Workshop in Chernihiv wraps up OSCE/ODIHR human rights training programme for civil society in Ukraine

More than 30 human rights defenders took part in a workshop on human rights monitoring for civil society in Ukraine concluding a series of similar training and capacity building events carried out in the country since 2015 by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). The workshop took place in Chernihiv from 22 to 24 November 2016.

Participants in the final workshop, organized in co-operation with the Educational Human Rights House Chernihiv, analyzed their experiences, shared good practices, discussed challenges as well as ongoing and future advocacy steps.

‘’By offering additional capacity building on advocacy, we assist civil society organizations in Ukraine in the follow-up on their human rights projects,’’ said Marc van Gool, the ODIHR human rights adviser who facilitated the workshop.

Solomiya Humenyuk, a participant from the SIM Legal and Political Research Centre in Lviv, stressed the importance of “capacity building and the long-term support and engagement by ODIHR with civil society organizations in Ukraine to assist in strengthening human rights monitoring and advocacy and in making them more sustainable.”

In the spirit of promoting greater co-operation and networking between civil society organizations and international and regional organizations working in Ukraine on human dimension issues, ODIHR invited representatives of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), the OSCE Project Co-ordinator’s Office in Ukraine (PCU), the European Union Advisory Mission (EUAM) and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), who made presentations on their mandates and activities.

About 100 civil society organizations participated in the series of events, which included support to nine hands-on human rights monitoring initiatives and the development of a platform for dialogue between Russian and Ukrainian civil society organizations on human dimension issues.

The programme was part of ODIHR’s project on strengthening dialogue among civil society and with key governmental stakeholders in Ukraine. It was launched in April 2015 to enhance mechanisms for dialogue to address key human rights issues in the country, in line with OSCE commitments and international standards.