Information on implementation of the EU-Ukraine Association Agenda
Information
on Implementation of the EU-Ukraine Association Agenda for 2011
1. Introduction
The EU-Ukraine Association Agenda (the Association Agenda) was agreed upon on 16th of June, 2009 at the meeting of the EU-Ukraine Cooperation Council. The Association Agenda is a joint initiative of the Parties and includes measures which are aimed to prepare Ukraine for the implementation of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.
Acting within the framework of the Association Agenda, the Parties have approved cooperation priorities (the List of Priorities for 2011-2012 was approved on 20 May 2011) and monitored its implementation. To assess progress in the implementation of the Association Agenda, the Joint Committee at Senior Official’s Level was set up to prepare annual joint reports on the implementation of this document (June 2010, May 2011). Taking into account the progress in implementation of the Association Agenda, the Joint Committee at Senior Official’s Level has prepared proposals on amendments to the Association Agenda that are to be approved by the EU-Ukraine Cooperation Council.
In 2011, the Parties were also assessing and monitoring the implementation of the Association Agenda during the meetings of the EU-Ukraine Cooperation Committee (26 October 2011), Subcommittee No 4 “Transport, Energy, Nuclear Safety and Environment” (24-25 March 2011), SubcommitteeNo 6 “Justice, Freedom and Security” (26-27 May 2011) and Subcommittee No5 “Customs and Cross-Border Cooperation” (22 September 2011), SubcommitteeNo 2 “Financial, Economic,Social issuesandstatistics”(17 November 2011),SubcommitteeNo 1 “Trade and Investments”, and SubcommitteeNo 3"Enterprise Policy, Competition, Regulatory Co-operation" (25-26 January 2012).On the part of Ukraine, implementation of the Association Agenda is carried out by the executive authorities, acting within the framework of agency-specific plans for its implementation, and is reviewed at the meetings of the Ukrainian parts of joint EU-Ukraine bodies in accordance with the Division of Competencies (approved by the Ukrainian Part of the EU-Ukraine Cooperation Committee in 2009 and updated to take into account the administrative reform in Ukraine).
Pursuant to the decision of the joint sitting of the EU-Ukraine Cooperation Committee (26October 2011), the joint Division of Competencies was drafted (identifying responsible subcommittees, Ukraine’s executive authorities and units of the European Commission and of the EU External Action Service)which shortly will be sent to the Co-Chairs of the Cooperation Committee by the Co-chair of the Committee at Senior Officials Level.
Monitoring findings on Ukraine introducing the reforms, envisaged in the Association Agenda, are taken into account in drafting agency-specific documents and acts of the Government, in particular, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved a Plan of First-Priority Measures for Ukraine’s Integration to the EU for 2011 (resolution No612 of 29 June 2011). Preparationof the Plan of first-priority measuresin 2012 isbeing completed.
The monitoring includes assessment ofUkraine’s implementation of the Association Agenda made by the European Union, EU Member States and international organizations, as well as the results of public monitoring on the Association Agenda.
2. Political dialogue
2.1. Democracy, rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms
Implementation of the constitutional reform is a priority objective for Ukraine’s domestic political development.
To ensure transparency, openness and democracy of this process, the President of Ukraine upheld the initiative to create the Constitutional Assembly (Decree of the President of Ukraine No224 of 21February 2011) with a view to develop proposals concerning enhancement of the political system and amendments to the Constitution. The President of Ukraine appointed the Scientific Expert Group.Taking into account the suggestions of this group and assessments (mostly positive) of the Venice Commissionreceived in March 2011, the President of Ukraine approved the Concept of establishment and organization of the Constitutional Assembly (Decree of President of Ukraine No 31of 25 January 2012).
TheConstitutional Assembly’s personnel is being composed of therepresentativesof theNational Sciences Academy of Ukraine,nationalsectoral academies, academic research institutions,universitiesthe MP’s fractions, the parliamentary faction,the politicalparties thatparticipatedinthe recentpresidential election in Ukraineandlocal elections, as well aspublic organizations andindependentexpert andanalytical groups.
One of the tasks of the Commission for Strengthening Democracy and the Rule of Law (established by Decree of the President of Ukraine No1015 of 5 November 2010) was formulated as the development of proposals aimed at achieving compliance of provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine with the European standards and values, based on Venice Commission recommendations.
