ZMINA in coalition with civil society organizations prepared a Shadow Report to the European Commission’s Report on Ukraine in 2023

A coalition of civil society organizations — the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, Transparency International Ukraine, ZMINA, Tomorrow’s Lawyer, and the Ukrainian Bar Association — has published a Shadow Report to Chapter 23 “Justice and Fundamental Rights” of the European Commission’s 2023 Report on Ukraine.

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This is the first report submitted by Ukraine’s civil society sector to the European Commission since the country became a candidate for EU membership. The period covered by the experts is June 2023–August 2024. The Report provides an analysis of the current state of affairs, progress made by Ukraine, and ongoing issues in the areas of the rule of law (courts, prosecution, Bar, legal education), the fight against corruption and the protection of fundamental human rights and freedoms. The Report also contains approximately 350 recommendations to address the urgent challenges of the current stage of reforms in these areas.

“The primary objective of the first Shadow Report was to document the current state of affairs in the areas of the rule of law, anti-corruption efforts, and human rights. These are the key issues that will be the starting point for Ukraine’s EU accession negotiations in September. In this report, together with our coalition partners, we have provided strategic and practical recommendations essential for effective reforms in these areas. I am grateful to our partners and experts for their work, and to the European Commission for their trust. The first step has been taken. Future reports will be prepared by civil society annually, documenting both achievements and challenges in these areas,” comments Svitlana Matviіenko, Executive Director of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives.

Advocacy Director of ZMINA Alena Lunova added that this report is very important because it is about the real state of affairs in Ukrainian society:

“We have a lot of work ahead of us, we plan to work on similar documents in the future and cooperate with the state so that the road map of European integration, which the government is currently working on, takes into account our recommendations in this report.”

For reference. The Shadow Report, prepared by experts from specialized NGOs led by the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, includes the following sections:

Judicial Reform (Agency for Legislative Initiatives). The section contains a detailed analysis of the judicial reform: its current state, issues and prospects; issues of institutional capacity and competitive selection to the main institutions of the judiciary; the state of independence of the judiciary; financing of the judiciary; digitalization of justice, fighting corruption in the judiciary, and enforcement of court decisions.

Fighting Corruption (Transparency International Ukraine). This section covers such topics as the National Anti-Corruption Strategy and the State Anti-Corruption Programme; specialized institutions; the resumption of e-declaration and verification of declarations; the resumption of reporting by political parties; and corruption risk management. It also presents the results of the independent external assessment of the NACP’s performance; analyzes issues related to the legislative regulation of the excessive influence of oligarchs and lobbying, and other aspects of the anti-corruption sphere.

Protection of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms (ZMINA). The section includes analysis of such topics as the fight against torture and cruel and degrading treatment; freedom of expression; combating discrimination and hate crimes; and other areas of human rights protection. A separate block analyses issues directly related to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, namely the protection of the rights of victims of armed aggression; responsibility for the most serious international crimes committed in the context of Russian armed aggression; legal guarantees for the implementation of human rights in the process of reintegration of the liberated territories; etc.

Reform of the Prosecutor’s Office (Tomorrow’s Lawyer). The section is devoted to the analysis of issues related to the legal status of the prosecutor and guarantees of his/her independence; activities of the prosecutorial self-government bodies; selection of prosecutors, their certification and disciplinary liability; improvement of the procedure for appointment and dismissal of the Prosecutor General; institutional support for the training of prosecutors; introduction of electronic criminal proceedings and the system of distribution of cases between prosecutors, as well as a human-centered approach in the prosecution; national system of prosecution for international crimes and, in particular, the specifics of international cooperation in this area.

Reform of the Bar (Tomorrow’s Lawyer). The section provides a detailed examination of the  legal status of the Bar; advocacy; Bar self-government; advocates in the temporarily occupied territories; Bar finances; access to the profession; disciplinary liability; and continuous professional development. In particular, the article analyzes corruption risks in the practice of law and in the activities of Bar self-government bodies, as well as issues related to mandatory declaration and mediation.

Reform of Legal Education (Ukrainian Bar Association). This section deals with the following issues: standards of legal education and modernization of educational programmes; institutional separation of legal education and training of law enforcement personnel; accreditation of law schools; financing of legal education from the state budget; fight against corruption and plagiarism in legal education.

The monitoring, analysis and preparation of the Shadow Report were carried out from February to August 2024.

The report is available in English and Ukrainian.

This report was prepared with the financial assistance of the European Union within the framework of the EU Pravo-Justice Project. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives and other civil society organizations and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.