Challenges of ensuring human rights in Ukraine’s detention facilities discussed at OSCE event
Civil society activists and officials from Ukraine discussed how to improve the functioning of the National Preventive Mechanisms, a tool to ensure monitoring of places of detention and to prevent the abuse of human rights there, at the 6th East European National Prevention Mechanisms Conference from 8 to 9 November 2016 in Lviv.
The conference was organized by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine in partnership with the Office of the Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights and the NGO the Kharkiv Institute of Social Researches.
The conference gathered officials and civil activists, representatives of the Office of the Ombudsperson of Ukraine and monitors of detention facilities, as well as the representatives of national authorities and international participants to discuss the achievements and needs for improving the NPMs, in particular in Ukraine. The experiences of Slovenia, Georgia and Kazakhstan in this field were also discussed.
“The National Preventive Mechanism, although a relatively new approach, has already proved its effectiveness within the “Ombudsperson Plus” model in the last four years,” said Valeria Lutkovska, Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights. “Monitoring of detention facilities by independent experts serves as a restraining factor on state authorities, thus minimizing the risk of abuse of detainees.”
Since 2012, the Office of Commissioner jointly with trained civil society activists has conducted 1,063 monitoring visits to prisons, orphanages and psychiatric hospitals to assess the situation and produce recommendations. There are a total of 4,915 facilities in Ukraine that fall under the NPM mandate.
The OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine has been helping to implement a number of NPM-related measures, including providing training courses and developing handbooks for the monitors, supporting monitoring visits and research on the issue.
The event marked ten years since the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment came into force.