Dmitry Lubinets. Artem Volodin from the Office of the Ombudsman is connected with Kuzmin
The new team of the Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights is restarting the work of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM). This is a national body that was created and operates in accordance with the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and ensures the prevention of torture, cruel and degrading treatment in places of detention, writes Zmina.
Monitors of the NPM have the right to freely enter places of detention at any time of the day and on a day of the week, which are subordinate to various ministries: from guardhouses of the Ministry of Defense to detention centers of the SBU.
On September 2, during a meeting of Ombudsman Dmitry Lubinets with public organizations, institutionally strengthening NPMs, the parties discussed overcoming challenges in the further work of the mechanism.
The Ombudsman introduced Artem Volodin to the public, who should lead the direction of work on places of detention. Due to the state of war, there was no competition for this position, so the department was headed by a person who had not previously been involved in NPM issues and had no human rights experience.
Artem Volodin from the Office of the Ombudsman is connected with Kuzmin</h2
Artem Volodin is a candidate of legal sciences, who worked in self-government bodies and the prosecutor's office.
On June 23, 2010, ex-Prime Minister Mykola Azarov appointed him to the post of Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection, which Volodin held until April 10, 2011.
From open sources it is known about Artem Volodin's connections with the deputy of the Opposition Platform for Life Renat Kuzmin. Thus, Volodin worked as an assistant to Kuzmin when the latter served as deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council and first deputy prosecutor general of Ukraine in 2013-2014.
According to the CEC, in 2014 Volodin was also a confidant of Kuzmin, who ran for the presidency of Ukraine in a single nationwide constituency.
Artem Volodin is the father of a people’s deputy from the Servant of the People faction Daria Volodina, who, as the Parliament.UA project notes, has previously been involved in scandals related to language legislative initiatives and the law on the liquidation of a scheme in the field of registering information in real estate appraisal reports .
Autobiography from the package of documents that Artem Volodov submitted during the competition for the position of a member of the Accounts Chamber
After the Revolution of Dignity, Volodin began to engage in private legal practice, applied for a member of the Accounts Chamber and a member of the Council of Public Control under the State Bureau of Investigation.
How the work of the mechanism will develop under the new leadership is still unknown. However, the transfer of prosecutorial experience to the NPM may threaten the very philosophy and principles of the NPM.
In addition, it is clear that one cannot expect a quick resumption of monitoring activities throughout the country, since the next weeks the leadership will have to get acquainted from scratch with the functions, nature NPM and establish its systemic effective work.
The Ombudsman's office is open to the public. In the next few weeks, there will be meetings with public organizations to learn about the improvements and previous experience of the NPM. Dmitry Lubinets announced his plan to restore the NPM's database and the map of detention places, where identified violations and recommendations for correction will be posted.
Subversion
The new commissioner inherited the NPM in a bad condition from the previous Ombudsman, Lyudmila Denisova. The accusation against the former monitor Artem Osipyan of favoring the Ministry of Internal Affairs revealed systemic problems.
One problem was that due to the appointed representative of the Commissioner for Human Rights in Places of Confinement, Natalia Borodich, many skilled and empathic workers left the NPM Department. Some of these specialists, who had worked for many years, were never given a new order from Denisova to monitor the NPM.
In addition, Dmitry Lubinets is surprised that, having made more than 900 monitoring visits last year, the Ombudsman's Office initiated only two response acts.
It was revealed that the previous leadership of the Ombudsman's Office did not support the prosecution in court of the administrations of detention places that denied entry to NPM monitors. It is the direct responsibility of the department leadership and the Ombudsman to protect the NPM's mandate, as this affects the mechanism's independence and the completeness of the data collected.
The Ombudsman's Office may reconsider the performance indicators of the NPM. However, it's important to remember that the NPM is a gentle approach. It's not the purpose of the mechanism to create fear among the administrators of detention places.
