On May 22-23, in Lviv, the third and final in-person seminar training on standards for preventing ill-treatment was held for representatives of the Department on  Implementation of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) of the Secretariat of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights. The training was organised by the Council of Europe Projects “Supporting Implementation of the European Human Rights Standards in Ukraine” and “HELP (Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals) for Ukraine, including during wartime”.

20 representatives of the NPM Department consolidated their knowledge and skills in applying Articles 3, 5, and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in places of deprivation of liberty. They explored the relationship between Articles 3 and 8 of the ECHR. Participants worked through practical case studies on preventing ill-treatment and human rights violations in places of detention, particularly in psychoneurological institutions, psychiatric hospitals, and temporary accommodation points for foreigners.

Based on the training course taken from March to May 2024, the NPM Department representatives significantly improved their qualifications, passed the tests, and discussed the perspectives and the practical application of the acquired knowledge.

The trainers of the course are the national consultants of the Council of Europe, Serhiy Zayets, a lawyer with significant experience in appeals to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) (represents more than 150 applicants at the ECtHR), the UN Human Rights Committee, the UN Committee against Torture (CAT), of the Committee on Racial Discrimination (CERD) and is a trainer of several educational programs on human rights and Natalya Gurkovska, a lawyer with 28 years of experience and considerable experience in appeals to the ECHR, a human rights defender and a certified trainer of the HELP program.