September and 11 December gathered police experts from the EU, NATO, Austria, Estonia,
France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the USA, as well as representatives of the Ministry of
Interior and Security Service Anti-Cybercrime Departments.
The PCU also supported the participation of representatives from the Ukrainian Ministry of
Interior in the Vienna-based first capital-level meeting of the OSCE Working Group on the
use of information and communication technologies, 14-15 May, the Second Eurasian
Working Group on Cybercrime held in Istanbul, 27-31 May, the LawTech Europe Congress,
Prague, 19-21 October, and in the INTERPOL-Europol Cybercrime Conference, Singapore,
29 September to 5 October.
Police and Media
In 2014, the PCU convened a working group involving representatives of the police and
media to develop a guidebook with recommendations for both groups on effective interaction
during mass events and crisis situations. The working group also served both as a
communication platform and a tool to establish a better dialogue and mutual understanding
between the two sides. The PCU printed and distributed 8,500 copies of the guidebook to the
Ministry of Interior and media NGOs and later distributed copies to all the regions of Ukraine.
The PCU conducted six reconciliation discussions in Kyiv and regions between journalists
and law enforcement officials. Discussions were held under the Chatham House Rule, where
the participants were free to use the information received without attributing it to a speaker.
The series of meetings was facilitated by a certified mediator who consequently developed
recommendations for both sides to further improve their communication.
National Prevention Mechanism against Torture and Ill-Treatment
Activities in 2014 were requested by the Parliamentary Ombudsman of Ukraine and built
upon previous PCU OPCAT-related projects in 2006-2013. They helped enhance human
rights protection mechanisms through sustainable operation of the national monitoring and
prevention mechanism against torture and ill-treatment (the NPM) in Ukraine in compliance
with the UN OPCAT based on Ombudsman-Plus model. The Project had two main
components addressing two primary concerns: Sustainable operation of the OmbudsmanPlus model and development of an independent mechanism for investigating complaints on
torture and ill-treatment.
The PCU continued its support for monitoring visits to detention facilities, as well as for
training to strengthen the methodological capacity of monitoring groups in Ukraine. From
June to October, the PCU supported 55 NPM monitoring visits throughout Ukraine. Among
them were 12 visits to custodial settings of the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, 18 visits
to custodial settings of the Ministry of Interior of Ukraine, 11 visits to settings of the State
Penitentiary Service, seven visits to settings of the Ministry of Health Care, one visit to
settings of the State Court Administration, one visit to State Migration Service, two visits to
Ministry of Defence and four visits to temporary camps for IDPs in the Anti-Terrorism
Operation (ATO) zone. In September-October, the PCU supported three training seminars
(two in Lviv and one in Kyiv for 20 participants each) for independent monitors focusing on
methodologies and skills to start monitoring activity and three trainings (one in Lviv and two
in Kyiv for 20 participants each) on NPM issues for public officials of the Ministry of Interior of
Ukraine (chiefs of departments responsible for temporary detention facilities), ProsecutorGeneral Office of Ukraine (juvenile prosecutors and chiefs of departments) and doctors in
charge of psychiatric establishments from all regions of Ukraine.
The PCU also supported the publication of an updated catalogue of detention facilities in
Ukraine. The previous catalogues were processed and compiled for each relevant
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