The meeting gathered representatives of local authorities (Oblast, district and city levels), local representatives of the prosecutor’s office, of the police, administrative courts, free legal aid, social centers and local NGOs from two project pilot regions, Kirovograd and Lviv. Representatives of partners at the national level such as the Ministry of Interior, the General Prosecutor Office, Free Legal Aid, Ombudsperson Office and the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine also participated in the event.
It was opened by Sergiy Ustymenko, Deputy Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine who stressed that countering violence against women and domestic violence should be one of the top three priorities of local governments, and requested intense communication with the Ministry of Social Policy to coordinate responses.
Ms Ganna Khrystova, Legal Advisor at the Council of Europe Project made a brief presentation of the Council of Europe Istanbul Convention and legal framework in Ukraine regarding violence against women. Mr Serhiy Pantsyr, National expert on Decentralization presented the current status of decentralization process in Ukraine and explained the different phases of it.
Ms Genoveva Tisheva, Council of Europe international expert presented the analysis of the regional and local shortcomings for multiagency co-operation in Ukraine and gave some examples of good practices of coordinated responses for protection of victims of domestic violence and other forms of violence against women from other member states. The presentation was followed by a structural discussion on the main obstacles of interagency cooperation.
Ms Marta Torres, Council of Europe international expert made presentation on the coordination councils and the protocol of cooperation developed in the town of Pozuelo de Alarcon, Spain. Participants appreciated her intervention and inspiring example. A lively discussion followed in which participants posed questions and expressed some of their challenges and frustrations.
A structural discussion on the advancement of a mechanism for interagency cooperation and integrated response at the local level in light of the Istanbul Convention requirements took place and was facilitated by the CoE project. The meeting was wrapped up by feedback from each participant; the importance of bringing this issue to society and the need to join efforts were a common conclusion.
Agenda of the event English version - Ukrainian version
Power point presentation by Ganna Khrystova Ukrainian version only
Power point presentation by Serhiy Pantsyr Ukrainian version only
Power point presentation by Genoveva Tisheva English version - Ukrainian version
Speaking notes by Marta Torres English version only
Protocol on multi-agency co-operation Pozuelo de Alarcón Ukrainian version only