On 17 November 2011 the Parliament has adopted the Law “On Elections of People’s Deputies of Ukraine” aimed at improvement ofthe electoral law, (introduced by theleadersof parliamentary factionswith taking into account the VeniceCommission’ recommendation). In accordance with this Law the elections in Ukraine shall be conducted by mixed system (50% - through party lists, 50% - in single-member constituencies) with the 5% minimum requirement.
The Central Electoral Commission continues to work on ensuring the functioning of the State Registry of Voters.
To improve the mechanism for direct citizens’ participation in resolving issues of local importance, on 19 April 2011 the Parliament approved the draft law “On Local Referendum” in the first reading (reg. No7082 of 3 September 2010, submitted by the Government).The Coordination Council forCivil Society Development was established(Decreeof President of Ukraine No 32 of25January 2012).
On 20 October 2011 during the 20th Session of the Congress of the Local and the Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, the Additional Protocol to the European Charter of Local Self-Government on the right to participate in the local authority was signed.
One of the elements of the political system reform is the administrative reform, within the framework of which in 2011the system of ministries and other central executive authorities was optimised (within the framework of implementation of the Decree of the President of Ukraine No1085 of 9 December 2010), in particular, the number of central executive authorities was reduced by 35% (from 111 to 74), the number of members of the Cabinet of Ministers was reduced (the number of ministries was reduced from 20 to 16), and the numbers of staff of the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine were cut by half.
On 17 March 2011, the Law of Ukraine “On Central Executive Authorities” (No3166) defining the organisation, powers and operating procedures of central executive authorities, was adopted, and the Law of Ukraine “On the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine” was amended (No3165).Moreover, changes were made to theCabinet of Ministers’ Rules of Procedure (regulation No1156 of 9 November 2011).
In order to regulate the operating procedures both for the executive power authorities and thelocal self-government bodies, as well as their officials, in connection with consideration of issues relating to implementation and protection of rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of individuals and legal entities, the draft Code of Administrative Procedure of Ukraine and the draft Law of Ukraine “On Administrative Services” have been elaborated and submitted to the President of Ukraine for consideration. The Plan of Measures for Reforming the System of Administrative Services Provision (resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers No 1076 of 26October 2011) has beenapproved. On 9 December 2011thedraft lawon Administrative Services(reg. No 9435) has been approved infirst reading, the draft of the Administrative ProceduralCode of Ukraine is under elaboration.TheStrategy of State Personnel Policy for2012 – 2020,aimedat improving the quality of state personnel (Decree No 45 of1 February 2012) was approved by The Presidentof Ukraine.
There is a systemic interconnection between the reform of the executive powerauthorities and the reform of the civil service. On 17 November 2011, the Parliament adopted a new version of the Law “On Civil Service” (reg.No8306).
The Working Group for Judicial Reform (set upby Decree of the President of Ukraine No440 of 24 March 2010) operates in the area of ensuring the reforming of the judicial system.
The Parliament adopted the following laws of Ukraine:
On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On the Judicial System and Status of Judges”Concerning Special Training for Candidates for a Position of a Judge (No2982 of 3 February 2011)and on improvement of theprovisions on status of the HighQualifications Commission of Judgesof Ukraine (No 4094 of 9 December 2011);
On Free Legal Aid (No 3460 of 2 June 2011);
On Court Fee (No 3674 of 8 July 2011);
On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts Relating to Consideration of Cases by the Supreme Court of Ukraine (No 3932 of 20October 2011)and the improvement of judicial procedure (No 4176 of 20 December 2011);
On Amending to certain legislative actsof Ukraine on thehumanizationof responsibilityfor offences in the sphere of economic field (the Law of Ukraine No 4025 of 15 November2011);It establishes the priorityapplication of financialpenalties forcommittingsuchoffenses.
TheSecond AdditionalProtocol to the EuropeanConvention on MutualAssistance in Criminal Matters(Law of Ukraine No 3449of 1June 2011) was ratified by the Parliamentandwithregard to this issuesome legislativeacts of Ukraine were amendment (the Law ofUkraine No 3529 of 16June 2011).The draft law was passed in the first reading on amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine and the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine relating to improvements in the confiscation procedures (reg. No 9208 of 22September 2011).
