SECTION 1. In order to increase the efficiency of government response to the recommendations of the Commissioner, on November 4, 2013 it was decided to establish a permanent interagency working group composed of representatives of the sectoral ministries and agencies (at the level of deputy heads), Presidential Administration and Prosecutor General’s Office. Moreover, it was decided to also involve a group of experts from the civil society. The working group will have the following main tasks: • • • • • 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. to develop proposals aimed at improvement of the legislation safeguarding human rights and freedoms of individuals in custodial settings (joint elaboration of draft regulations related to human rights and freedoms, analysis of the current legal framework for compliance with the existing national and international standards); to develop the national standards of proper treatment of individuals in custodial settings (criminal suspects, administrative detainees, persons with mental disorders, children institutionalized in residences, etc.); to conduct joint monitoring of the status of respect of the rights and freedoms of individuals in custodial settings (joint inspection visits, including such based on the facts of outrageous violations of human rights); to conduct advanced trainings for custodial settings personnel in the sphere of human rights and freedoms; to exchange best practices in protection of human rights and freedoms against ill-treatment. State Migration Service of Ukraine State Border Service of Ukraine State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine State Court Administration of Ukraine Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine 23 On the basis of the results of NPM implementation in the course of 2013 the Human Rights Commissioner sent 26 submissions for immediate action to eliminate gross violations of human rights and freedoms as well as systemic violations systemic disorders in the performance of custodial settings: 7 such letters were communicated to the Prime Minister of Ukraine; 6 – to Prosecutor General; 4 – to Minister of Justice; 4 – to Minister of Internal Affairs; 3 – to Minister of Social Policies; 1 – to Minister of Education and Science, and 1 – to the Head of Vinnytsya Regional State Administration. In the second and third sections of the Report each of these submissions by the Human Rights Commissioner will be considered in more detail, as well as the response of the appropriate executive authority. Some submissions addressed issues that required coordinated actions of several central executive authorities: these submissions were directly communicated to the Prime Minister of Ukraine for his appropriate instructions to the involved central bodies of executive power. For example, the results of custodial settings monitoring in the first half of last year revealed a systemic problem related to gross violations of human rights and freedoms of arrested persons during their participation in court hearings. In fact it was found that the whole process of delivering arrested criminal defendants from remand 6. 7. 8. 9. Ministry of Social Policies of Ukraine Ministry of Health Care of Ukraine Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine Ministry of Defense of Ukraine