CivCom in ‪‎Kharkiv‬

May 21, 2015

On the second visit day to ‪EUAM‬ Ukraine part of the members of the Committee for Civilian Aspects of Crisis Management had scheduled meeting with the mission’s Ukrainian counterparts in Lviv, while the other representatives of the Member States were out to Kharkiv for the same purpose.

Meeting OSCE

The Head of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) regional branch Romuald Pichards gave relevant information on the current situation in Kharkiv region and the latest events in the neighboring Donbas.

The twelve members of the regional OSCE SMM component monitor the situation in three oblasts: Kharkiv, Sumy and Poltava. 170,000 registered internally displaced persons currently populate this vast area. 

The head of the regional branch assessed the security situation as calm, after the turbulent post Maidan period and several incidents that happened from June 2014 to March 2015.

Mr Pichards qualified the cooperation with EUAM as good and coordinated. OSCE is a regular partner for EUAM on national as well as on regional level.

The views of the regional public prosecutor on the new legislation.

The regional prosecutor Yuriy Danylchenko gave his views on the new law on public prosecution that was adopted in October and will enter into force by July this year.

The reform of the public prosecution and the law enforcement system is of major importance for Ukraine.

The Prosecutor elaborated on some of the effects the new legal approach will have on daily life and on the new geographical organization of the prosecution.

He mentioned the issue of the general oversight that, according to the new text, will move away from the public prosecution towards a system of state control by this that has yet to be established.

According to Danylchenko the prosecutor will be left with a representation function without oversight competence.

Further on the interlocutor addressed the new geographical organization of the public prosecution. He suggested to decide on the new locations after the final legal decision on the territorial organization of Ukraine has been decided.

The new criminal procedure code, with a focus on the prosecution of minor crimes, the right on prosecution abortion, the new role of the investigative judge and the prosecutor’s future competencies in the field of anti-corruption were other points on Mr Danylchenko’s agenda.

National University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MoIA): a model school

While this morning, in the Verkhovna Rada, the members of the Ukrainian Parliament gave green light to two draft laws on the police reform the law enforcement agencies, the CivCom delegates visited the National University of the MoIA in Kharkiv.

According to the new law the University, that earned its academic status twenty years ago, will work under the political responsibility of the Minister of Internal Affairs.

The institution prepares all candidates for professions linked to the Ministry on bachelor and masters level. 

Currently, until 28 May the staff for the new Kharkiv patrol police projects is recruited at the academy. 800 applicants are to be selected until 3.500 interested young people who have applied until now.

The training for the future police officers will take place between July and October. The rector of the University Serhiy Gusarov expressed hope that EUAM will be able to provide advice in reviewing the police human ressoureces management, bearing in mind that a nationwide staff reduction (from 157.000 to 120.000 personnel) will have to be carried through.

Photo credentials: Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor Office