On 3–4 March 2026, forty five representatives of the Office of the Ombudsperson participated in a training laboratory aimed at enhancing the knowledge of the rights of veterans and military personnel, as well as strengthening practical skills in protecting these rights at both national and regional levels. The training, held in Truskavets, brought together the senior management of the Office, including the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr Dmytro Lubinets, Representatives of the Commissioner in different fields, members of the Office’s leadership, Representatives of the Commissioner in regional offices, Advisors to the Commissioner.

The training included both theoretical and practical components, with the latter dedicated to reviewing various cases of veterans’ rights violations and discussing possible pathways to resolving them. The programme focused on the following thematic blocks:

• The first day of the training was dedicated to the review of international standards for guaranteeing the rights of veterans and military personnel, placing a particular emphasis on Council of Europe documents as well as review of the ECHR cases and work with these cases in small groups.
• The second day of the training focused on the review of the national legislative frameworks regarding veterans’ rights, as well as benefits, services, and guarantees for them and their families; discussing pros and cons of draft laws under review by the Ukrainian Parliament.

The session on the issues of the veteran policy implementation was led by the experts of the Ombudsperson Office and drew significantly from the experience of five week-long monitoring visits to different regions of Ukraine, conducted jointly with the Project in 2024-2025. An overview of national and regional programs to support war veterans and their families as well as practical challenges in implementing state veteran policies at the local level have also been discussed. The last session was dedicated to teambuilding centered around priorities of the institution with regard to protecting the rights of veterans as well systematic interaction with national and local authorities, support services and the public.

Overall, the event strengthened participants’ knowledge and understanding of national legislation and international standards to enable them to apply these frameworks more effectively in their daily work.

The training was delivered within the framework of the project “Rights of Veterans and Personnel of the Armed Forces in Ukraine,” implemented under the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” (2023–2026).