Back Non-discrimination advocacy in Ukraine

Non-discrimination advocacy in Ukraine

On 8 December 2015, the Council of Europe will present a report to the Ombudsperson's Office on how to best advance the work of the Ombudsperson in the realisation of non-discrimination advocacy. The report entitled “Assessment of the Operational Capacities of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights in the Realisation of Non-Discrimination Advocacy” was prepared by Mr Niall Crowley, Council of Europe expert on equality and diversity within the joint EU/CoE project “Strengthening the Implementation of Human Rights Standards in Ukraine”.

The report states that discrimination is a latent phenomenon in Ukraine and shows that the under-reporting of discrimination cases to the Ombudsperson is very high in a country of the size of Ukraine. When addressing this challenge, the Ombudsperson should concentrate on the improvement of operational capacities with explicit focus on equality. In its enforcement work the Office could further strengthen the accessibility of procedures for the general public and implement international organisations recommendations. Separately, a special focus must be paid to the communication work of the Ombudsperson on non-discrimination and equality which would address the under-reporting of cases and the absence of equality from public discourse.

Finally, the Council of Europe report recommends the inclusion of additional grounds for protection from discrimination that are not explicitly mentioned in the current Ukrainian equality legislation which are included in  European jurisdictions this would allow for a stronger protection. It must further reinforce its work with civil society, private and public sector representatives on the promotion of equality and diversity of the society.

Assessment of the Operational Capacities of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights in the Realisation of Non-Discrimination Advocacy (in Ukrainian and English)

Kyiv 8 December 2015
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