Alyona Lunyova elected as Co-chair of Advisory Council under Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights

Alyona Lunyova, advocacy director at Human Rights Centre ZMINA, was elected as the Co-chair of the Advisory Council under the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights at its inaugural meeting in the Commissioner’s Office on December 10. 

Moreover, Mykhailo Spasov, head of the Commissioner’s Office Legal Department, was elected as the secretary of the Advisory Council. 

The meeting was held on the occasion of the 74th anniversary of the adoption and promulgation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the UN General Assembly in 1948. 

Chris Field, Western Australian Ombudsman and President of the International Ombudsman Institute, and Rob Behrens, Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (UK), attended the meeting. 

“The Advisory Council is an important body of feedback from human rights organizations for the Ombudsman,” Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets said. 

The membership of the Advisory Council under the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights includes representatives of such organizations as Donbas SOS, Human Rights Platform, Media Initiative for Human Rights, Charity Foundation “100% Life”, Crimean Human Rights Group, and others. ZMINA advocacy director Alyona Lunyova also joined the Council. The activists will provide expert and consultative support to the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights on the improvement of protection of human and citizen rights and freedoms, promote the implementation of civil society initiatives to prevent violations of human rights and freedoms and restore them, as well as put forward proposals for improving the legislation of Ukraine in the field of protection of human rights and freedoms.