Voice of monitors in places of deprivation of freedom helps save lives amid war
The position and the voice of the National Preventive Mechanism monitors are crucial for the protection of human rights in places of deprivation of freedom amid the armed conflicts and other large-scale trials.
This was discussed at the Forum of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) Monitors, which took place near Vinnytsia, central Ukraine.
Since the beginning of the Russian military aggression in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian NPM has faced the challenges, which have not previously arisen before the NPMs of other countries – the revolution events during the Euromaidan protests, the occupation of Crimea, the military conflict in Donbas.
Responding to such large-scale threats, Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Valeria Lutkovska and the monitors of the National Preventive Mechanism called for the immediate evacuation of people from the places of deprivation of freedom in the ATO area. In addition, there has been a series of visits to the institutions at the front line to examine the situation and help people who are there.
Expert of the advocacy department of the all-Ukrainian Charitable Organization “All-Ukrainian Network of People Living with HIV”, member of the monitors’ initiative group Oleksandr Hatiyatullin told how the National Preventive Mechanism helped to cope with crisis situations.
For example, during the visit it was found that the remand prisons in Artemivsk, Starobilsk, Mariupol in Donetsk region were actually left without any management after the territories had been occupied by the militants. The inmates were not transferred for eight months as the colonies, where they had to be transported to, were already on the uncontrolled territory. The timely medical care for TB patients was not provided in these remand prisons.
“The NPM visits helped to change the situation as we drew attention to this problem, and people were subsequently transferred to Berdiansk, Zaporizhzhia region, and then to other institutions on the government-controlled territory,” he said.
Head of the department for the NPM implementation of the Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Yuri Belousov told about the initiative to transfer the convicts from the colonies, located on the occupied territory. In particular, thanks to negotiations and the active stance of the NPM, the transfer of first nine prisoners from the uncontrolled territory in Donetsk region was held on July 8.
“Such systemic initiatives as the NPM have much more opportunities in times of trials and changes. The availability of the systemic mechanism, which is based on law, is a powerful tool of influence. The first thing to do is to believe in yourself and your capabilities,” said Roman Romanov, director of the Human Rights and Justice Program Initiative of the International Renaissance Foundation.
According to him, one of the future challenges for the NPM monitors will be the ability to elaborate their own agenda and to effectively influence the government.
Speaking about the organizational development of the NPM during 2014, deputy head of the department for the NPM implementation of the Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Kateryna Chumak said that the most important achievement became the opportunity to carry out visits of the Ombudsperson’s regional representatives together with the public. So, 66 such visits were paid last year.
“The boundaries between the public monitors and the department representatives have disappeared. We are one team now,” representative of the initiative group of monitors Maryna Homeniuk said.
According to Kateryna Chumak, the blind side of the NPM in 2014 was still the insufficient influence on the public authorities and decision-making in the country. In particular, the people from the places of deprivation of freedom in Donbas were evacuated not in time because of that.
“The National Preventive Mechanism marks three years, and this is just the beginning of the life cycle of any community. We still have to go through the infancy and growth,” Oleksandr Hatiyatullin summed up.
During the Forum, the NPM monitors also had the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of international humanitarian law, having listened to a lecture by Candidate of Legal Sciences Anton Korynevych.
The workshops on upgrading the skills of monitors in the art of advocacy and communication were conducted by Dmytro Simansky (“How to speak for being heard and understood”) and Dmytro Sherembey (“Monitoring + Advocacy = Achievement of changes”).
During the meeting, the NPM monitors elaborated the vision of the further development of the community and were able to share experiences and plan future joint action.
The event was organized by the Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, the Human Rights Information Centre and the initiative group of the NPM monitors with the assistance of the International Renaissance Foundation.
