ПОСИЛЕННЯ ПОТЕНЦІАЛУ ІНСТИТУЦІЇ УКРАЇНСЬКОГО ОМБУДСМЕНА: СЕМІНАР ПОСИЛЕННЯ ПОТЕНЦІАЛУ ІНСТИТУЦІЇ УКРАЇНСЬКОГО ОМБУДСМЕНА: НОВІ МЕТОДОЛОГІЇ ТА ПРАКТИКИ ПРОВЕДЕННЯ МОНІТОРИНГУ ДОТРИМАННЯ ПРАВ ЛЮДИНИ STRENGTHENING THE UKRAINIAN OMBUDSPERSON INSTITUTION: RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING METHODOLOGIES AND PROCEDURES TO CARRY OUT A MONITORING OF THE OBSERVANCE OF HUMAN RIGHTS EU Twinning Ombudsman

Vytautas Valentinavičius Kyiv, April 18th 2018 Increasing the efficiency of the Ombudsperson’s activities in eliminating detected human rights violations, of the Ombudsperson’s control procedures over the fulfilment of recommendations, of the responses to the Ombudsperson’s acts of submission on eliminating detected human rights violations Dieter Schindlauer & Vytautas Valentinavičius Kyiv, April 18th 2018 This project is funded by the European Union

Recommendation: The annual report of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights as a tool to improve the impact of recommendations This project is funded by the European Union

The Annual Report - Features Big volume – more than 600 pages 16 chapters – differing in focus, structure, length and style Short programmatic foreword Focus on individual cases and presentation of workload – not on analysis No comparison to earlier years, trends or patterns This project is funded by the European Union

The Annual Report – role and functions Fulfill legal reporting duty Show work and workload – give account of activities Justify existence and expenses of institution Further use and processing for several reporting duties Compile data for the use of experts (nat. & internat.) Provide ”food for argumentation” for lawyers in court cases Basis for media reporting (not very relevant) This project is funded by the European Union

The (existing) Annual Report – Strenghts Impressive account of workload and importance Shows broad mandate and diversity of focuses Serves as reference work for experts Production is quick and lean This project is funded by the European Union

The (existing) Annual Report – Weaknesses Nature of publication is more of an archive than of a report Clear priorities and messages are missing Hard to be used in human rights education or advocacy Analysis and background information is scarce Facts and figures only intelligible for experts Report concentrates on problems not solutions and uses crisis language Focus on individual cases tends to set aside systemic issues Production procedure is not very communicative and participatory This project is funded by the European Union

Recommendation 1 Retain the volume it seems necessary to produce a voluminous report giving account of all the Commissioners activities and findings. figures and examples of cases and applications shall continue to be in the report. change is the perception of these parts: They should be regarded as an archive of activities and a source of raw data for experts, while the main reporting focus shall switch to analysis. This project is funded by the European Union

Recommendation 2 Put most important issues into introduction The annual report should begin with a compelling introduction from which the reader can form an opinion on the institution, its goals, priority areas of activity in the reference year and results achieved. The introduction should focus on the critical aspects of the Commissioner’s performance. The reader should get a clear sense of what matters most. This project is funded by the European Union

Chapters could have the following format: Recommendation 3 Focus on analysis and produce thematic analytical chapters to each of the 16 sections Chapters could have the following format: Frame theme, legal background and values behind those Connect theme to whole society – explain systematic issues Give analysis of theme in reporting period. Compare to previous years Give prominent place to achievements and positive developments Emphasise solutions - not problems only List recommendations for concrete action These chapters could be extracted to form a separate summary report This project is funded by the European Union

Recommendation 4 Apply the rules of effective communication in human rights matters Use thematic stories, not individual stories, emphasise systemic factors Lead with values, not facts/information Combe urgency with efficacy – people must feel a problem can be solved.  Set out the solution. Develop and deploy examples that emphasise solutions, not problems Avoid crisis language Connect outcomes to society as a whole – explain how the positive or negative outcomes affect everyone Contextualise numbers – don’t expect them to speak for themselves Especially in the area of counteracting discrimination: avoiding myth busting – it tends to affirm the myths, not overcome them. This project is funded by the European Union

Recommendation 5 Strategic dissemination In addition to sending the annual report to selected institutions and making it available online, European best practice shows that calling for roundtables and other events to discuss the report with different stakeholders can greatly increase the number of actual readers. This project is funded by the European Union

Thank you for your attention! EU Twinning Ombudsman