A workshop on developing a new Prosecutorial Training Centre in Ukraine was held in Kyiv on November 28th. Representatives of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine (PGO), the National Academy of Public Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine (NAPU), the international experts of the Council of Europe, as well as from the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine and the European Union Advisory Mission participated in the workshop.

“In prosecutorial reform, the development of institutions is inseparable from the development of the human potential. Based on the experience of the Crimean Prosecutor's Office, when we urgently had to learn the how to apply the international law during the conflict, I saw the need for quick and flexible training of prosecutors. Only through quality training we can achieve results. That is why creating a Training Centre is one of the key priorities of the PGO,” stressed Hiunduz Mamedov, Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine.

By promoting a dialogue between the PGO, NAPU, and international experts, the workshop provided a unique platform for facilitating the development of a concept of the new Prosecutorial Training Centre in Ukraine. The workshop aimed at identifying the needs of Ukrainian public prosecution service in improving its existing prosecutorial training system. The experience of training systems of Croatia, Georgia, Moldova, Spain and USA were shared in the context of the proposed Ukrainian model.

Oleksandr Tolochko, Rector of the NAPU, expressed his gratitude to the international partners for helping in creation of a modern Training Centre. The Rector noted the need to strengthen the professional training of prosecutors in the area of leadership and communication skills, integrity, and stress resistance.

“The new legal framework provides for the creation of a Prosecutorial Training Centre, but it does not determine its organisational structure, which functions it should perform, how the quality of the training sessions should be evaluated, whether this institution should conduct training only, or perform research as well. These issues prompted us to initiate a comparative study, expert comments and organise this workshop to assist the NAPU to find out answers to the above questions,” emphasised Mykhailo Iskra, senior project officer of the Council of Europe project "Human Rights Compliant Criminal Justice System in Ukraine."

Based on the preliminary expert comments by the Council of Europe project, the recommendations were suggested for the concept of the Prosecutorial Training Centre, developed by the NAPU. Special attention was paid to the organisational model and functional competencies of the future Training Centre.

According to Ukrainian law "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Priority Measures for the Reform of the Prosecutor's Office" of 19.09.2019, a Prosecutorial Training Centre should be established on the basis of the National Academy of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine.

The event was organised by the Council of Europe in cooperation with the PGO under the project "Human Rights Compliant Criminal Justice System in Ukraine". The project is implemented within the framework of the Action Plan of the Council of Europe for Ukraine 2018-2021.