The CCBE condemned the replacement of the UNBA by public organizations

On November 26, in Paris, as part of events organized by the Council of Advocates and Law Societies of Europe, a meeting of the Platform for exchange, cooperation and outreach (PECO Committee of the CCBE) was held.

During this meeting, the current situation regarding the Ukrainian advocacy was announced.

In particular, they discussed the problem of blocking the Ukrainian official advocacy by a technical project funded by the European Union called «Pravo Justice». Unfortunately, this project systematically and prejudicially acts against the Ukrainian National Bar Association, constantly manipulating and substituting the official advocacy with various public organizations with similar names. For example, these organizations call themselves the «Ukrainian Bar Association», misleading foreigners, although in reality they are ordinary public organizations and do not represent the Ukrainian advocacy.

The new CCBE President Roman Završek clearly emphasized that this is unacceptable mimicry and called on the Ukrainian National Bar Association to immediately go to court to ban the use of these names by public organizations. A representative of the French delegation from advocacy who visited Ukraine also stressed that it is absolutely unacceptable to talk about advocacy without involving the official Ukrainian National Bar Association.

This is an important signal that the official advocacy of Ukraine must be properly represented and that attempts to replace its role must be stopped.