Ukrainian government officials take part in ODIHR workshop on national human rights strategies

Monitoring the implementation of national human rights strategies and action plans was the focus of a workshop for Ukrainian civil servants organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) from 1 to 3 October 2018 in Kyiv.

The participants – 11 men and 9 women – were representatives of the Ministry of Justice and other ministries working on the National Human Rights Strategy and the related Action Plan. Representatives from a number of civil society organizations also participated.

“With this workshop we build the capacities of national actors to integrate a human rights-based approach into their monitoring work, and we stimulate dialogue and co-operation between state and civil society actors,” said Marc van Gool, ODIHR Human Rights Adviser.

Yevhenii Shakotko, an expert working on human rights at the Ministry of Justice, said: “Among other things, ODIHR’s checklist for assessing the impact of legislation on human rights, which was presented at this workshop, will help its participants do their work more effectively.”

The participants also learned how to effectively mainstream gender into human rights monitoring.

The workshop was part of ODIHR’s project, ongoing since 2015, aimed at enhancing effective mechanisms for dialogue among civil society and key government stakeholders to address human rights issues in the country, in line with OSCE commitments and other international standards.