The new joint project between the European Union and the Council of Europe “Strengthening the Implementation of European Human Rights Standards in Ukraine” was officially launched on 24 June 2015. The project is implemented through the European Union and Council of Europe Programmatic Cooperation Framework for the countries of Eastern Partnership.

The project will encourage the alignment of human rights policies and practices by ensuring legislative and regulatory frameworks compliance with European standards, and capacity-building activities for legal professionals and National Human Rights Institutions. The project will cover the following activities:

 support police reform and the fight against ill-treatment and impunity;

 strengthen the operational capacity of the Ukrainian Ombudsperson’s Office (ill-treatment in places of deprivation of liberty, non-discrimination, data-protection);

 implementation of European Convention on Human Rights via training courses.

Participants at the launch event included representatives of the key partner institutions, including Mrs Ekaterina Zguladze-Gluksmann, the First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Ms Valeria Lutkovska, Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr Mykola Onishchuk, Head of National School of Judges of Ukraine, Ms Lydia Izovitova, Head of the National Bar Association of Ukraine, as well as representatives of international organisations and civil society discussed the challenges of promoting human rights in Ukraine and perspectives of cooperation with the project.