On the contrary, the monitoring group, which includes a qualified department employee, partly explains to the administrators of institutions during their visits why it's necessary to address specific identified violations. They also introduce the regulatory framework and changes in legislation. Considering their extensive experience and best practices, the monitoring groups advise the administrations of detention places on how to best prevent human rights violations or inhuman treatment.
If the monitoring group uncovers a serious human rights violation, such as lack of medical care or physical abuse, the Ombudsman's office takes action and refers to the relevant law.
It is also important to separate the monitoring activities of the NPM and responding to citizens' complaints, because these are two separate areas.
The Commissioner also needs to submit recommendations for legislative changes to the heads of state and ministries in order to address certain systemic issues. During Lyudmila Denisova's term, there were generally 20–25 such documents per year.
The previous leadership of the NPM was pleased that the number of visits increased each year. However, quantity does not always mean quality. During a meeting with the Ombudsman, a former employee of the NPM Department, Elena Prashko, mentioned that due to the heavy workload of the department's employees with monitoring visits, they were unable to work properly and produce high-quality reports. Elena Prashko also identified parts of reports being copied from other visits.
Additionally, a person participating in the oversight visit from the public informed me that during Lyudmila Denisova's term, she was instructed not to further investigate a violation at the infamous Kagarlyk police station during short-term covid visits. It was said that the focus of these visits was only on implementing antivirus measures at the detention facility. There were controversial appointments made by the Verkhovna Rada regarding Lyudmila Denisova and staffing decisions.
Also, Natalia Borodich partly emasculated the final reports from 25 pages to two.
Clearly, in addition to the number of visits, a significant measure of the effectiveness of the mechanism could be the number of systemic changes achieved to end torture and other human rights violations. Together with the public, it is important to identify systemic issues in different types of detention facilities and work jointly to address them. This is a specific area of focus for the Ombudsman's Office, where the public's expertise and advocacy can strengthen the outcomes.
The NPM should be the driving force behind reforms. Its distinctiveness lies in the fact that monitors can easily gather evidence and create an accurate overview of systemic issues in each type of detention facility.
Artem Volodin. The success of the NPM
In my opinion, the success of the Ukrainian NPM model since 2016 has been the consistent development of a team spirit within the NPM community.
This is particularly evident during the annual forums, where monitors from different parts of Ukraine come together. These forums provide an opportunity to reflect on experiences, learn from one another, and develop common visions and solutions. The monitors realized that they were actively contributing to the institutional capacity, and this was motivating for them.
—Why don't they go on visits? wondered former Commissioner Lyudmila Denisova during this year's NPM forum.
The answer was clear: there is a need to invest in the development of a community of volunteer monitors, enhance their motivation, support them constructively in crises, remove barriers sincerely, and ensure visits. During a meeting with the new Ombudsman, it was revealed that under Lyudmila Denisova's leadership, some new monitors were not invited to conduct visits for months after completing their training.
Cluster meetings of the NPM were also highly effective, with a large group of monitors simultaneously visiting various types of detention facilities in a specific region. When the monitors started working in a location, the news of the group's arrival would spread, prompting all the facilities in the region to prepare for a possible visit. These cluster meetings also had a strong preventive effect.
Furthermore, the effectiveness of the mechanism could be enhanced by making appropriate changes in legislation to increase the Commissioner's authority, making it more difficult for detention facility administrations to disregard the NPM's recommendations.
Dmitry Lubinets clearly declared his intention to build the institutional capacity and permanence of the NPM. He wants the mechanism to remain efficient and effective and not depend on the personality of the Ombudsman in the future. However, the same requirements should apply to the Ombudsman himself. The fiasco of Lyudmila Denisova is a clear example of why a candidate for the position of Ombudsman should be elected precisely through an open and independent competition in compliance with internationally recognized standards of transparency, impartiality and the involvement of civil society.
Nikolay Mirny, translated by Skelet .Info
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