Honouring of obligations and commitments by UkraineRecommendation 1622 (2003)

Doc. 10016

9 December 2003

Honouring of obligations and commitments by Ukraine
Recommendation 1622 (2003)

Reply from the Committee of Ministers

adopted at the 864^th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies (4 December 2003)

1. The Committee of Ministers takes note of Recommendation 1622 (2003) whereby the Parliamentary Assembly informs the Committee of Ministers of its decision to pursue the monitoring procedure in respect of Ukraine, in close co-operation with the Ukrainian delegation, as Ukraine, although it has made notable progress, has not yet honoured all obligations and commitments as a member state of the Council of Europe.

2. With respect to the execution of the Strasbourg Court judgments, referred to in paragraph 3(i) of the recommendation, the Committee of Ministers wishes to inform the Assembly that it is currently supervising execution in a number of cases raising issues relating to the independence of the judiciary and to conditions of detention. In this context, it further notes the on-going discussions between the Ukrainian authorities and Council of Europe experts with respect to a national instrument regarding the execution of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.

3. The Committee of Ministers notes that all the other issues raised in Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1622 (2003) are addressed by the Action Plan for the Media and/or the European Commission/Council of Europe Joint Programme to Strengthening Democratic Stability in Ukraine, which covers human rights standards (training of judges and police on the European Convention on Human Rights, freedom of expression, the European Social Charter, the Framework Convention on National Minorities and gender equality), the Rule of Law (reform of the judicial system, criminal policies and practices and fight against corruption), local democracy and education for democratic citizenship.

4. It recalls that all these activities have been agreed following a Secretariat Assistance and Information mission sent to Ukraine in August 2001 with a view to addressing concerns raised by the Parliamentary Assembly in its Recommendation 1513 (2001).

5. As regards the Action Plan for the Media, important draft laws on the electronic media in Ukraine have recently been analysed by a Council of Europe expert. Following an exchange of views on 17 October 2003 on the results of this expertise, the Rapporteur Group for Democratic Stability (GR-EDS) recommended that the Ukrainian authorities transmit the expert report to all parties involved, including Ukrainian parliamentarians. Upon the GR-EDS' recommendation, the Committee of Ministers further “asked the Ukrainian authorities to refrain from presenting to parliament for adoption the draft laws on the media which have been submitted for an expertise at the Council of Europe, before the results of this expertise can be

discussed and taken into account”. Since then, the Ukrainian authorities have indicated that the Committee for freedom of expression and information of the Ukrainian Parliament has taken into account a large part of the Council of Europe expert’s recommendations. A meeting involving representatives of the Ukrainian Parliament and other Ukrainian authorities and the Council of Europe expert was held in Kiev on 1 December 2003 in order to discuss the above-mentioned draft laws and the follow up to be given to the expert’s recommendations.

6. As regards co-operation within the Action Plan for the reform of the prosecution system in Ukraine (as part of the European Commission/Council of Europe Joint Programme), the Council of Europe has already provided an expertise of the Framework Act on the Reform of the Prosecution, which was submitted to an ad hoc working group with the President of Ukraine and to respective Committees of the Verkhovna Rada. In this context, a meeting was held in Kyiv on 23 June 2003 between Council of Europe experts, Ukrainian parliamentarians, representatives from the Prosecutor’s Office and from Ministries to discuss the reform of the prosecution system in compliance with Council of Europe standards related to democracy and the rule of law.

7. Finally, as regards the overall EC/CoE Joint Programme to Strengthening Democratic Stability in Ukraine, an evaluation of its implementation to date is envisaged in the near future. At the same time, a possible new EC/CoE Joint Initiative for Ukraine is under discussion to provide assistance on many of the issues raised by the Parliamentary Assembly in its Recommendation 1622 (2003).

8. In the light of the above considerations and in order to prepare a full, substantial reply to Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1622 (2003), the Committee of Ministers instructs the
Secretariat to:

(a) prepare an assessment of the results of co-operation to date, including progress achieved and shortcomings;

(b) work with the Ukrainian authorities to propose a new targeted programme, drawing on the lessons of previous programmes, emphasising desired objectives, benchmarks for progress, time-table to be respected and expected results;

(c) build on and finalise existing proposals for the new EC/CoE Joint Initiative for Ukraine, through a new Secretariat information and assistance mission to Ukraine.

9. The Committee of Ministers intends to adopt its final reply to Recommendation 1622 (2003), if possible, before the April 2004 part-session of the Assembly, on the basis inter alia of the results of the Secretariat Information and Assistance Mission to Ukraine.