UNBA awaits for the change in the format of cooperation with projects of Council of Europe in Ukraine

UNBA hopes for the change in the regime of cooperation with projects of Council of Europe in Ukraine, targeted at further implementation of judicial reform and strengthening of citizen rights protection institute.

It was announced during the presentation of new projects of CE for Ukraine by the Deputy Head of UNBA, BCU Valentyn Gvozdii.

According to his words, new projects ought to consider established by the law role of UNBA as a single professional municipal organization of advocacy, that was created in accordance with international obligations of Ukraine as a member of Council of Europe. It is stated in the current law “On advocacy and legal practice”, that UNBA is authorized to represent the institute of advocacy in relations with governmental authorities and international organizations. “This status cannot be ignored with further development of the dialogue. Unfortunately, we have already have negative experience of cooperation with experts of Council of Europe, involved in development of the advocacy’s reforming in Ukraine. We hope, that it will be counted in the future, and the format of cooperation with UNBA will become more constructive”, -thinks Valentyn Gvozdii.

Deputy Head of UNBA, BCU emphasized, that after almost 7 years of UNBA’s existence, it has developed into institutionally stable organization, which had implemented many successful projects and services for advocates into life. Within the framework of international activities on European and regional levels UNBA not only learns from others’ experience, but also has its own ‘know-hows’ and technological solutions, which advocates in other countries may adopt. And “other countries’ not only mean those from post-Soviet Union ones, but also European, where the tradition of advocates’ municipality has already been on for decades

«European standards had not only formed the base for UNBA, but also established strategic goals for its further development. Since then, we are open for the cooperation for the sake of approximation of Ukrainian advocacy to the standards of democratic legal states. Such a cooperation has to be built on adequate and objective evaluations of the advocacy’s equal status and provide direct interaction and transparency in information’, -emphasized Valentyn Gvozdii. Within the framework of such projects UNBA is ready to share the experience of building municipal advocacy organizations with advocates from countries of Eastern partnership and other practices, which will allow to strengthen the independence of advocacy’s institute.

We are reminding, that on September 6^th 2018 to Verkhovna Rada was brought as an exigent bill №9055 «On advocacy and legal practice ».

Bill evoked serious concern within advocates community yet on the stage of its development in 2016. That is why immediately after bill’s official registration in the parliament on September 7^th of 2018 Законопроект BCU as the highest body of advocates municipality has made a decision to appeal to Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, to leaders of parliament fractions and committees, to extra fractional people’s deputies about inadmissibility of this reform on the base of this bill.

UNBA has also informed the US embassy, general secretary of the United Nations, special reporter of the UN on issues of independent judges and advocates and special adviser of General Secretary of the UN Reza Briy, who had lived in Ukraine in January of 2018, about the risks of excluding the advocacy from the process of developing the reform of constitutional institute of defense.

BCU argued their position with discrepancy of bill’s developing process to the international standards. Particularly, Recommendations of Council of Europe since October 25^th 2000 and Main Principles of the UN about the advocates’ role (December 14^th 1990) provide, that all legislation, which regulate advocacy institute, cannot be changed without informing and consultations with professional organization of advocacy. This thesis was relatedly supported by international partners of UNBA during public events, ССВЕ, ІВА, International commission of lawyers, summits on national advocacies in Europe, and in interventional letters to the leaders of Ukrainian state

With this experts of the project of Council of Europe “Consolidation of judicial reform in Ukraine” made report “On the needs of advocacy in Ukraine” (first name-report on the needs of the UNBA) without counting the information on the current state of the advocacy, provided by the UNBA, and formed false conclusions, which they used for arguing the need to pass the №9055. Eventually, bill wasn’t passed by the parliament, as well as the presidential initiative and was withdrawn on May 20^th 2019