The Public in the OSCE Project
During 2007–2008, within the framework of the “Development of Civil Society in Ukraine” project, implemented by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine and ISAR “Ednannia” with the financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, the Charitable Foundation “Samodopomoha” carried out the project “Assisting the Public in Protecting Human Rights in Penitentiary Institutions of the Lviv Region”.
Public organizations participating in the correction and resocialization of convicts now have broad opportunities to join the further process of humanizing the penal system in accordance with European standards. In five regions of Ukraine—Kirovohrad, Lviv, Luhansk, Kherson, and Khmelnytskyi—during 2006–2008, public organizations are implementing measures as part of the “Development of Civil Society in Ukraine” project, which is being carried out by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine and ISAR “Ednannia” with the financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.
Denmark’s programme for the development of bilateral relations with neighbouring Eastern and South-Eastern European Union countries aims to promote an open and democratic society based on the principles of the rule of law and stable political and economic development. Among the thematic priorities of activities under the “Observance of Human Rights in the Sphere of Law Enforcement Activity” direction are such areas as the humanization of the penal system, the reintegration of convicts into society, mediation in criminal cases, advanced training for civil servants and members of civil society organizations, raising the level of legal education for the population, and others. Public organizations in the Lviv region have actively joined this area of work. For example, the Charitable Foundation “Space Without Conflicts” (Foundation President Olesya Bik) has created a “Mediator School” in the Sambir Educational Colony. Trainings have been conducted for minors on alternative conflict resolution, as well as seminars for staff on working with deviant adolescents and restorative justice as a method of crime prevention among children.
The Charitable Foundation “Samodopomoha” (Foundation Chair Kateryna Kotyk), jointly with the administration of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Punishments in the Lviv region, has created public councils at penal institutions; training seminars have been organized for staff, members of supervisory commissions, and public organizations, and monitoring of the observance of the rights of convicts and staff has been conducted.
Interesting work in the direction of reintegrating convicts into society is being conducted by the Public Council under the administration of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Punishments in the Lviv region. Thanks to the initiative of its head, Oleksandr Kostornyi, a computer lab has been equipped in the Lviv Correctional Colony No. 48 for training personal computer users and operators. It is planned that during the training, instructors will be prepared from among the best students, who will continue to train other convicts after the project ends. The effectiveness of creating the computer lab will be determined by quantitative indicators of convicts who passed the examination tests for the “PC Operator” programme, the results of psychological research on the convicts' behaviour before and after the training, the results of surveys of colony staff, and also by indicators of the subsequent employment of convicts after their release.
The work of public organizations in the selected five pilot regions contributes to the further development and strengthening of civil society in Ukraine, which fully coincides with the goal of the Ukrainian authorities to continue developing and improving the practice of democratic reforms.