage, and at the post-trial stage.
The next training sessions are planned for teams from Zhytomyr, Lviv, Kirovohrad, Cherkasy and Chernivtsi oblasts.
