On 7 August 2020, online Presentation of the needs assessment report with respect to the revision of the policy and legal framework in the area of rights of people with disabilities in Ukraine vis-à-vis Article 15 of the European Social Charter prepared within the Council of Europe project “Promoting social human rights as a key factor of sustainable democracy in Ukraine” was held.

The event was attended by about 50 participants, including representatives of the Ukrainian public authorities, local authorities, as well as the representatives of civil society, academia, international organisations and other stakeholders.

"This report is extremely thorough and comprehensive. I am very pleased that it is the Council of Europe that engaged in this process, so that all stakeholders receive a quality product that makes a real picture of the situation and provides a comprehensive assessment of needs and recommendations in order to bring legislation and practice in line with the Council of Europe standards, in particular Article 15 of the European Social Charter", - said Olena Lytvynenko, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, in her welcoming speech.

One of the objectives of the presentation was to ensure the Government’s commitment to implement the road map and recommendations provided in the needs assessment report.

Olga Revuk, Deputy Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine for the European Integration, as well as Serhii Hryvko, MP, Head of the Sub-Committee on Social Protection and Rehabilitation of People with Disabilities and Regulation of their Entities and NGOs of the Parliamentary Committee on Social Policy and Rights of Veterans expressed their support in this matter.

"I would like to confirm the readiness of the Ministry of Social Policy in further active cooperation in this area. Ukraine has been actively improving the legislation in the sphere of social rights of people with disabilities in accordance with Article 15 of the European Social Charter over the last 10 years. However, many issues are still relevant", - said Olga Revuk.

"This report will help us in drafting laws and making decisions for improving social sphere in Ukraine. Our Committee is trying to implement and improve the European experience, reflecting this in our actions", - Serhiy Hryvko supported the importance of the report.

Valerii Sushkevych, Commissioner for Rights of People with Disabilities noted that the report is incredibly important, and the recommendations discussed during the event will definitely strengthen it.

"The situation in Ukraine can be described by quoting from the presented report “within the field of social rights, most needing further activities of Ukrainian authorities is the area of rights of persons with disabilities. In the abovementioned area Ukrainian regulations do not fully meet the European requirements and the practice of exercising the rights is even farther from the European standards", - said Mr. Sushkevych.

Monika Smush-Kulesha, international consultant of the Council of Europe Project “Promoting Social Human Rights as a Key Factor of Sustainable Democracy in Ukraine” and national conlsultants of the Project Maksym Shcherbatyuk and Bohdan Moisa presented a report, which includes identified gaps and provides recommendations for the improvement and better implementation of the Ukrainian legislation and changes to practice in order to ensure promotion and protection of social human rights of people with disabilities. This panel was moderated by Margarita Galstyan, Project Manager, Department of the European Social Charter, Council of Europe.

The report covered information on relevant European standards on the rights of persons with disabilities under article 15 of the European Social Charter, overview of the findings (including legal frameworks), conclusions, general and specific recommendations and roadmap.

According to the results of the discussion, Margarita Galstyan informed that during the week stakeholders will be able to formulate recommendations that will be taken into account and will be added to the final version of the report.

The report is available in Ukrainian and English.

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This event was organised by the Council of Europe project "Promoting social human rights as a key factor of sustainable democracy in Ukraine" Project is being implemented since 1 August, 2019 for two years in sphere of the promotion and protection of social human rights, namely persons with disabilities (Article 15 of the European Social Charter (Charter), older persons (Article 23 of the Charter) and children (Articles 7, 15 of the Charter).