As part of the Memorandum of Scientific and Educational Cooperation with Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets, the National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic” became a large-scale platform for the presentation of the annual report of the Ombudsman of Ukraine on the state of observance and protection of human and civil rights and freedoms in Ukraine in 2023 for the second time within the event “The Way of Dignity: Protection of Human Rights under Martial Law in Poltava Region”.
This document outlines the main challenges and trends in the protection of human rights under martial law. The annual report of the Ombudsman of Ukraine outlines the challenges and trends in the protection of human rights under martial law, as the number of victims and survivors of physical violence and disenfranchisement in the context of active hostilities is growing.
The Forum “The Way of Dignity: Protection of Human Rights under Martial Law in Poltava Region” was aimed at establishing close cooperation and developing joint algorithms of cooperation between state authorities, local governments, public and religious organisations, charitable foundations, human rights organisations in the area of protection of rights and freedoms under martial law, protection of children's rights, military and other constitutional human and civil rights.
The Forum participants were greeted by: Deputy Head of the Poltava Regional Military Administration Volodymyr Vasylenko, First Deputy Chairman of the Poltava Regional Council Oleksandr Lemeshko, Rector of Poltava Polytechnic, Professor Volodymyr Onyshchenko, and MPs Andrii Bobliakh and Kostiantyn Kasai.
The powerful scientific and educational event brought together leaders and employees of law enforcement agencies, public services, local governments, and representatives of local communities of the Poltava region in one of the best multidisciplinary classical universities in our country.
The participants watched a video address by the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets, who stressed the importance of presenting the Ombudsman's annual report at the Ukrainian parliament: “Our country is in the eleventh year of the brutal war declared by russia. The human rights protection system needs to be transformed and developed, our institution is definitely not standing still, despite the tragedies, pain and despair. We are all not just learning to live in these realities, we are uniting, changing, and moving the country forward, every Ukrainian is doing everything possible to bring victory closer.
Today we are presenting the second annual report of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights on the state of observance of human and civil rights and freedoms in Ukraine in 2023. In 2023, I received more than 95,796 appeals, the number of appeals more than doubled compared to the previous year, we are developing a network of regional offices, getting closer to people, we are trusted, which is why the number of appeals is only growing. In 2023, our institution paid much attention to protecting the rights of servicemen, veterans and their families. We participate in prisoner-of-war exchanges, I personally meet with families of prisoners of war and civilian hostages in different cities of Ukraine, and I know firsthand about all the problems.
So far, we have managed to bring home 3210 heroes and heroines from russian captivity. The Ombudsman’s Office also brings home Ukrainian children from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and Russia, and so far we have managed to return 705 little Ukrainians. In 2023, we held hundreds of meetings with international organisations and partners to bring our citizens home and improve human rights protection. Over the year, the structural units of the Ombudsperson’s Office conducted more than 3,000 monitoring visits, which resulted in more than 10,000 recommendations to public authorities. The position of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights on draft legal acts is also one of the mechanisms of influence on state policy-making. This year, the Secretariat’s staff processed 2731 proposals, we conducted comprehensive monitoring of the activities of 833 military medical commissions throughout Ukraine, and the proposals submitted by our Office to the National Security and Defence Council to address the identified problems were taken into account by the NSDC decision, which was enacted by a Presidential Decree.
Every second visit concerned the observance of the rights of IDPs, and almost every fifth visit concerned the national preventive mechanism. The Secretariat’s staff conducts monitoring visits to public and private institutions in Ukraine to assess how human rights are observed there. My regional offices allow me to carry out such comprehensive and prompt monitoring of the human rights situation in each region. Each region of Ukraine is different, and my representative in the region personally reports to me on a weekly basis on the work done and informs me about the situation in the region. Of course, the public sector actively assists us in this work, and I would like to thank our members of the Expert Councils at the representative offices.
Thanks to your efforts, we can improve our work and together build the rule of law in every region, big city or small village. We hear everyone and work hard every day, responding to all appeals, phone calls and providing personal consultations. There are still many challenges and tasks ahead that we need to tackle, but I am confident that we must do it together. I thank everyone for their concern, for their involvement in the process, for their desire to do more than they can. Glory to the Armed Forces of Ukraine! Glory to Ukraine and its courageous defenders!”
The honourable guests greeted the participants and expressed their conviction that this meeting would provide answers to a number of the most pressing issues of protecting the constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens affected by russian aggression and active hostilities in our country.