The draft law “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On the Judicial System and Status of Judges” and Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine” (relating to implementation of the Venice Commission recommendations) was submitted to the President of Ukraine for consideration. Subordinate regulatory acts are being developed for the purpose of implementation of the Law of Ukraine “On the Judicial System and Status of Judges”.
The Working Group for Reform in Criminal Judicial Proceedings (established by Decree of the President of Ukraine No820 of 18 August 2010) has drafted the new Code of Criminal Procedure in accord with the VeniceCommission reposrt, that was adoptedin the first reading by parliament on 9February 2012(reg. No 9700). The Code introduces new practices concerning procedural equality and adversarial judicial process, strengthening the rights a suspect, broadening the rights of an injured person as well as the pre-trial investigation procedure is being revised; the procedure of judicial review is being advanced; it is now prohibited to return cases for additional investigation, and the procedure for appealing court decisions is being improved.
After adoption of a new Code of Criminal Procedure, the Concept ofpolice reformingandthe new version of the laws on theProsecutor's Office, the Security Serviceof Ukraine will be draftedand new basis forfunctioning of the Institute of Advocacy will be introduced.
The work on the reform of the bar system continues. The Working Group for Reform of Criminal Judicial Proceedings is preparing the draft law “On the Bar”, inter alia taking into account assessments of the previous draft laws on the bar, provided by the Venice Commission and European experts.
The expert support on the above issues is provided for Ukraine within the framework of the Joint Programme of the EU and Council of Europe on Transparency and Efficiency of the Judicial System of Ukraine, the EU projects “Transparency and Efficiency of the Judicial System of Ukraine: Civil Service Component” and “Ukraine: Rule of Law”, as well as the Twinning project “Support to the Academy of Judges of Ukraine” and the TAIEX instrument.
The Ukrainian Side believes that it has fulfilled the provision of the Association Agenda concerning “helping to ensure the independence and effectiveness of the Ombudsman”. By the decision of the International Coordinating Committee of NHRIs of the UN Human Rights Council passed in May 2009, the institute of Ombudsman of Ukraine was given the highest (of three possible) accreditation status “A”. Activities of the Parliament’s Ombudsman conform to the Principles relating to the status of national institutions (the Paris Principles), approved on 20 December 1993 by the UN General Assembly (resolution 48/134).
Control over implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights has been carried out on the permanent basis. As of 3 November 2011, the European Court had delivered 795 judgments on merits in cases against Ukraine, and in 519 it established absence of all or several alleged violations of provisions of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms claimed by the applicants, and/or found relevant complaints of the applicants partly inadmissible. Since the beginning of the year, 10.25million UAH has been paid in execution of the European Court judgments affording just satisfaction payments. The European Courtin cases against Ukraine has rendered 80 friendly settlement decisions and 47 decisions approving conditions of unilateral decisions in cases against Ukraine.To ensurethe enforcement of European Court ofHuman Rights decisions the State Budgetprovides annually expensesforpayments to theapplicantsasjust satisfaction (in 2011 around 25million UAH has been paid from the state budget).
To implement the pilot judgment of the European Court in the case “Yuriy Nikolayevich Ivanov v. Ukraine”, on 9September 2011 the draft law “On State Guarantees for Implementation of Court Judgments”(reg. No 9127 of 8 September 2011) was adopted in the first reading.
Within the framework of Ukrainian chairmanship of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, in September 2011, international conferences “The Protection of Human Rights by Bodies of Constitutional Justice: Challenges and Perspectives” and “Role of Prevention in Promotion and Protection of Human Rights” were conducted,as well as the round table for chairmen of Supreme courts of the Council of Europe Member States “Role of the Supreme Court in Protecting Human Rights on the National Level”.
To improve legislation in the field ofinformation, the new version of the Law of Ukraine “On Information” was adopted (No2938 of 13 January 2011). The Law of Ukraine“On Access to Public Information”(No2939 of 13January 2011) established mechanisms for implementing right of access to public information.The Draft Law"OnPublicTelevision andRadio Broadcasting in Ukraine", prepared by the PublicHumanitarianCouncilunder the President ofUkraine is under adjustment.
