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On the 24th of October at the 14 th session of the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) the Working Group reviewed the human rights records in Ukraine. The Permanent Representative of the Republic of Lithuania to the United Nations Office and other International Organisations, Ambassador Mr Rytis Paulauskas delivered statement emphasizing the Ukraine’s progress in ratification of international legal instruments. The Ambassador encouraged Ukraine to continue the efforts in reforming the legal system and improving the fight against trafficking in human beings.

Madam President,

Lithuania welcomes the esteemed delegation of Ukraine and thanks for active involvement in the UPR process and for the informative National Report that indicates country’s openness to this procedure. We welcome the inclusive process of preparation of the report that involved broad public discussion and active participation of different state and non-state actors.

We note with satisfaction the priority of the Ukrainian government to eradicate trafficking in human beings and a wide range of measures and activities to tackle this phenomenon. We welcome the ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. The effective implementation of these international instruments and subsequently adopted national legislation on combating trafficking in persons are critical in preventing and combating human trafficking. To this end, we recommend Ukraine continuing efforts in combating human trafficking and providing the necessary assistance to the victims of trafficking.

We would like to commend Ukraine for continuous efforts to reform the national institutional and legal system with a view to achieving compliance with international standards. We acknowledge positive developments in reforming judicial system such as the adoption of the new Code of Criminal Procedure. We note that further efforts are needed in bringing the judicial system in line with international standards particularly addressing lack of independence of judiciary, insufficient transparency of the judicial system, non-existence of fair procedures and criteria related to the appointment and dismissal of judges. We are also concerned that the newly adopted amendments to the law on the functioning of the Prosecutor’s Office are not in line with European standards. We remain confident that Ukraine will concentrate all necessary efforts in order to achieve this goal.

As for the rights of convicted persons and persons deprived of their liberty, we commend Ukraine’s efforts to reduce the number of individuals placed in cells and conducted inspections by monitoring groups covering the legality of the detention and the detention conditions. Remaining issues such as poor detention conditions, overcrowding, high mortality, cases of torture and ill-treatment should be further addressed by the authorities.

I thank you.