“I would like to start my welcome speech by expressing my gratitude to the representative of the Ombudsperson in Poltava region. I am grateful for the work he and his team do, as it is an invaluable contribution to our common cause. Today, it is very important to help socially vulnerable groups of the population - internally displaced persons, people fleeing the war, people with disabilities, etc. Thanks to the cooperation between the Poltava Regional Military Administration and the Ombudsperson's Office in Poltava region, we have already seen some first results: this year we have provided 85 recommendations to eliminate violations and shortcomings on the ground, 95% of which have already been implemented, some are still in progress, but this is a very high rate. Thank you for your cooperation in working with children, we have already conducted training for children’s services in Poltava and Kremenchuk districts. We have implemented an excellent pilot project over the past two months on places of detention, working groups visited our colonies and pre-trial detention centers, checked the conditions of detention, and we also have the first results. I hope for further fruitful cooperation, and the main thing is the result!” said Volodymyr Vasylenko, Deputy Head of the Poltava Regional Military Administration.
In his speech, Rector of Poltava Polytechnic, Professor Volodymyr Onyshchenko highlighted the effective cases of implementing the Memorandum of Scientific and Educational Cooperation with the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights signed on 24 May 2023.
According to the head of a leading classical university, over a year of fruitful cooperation, more than two dozen scientific and educational events have been held at Poltava Polytechnic, and a number of effective practical cases have been developed in partnership with the Ombudsman of Ukraine and the Gender Centre of Poltava Polytechnic, which can be taken as an example for other regions of our country.
“Together with the Regional Office of the Ombudsman of Ukraine, we continue to work in a dynamic manner to ensure that Poltava region is an example of comprehensive respect for human rights and prevention of any manifestations of violence. I am grateful to the powerful team of the regional office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights in Poltava region for constructive cooperation.
I am proud of our strategic partnership with the respected Dmytro Valeriyovych Lubinets and am convinced that our effective cooperation strengthens the legal situation in our region for the better, especially in the context of martial law. With faith in the Armed Forces of Ukraine! Glory to Ukraine!” said Volodymyr Onyshchenko.
Oleksandr Lemeshko, First Deputy Head of Poltava Regional Council, noted the effective cooperation between the Poltava Regional Council and the Ombudsperson’s Office in Poltava region: “In my opinion, despite the war and difficult challenges, the representatives of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights are the best in Poltava region, we were able to provide the best office space for their work and today the Administrative Service Centre is the most visited institution in the region. I can say for sure that the standards of social and legal protection are working well, and we were the first to introduce a mechanism for receiving financial assistance for internally displaced persons. A significant number of children returned from the temporarily occupied territories return to Poltava, because it has become their second home, and this is also a significant work of the Ombudsman of Ukraine and his team.”
The importance of this event was underlined in his speech by the People’s Deputy of Ukraine Kostiantyn Kasai, who praised the performance of the Ombudsman of Ukraine over the past year and expressed his admiration for the coordinated work of the entire team of Dmytro Lubinets.
Constructive discussions lasted for more than three hours, participants shared their best practices and presented achievements and priority areas of the Ombudsman’s Office.
During two strategic sessions, the participants reviewed in detail the annual report of the Ombudsman, discussed cases of interaction of state, law enforcement agencies, local self-government bodies with the Regional Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights in Poltava region, exchanged experience and best practices in the field of observance of human and civil rights and freedoms in the activities of controlling bodies, presented the activities of the Expert Council under the Representative of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights in Poltava region.
The active dialogue and exchange of views during the discussion sessions involved the participation of Ukrainian MP Andrii Bobliakh, Deputy Head of the Poltava Regional Military Administration Volodymyr Vasylenko, First Deputy Chairman of the Poltava Regional Council Oleksandr Lemeshko, Head of the Poltava District Military Administration Dmytro Romanov, Head of the Lubny District Military Administration Serhii Siriachenko, Head of the Myrhorod District Military Administration Vitalii Dyakivnych, Deputy Mayor of Poltava Vitalii Nikipelov, Deputy Mayor of Kremenchuk Olha Usanova, Director of the Department of Social Protection of the Population of Poltava Regional Military Administration Liudmyla Korniienko, Director of the Department of Education and Science of Poltava Regional Military Administration Yevhen Konchakovskyi, Director of the Department of Health of Poltava Regional Military Administration Viktor Lysak, Acting Head of the Department for Reintegration, Social Protection of Veterans and IDPs of Poltava Regional Military Administration Serhii Apryatkin and Head of the Service for Children of Poltava Regional Military Administration Iryna Fomenko.