With an aim to ensure effective dealing with the facts of violation of legislation and providing relevant proposals to the President, the Inter-Agency Working Group for Analysis of the State of Compliance with Legislation on Freedom of Speech and Protection of Rights of Journalists was set up in July 2011 (Decree of the President of Ukraine No 226 of 6 July 2011), which will continue to work on the permanent basis (on 30 January 2012 the last meeting of the group was held ).
On 24 August 2011, the Ukrainian version of the syndicated international channel“EuroNews”was first aired.
To increase citizens’ participation in the decision-making process, the establishment of public councils under executive power authorities has been continued (regulation of the Cabinet of Ministers No 996 of 3 November 2010).
In the area of protection of minorities’ rights:
The Action Plan to Combat Racism and Xenophobia for the Period until 2012 is being implemented. Meetings with the IOM representatives in Ukraine, the Eastern European Development Institute, the Amnesty International and representatives of European organisations for protection of Roma rights, public Jewish organisations and diplomatic corps to address issues that concern countering crimes on ethnic grounds are carried out on the regular basis.
On 3 March 2012 the draft version of the Anti-Discrimination Strategyof Ukraine concerning the adherence to rightsand freedoms was presentedfor consideration to thePresident of Ukraine by the Government.
Within the framework of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination the Joint National Report (19s, 20s and 21s) on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination UN Committee was introduced by the Ukrainian delegation (September 2011).The nextUkrainian report to the Committeeon the Elimination ofAll Forms of RacialDiscriminationwill be submitted in2014.
Ukraine takespart inOSCEHuman Dimensionprograms onthe permanent basis. 24 -27 October 2011the representatives ofthe OSCEcombating intoleranceanddiscrimination visited Ukraine. The OSCEproject"EffectiveResponse tothe Crimesofracialintolerance, xenophobia and discrimination" is being carried out.
Ukraine continues its cooperation with OSCE ODIHR in preparing annual reports “Hate Crimes in the OSCE Region – Incidents and Responses”. A contact person was appointed for Ukraine’s Internal Affairs Ministry for liasing with the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and providing information on measures taken in Ukraine to prevent and respond to such incidents.
Measures are being taken to improveconditions ofdetention facilities. In order to reform the national system of execution of criminal punishments in the light of international standards, the State Penitentiary Service was created on the basis of the reorganized State Department for Execution of Punishments(Decree of the President of Ukraine No 1085 of 9 December 2010) and the Statute of the Service was approved (Decree of the President of Ukraine No 394 of 6 April 2011).The drafting of the State Targeted Programme to reform the State Criminal-Executive Service until 2017 is underway.
In September 2011, the President of Ukraine approved the Regulations on the Commission for the Prevention of Tortures (Decree No 950), the activities of which will facilitate Ukraine’s effective implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
The Government Agent before the European Court of Human Rights is regularly providing courts and law enforcement agencies with information and analytical materials relating to the practice of the European Court in cases against Ukraine based on complaints as to the application to the person of the preventive measure in the form of detention in violation of the requirements of Article 5 of the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. In this respect attention is drawn to the need of applying pre-trial detention only in exceptional cases and to the priority application of alternative preventive measures.
During theCPTdelegationevaluation visitheaded by the President of the CPT L.Huseynovyy(29 November - 6 December 2011) to the Ukraine with the aim to evaluate conditions of detentionof detaineesand prisoners the Kievand Kharkivpretrial detention facilitieswasvisited, as well as thetreatment representativesof theprisonservice to detaineesand prisoners was appraised.European expertsdrew attention tothe necessity of improving thecriminal justice legislation. On 3 March 2012permissionto publishpreliminary commentson the resultsof theCPTvisit was granted.
The package aimed at supporting andcreating the favorable conditionsfor the protectionof human rights, prevent the occurrence ofinhuman ordegradingtreatment ofdetainees is applying. Namely, the measuresoffoodand maintenance, the improvementof psychological supportof prisonersand personstakeninto custodyinprisons, detention centers. The NGOs, academics, specialists in psychiatryand psychology were involved to thisactivity.
The projects “Support to Penitentiary Reform in Ukraine” and “Reinforcing the Fight Against Ill-treatment and Impunity” are being carried out.Thenegotiationswith Estoniaon launchinga pilot projectof an integratedaccounting systempeople heldin penal institutionsanddetention facilities creation was carried out.