Amended Draft Law of Ukraine “On Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights” have been presented at the expert discussion initiated by the Ombudsperson, Mr Lubinets for the national and international stakeholders.

The novelties suggested address the critical aspects of the Ombudsperson’s mandate aiming to align the current legislation with the international standards, requirements of time and new challenges related to the Russian aggression against Ukraine, as well as the development of society.

Mr. Dmytro Lubinets, Ombudsperson highlighted: “Amending the legislation, we aim to create a strong Ombudsperson institution [..] providing it with the efficient tools to respond to human rights violations and to guarantee its independence, including financial, political and legal one, to properly execute its mandate”.

More specifically the discussion concentrated on introduction of the transparent, merit based and objective selection and appointment procedure of the Ombudsperson, as well as guarantees of the enhanced independence of the Ombudsperson. Furthermore, attention was paid to the extension of the Ombudsperson’s mandate including the provision with the additional powers related to the consequences of the military aggression, extension of the list of Ombudsperson’s acts of response and improvement of the NPM realisation.

The leading national human rights NGOs has been involved into the development of the Draft law.  The Council of Europe and other international organisations provided theirs reviews and recommendations to the Draft law highlighting the positive tendency in improving and strengthening the role and functions of the Ombudsperson.

The valuable exchange between the national authorities, international experts and civil society representatives on the role and international standards of the national human rights institutions’ functioning, facilitated achievement of the mutual understanding with regard the urgency of further steps in adoption of the new legislation on the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights.

Reference information

The Council of Europe project “Supporting Implementation of the European Human Rights Standards in Ukraine” is aimed at supporting the effective implementation of European human rights standards, including the protection of the right to privacy and personal data.