“I am pleased to note that, finally, the problems are not only being discussed, but are being solved. I would like to express my gratitude to the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights because all the issues I address from voters are resolved quite quickly. I want to thank you for helping our military to protect their rights, because now a large number of military personnel are addressing various issues, such as not being allowed to attend military qualification examinations, not being paid their salaries, and Dmytro Valeriyovych solved all this within a week, which was very fast and I am pleased to note. I am ready to continue to cooperate and communicate, and I think we have a lot of work to do. I would like to thank you separately for the return of the children, I wish you inspiration and success in your difficult work,” said MP Andrii Bobliakh.
Vladyslav Nosenko, Representative of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights in Poltava region, shared the main practical cases of solving the most pressing issues of protection of constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens, presented the theses of the annual report of the Ombudsman of Ukraine and familiarised the audience with the priority areas of the Regional Office’s activities.
“Most appeals to the Ombudsman are received orally, thanks to a well-coordinated hotline mechanism. In 2023, the Ombudsman’s Office received 55,354 oral appeals from citizens. Almost 1500 appeals were referred for further consideration to clarify all circumstances and provide comprehensive assistance to citizens. The most common category of people who applied were family members of military personnel. The next category, almost every fifth application, is from internally displaced persons. Our Poltava region was quite active in terms of appeals to the Ombudsman, and we received 3,400 appeals from Poltava region, and we ranked 5th in the ranking of appeals by region. During the year, the structural units of the Ombudsman’s Office restored the rights of 54,149 people, and the regional units of the Secretariat helped to restore the rights of 7,855 people.
In 2023, the structural units of our Office processed 2,731 proposals for draft legal acts, and the structural units of the Secretariat conducted 3,148 monitoring visits. Every second visit concerned the observance of IDPs’ rights, and almost every fifth concerned the national preventive mechanism. In Poltava region, 211 such monitoring visits were carried out in 2023, which is one of the highest figures in Ukraine. At the request of citizens, representatives of our Office constantly monitored court hearings to prevent violations of procedural rights. I would like to note that as a result of the military aggression of the russian Federation in Ukraine, 29,330 civilians suffered, of whom 10,191 were killed and 15,159 were injured.
You all remember the fact that on 6 June 2023, the russian occupiers committed a terrorist act - they blew up the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, which led to a man-made disaster and a critical environmental situation. In connection with this situation, the Ombudsperson appealed to the UN Secretary-General, the IAEA Director General, the Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, the UN Independent International Crimes Commission and other international organisations.
In addition, since 24 February 2022, our organisation has managed to return home 3210 of our soldiers. The Ombudsman personally or his representatives always participate in prisoner-of-war exchanges, it should be noted that our prisoners are held in conditions that do not meet safety requirements. In 2023, the Ombudsperson also paid much attention to the issue of observing the rights of the military personnel and their families. At the regional level, we held many meetings with the families of prisoners of war and missing persons, and we involved MPs of Ukraine in these meetings to help the population,” said Vladyslav Nosenko.
Larysa Karmazin-Denysenko, Chief Specialist of the Ombudsman’s Office, Secretary of the Expert Council of the Ombudsman’s Office in Poltava Region, presented the activities of the Expert Council under the Representative of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights in Poltava Region. It is worth mentioning that the co-chairs of the Expert Council are Vladyslav Nosenko , Representative of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights in Poltava Region, and Olena Dubynka, Leading Legal Advisor of Poltava Polytechnic, Head of the University Gender Centre.
The results of the event were summed up by Representative of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights in Poltava Region Vladyslav Nosenko, who expressed his sincere gratitude to the participants of the event, the team of National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic” for their comprehensive assistance and support of the initiatives of the Ombudsman of Ukraine.
Recently, Polytechnic took part in the all-Ukrainian forum dedicated to the future of Ukrainian education, the Veteran Development Centre held a meeting with the soldiers of the 3rd Separate Mechanised Brigade, and the specialists of the Veteran Development Centre joined the work on the reintegration strategy of Ukrainian veterans.
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National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”
