1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. Thank you for your attention!
EU Twinning Ombudsman