Tetiana Kovalchuk took part in the seventh session of the Human Rights Dialogue between Ukraine and the EU
Today, May 18, the seventh session of the Dialogue on Human Rights between Ukraine and the EU took place in video conference mode. The parties discussed the implementation of the National Human Rights Strategy, the observance of human rights in the territories temporarily not controlled by the Government of Ukraine, the realization of their rights by national and religious minorities.
The EU side presented innovations in the legislative and institutional sphere of human rights protection, in particular in the field of combating racism, ensuring gender equality, as well as a new EU action plan in the field of democracy establishment.
“No country in the world has a perfect human rights policy, but it has a choice to make the necessary efforts to improve it,” said EU Special Representative for Human Rights, Aimen Gilmore.
As part of the Ukrainian delegation, Deputy Minister Tetiana Kovalchuk informed the EU side about the measures taken by the Ministry of Internal Affairs to strengthen the protection of human rights in the activities of the bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in particular about the initiative to distribute a pilot project on the introduction of a system of registration of all detainees Custody records throughout the territory of Ukraine, on the formation of Department of the Main Inspectorate in the structure of the National Police in order to strengthen service discipline and control, on the activities of the Human Rights Monitoring Department in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
“The Ministry of Internal Affairs is ready for effective and unpopular measures to eradicate harsh and inappropriate treatment by the police,” the deputy minister noted.
Tatiana Kovalchuk also informed the EU side about the development of amendments to the legislation in order to bring anti-discrimination legislation in line with the norms of EU law, as well as on measures taken to improve communication with representatives of national and religious minorities within the framework of the new algorithm of interaction.
Both sides noted the importance of the legislative regulation of freedom of peaceful assembly, as well as the issue of exercising the right to peaceful assembly and the implementation by law enforcement agencies of the functions of ensuring law order during their implementation.
In addition, the parties discussed the issues of protecting children's rights and combating domestic violence. Tatiana Kovalchuk assured of the readiness of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the implementation of the rules of the Lanzarote Convention, on legislative initiatives, in particular the guidelines on child-friendly justice, as well as the activities of the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice.
“Quarantine restrictions affect the increase in the risk of domestic violence not only in Ukraine, but our goal is timely response and prevention, as well as protection of the most vulnerable category of victims, which is children,” said Tetiana Kovalchuk.
Photo by Andriy Novitsky
