UN resident coordinator in Ukraine, ombudsperson agree on cooperation in strategic areas

The Letter of Intent signed by the UN in Ukraine and the ombudsperson will bring ongoing cooperation of both offices to a new strategic level.

During the discussion, Osnat Lubrani and Liudmyla Denisova found a wide range of issues for joint cooperation, considering that human rights is the basis for work of all UN organizations in Ukraine.

Denisova stressed that her views on cooperation fully coincide with the UN’s international priorities and most of them are reflected in the strategic areas of activity of Ombudsperson’s office for the ongoing year, as well as in the plan of measures for their implementation.

One of the priority areas of cooperation between UN and Ombudsperson’s Office Denisova named coordination of advocacy for the transfer of persons, that were imprisoned before the start of armed conflict in eastern Ukraine and the transfer of 220 criminal cases against 230 persons and proceedings remaining in courts and law enforcement agencies in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The separate working meeting with the UN will be scheduled to discuss this issue in details.

Lubrani and Denisova also highlighted a need to address a number of Roma issues in Ukraine and agreed to conduct joint visits to Roma settlements and communities throughout Ukraine. In this regard, the special report "The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Roma Community in Ukraine" recently presented by Denisova will further involve experts from UN agencies in Ukraine to work on the implementation of the recommendations provided in the report.

Lubrani also added that UN Office has a full capacity to cooperate with Denisova on countering of hate speech which remains a highly acute problem in Ukraine.

Denisova praised the good results of cooperation with UN Agencies in Ukraine, in particular, she commended joint work with UNDP on COVID-19 report that will be published in early March.

At the end, Denisova stressed the need to enhance bilateral cooperation in the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, improve the institutional capacity of the national preventive mechanism and raise awareness of Ukrainian society about human and civil rights and freedoms.

In 2021, UN in Ukraine together with the ombudsperson will also conduct a joint study on the integration of migrants in the country and present a special report on the rights of migrants in Ukraine.

Photo credit: UN in Ukraine