UCSJ Representation to Ukraine, headed by Meylakh Sheykhet, hosted a two-day visit by the delegation of prominent human rights activists from the United States, including Lawrence Lerner, Joel Sandberg and Stephen Bronner. During their stay in Lviv on 21-22 August, the delegates had top-level meetings with the Lviv City Hall, Lviv Regional Council, Lviv Regional State Administration, Ministry of the Interior, Penitentiary Service of Ukraine, Office of the Lviv Regional Prosecutor, and representatives of Lviv's pro-democracy talented young people. The issues discussed with top elected and government officials included: the development of democracy in Ukraine, human rights situation in Ukraine, and future of Ukraine's statehood after the Revolution of Dignity on Maidan.
21 August 2014
Meeting with the Lviv City Hall (Andriy Moskalenko, Mayor's Administration Director, Lilia Sergiyivna Onyshchenko, Head of the Department for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage at the Lviv City Council, Mykhaylo Moroz - Assistant of Deputy Mayor, Olga Krushko, Manager at the International Cooperation Department)

Meeting with the Lviv Regional Council (Petro Kolodiy, Head of the Lviv Regional Council)

Meeting with the Lviv Regional State Administration (Vitaly Gorbatenko, Head of the International Cooperation and Tourism Department of the Lviv Regional Administration, Natalia Gamkalo, Director of the Department for Culture, Nationalities and Religions, Andriy Levyk, Head of the Department for Cultural Heritage Preservation of the Lviv Regional Administration, Pavlo Khobzey, Deputy of the Regional Council, Head of the Permanent Commission for European Integration, Transborder Cooperation and Diaspora Relations, Deputy of the Regional Council, Head of the Permanent Commission for Law, Human Rights and Military Problems of the Lviv Regional Council, Volodymyr Kyrylych, Deputy of the Regional Council, Member of the Permanent Budget and Social-Economic Development Commission, Viacheslav Voynarovsky, representative of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Ukraine in Lviv)


Meeting with representatives of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine

22 August 2014
Meeting with representatives of Lviv's talented youth

Learning about the challenges in the preservation of the Turei Zahav (Golden Rose) Synagogue in Lviv


During the Delegation's intensive two-day visit to Lviv the following topics and questions were raised:
Lviv City Hall, Lviv Regional Council, Lviv Regional State Administration
1. Human Rights Monitoring.
2. Respect for the Rule of Law.
3. Democratization.
4. Government transparency.
5. Cooperation of local and central government with civil society.
6. Changes after the Revolution of Dignity on Maidan.
7. Economic development of Ukraine and the protection of human rights.
8. Ukrainian Jewish Relations.
9. Preservation of Jewish Cultural Heritage in Lviv and Lviv region.
Main Office of the Ministry of Interior in the Lviv Region
1. Strengthening of the mechanisms for cooperation with the civil society and NGOs.
2. Cooperation with international missions and delegations and the National Preventive Mechanism.
3. Dissemination/publication of activity reports of Ministry of Interior of Ukraine, including the assessment of problems affecting the Ministry of Interior.
4. Preparation and additional training for the employees of the Ministry of Interior, including awareness-raising training with regard to human rights standards.
5. Attitude and treatment toward the persons making requests to the police for the protection of their rights.
6. Organization of the workflow in the district police stations/precincts in Lviv (problems with document registration and flow, work with requests from the public and responding to such requests).
7. Matters related to the possibility of obtaining information about the location of the persons detained by the employees of the Ministry of Interior of Ukraine, explanations regard the circumstances of reasons for detainment, including the possibility of making short visits and phone calls with detained persons.
8. Provision of qualified legal and medical help to persons under investigation.
9. Conditions and treatment of persons under investigation.
Office of the Prosecutor General in the Lviv Region
1. Strengthening of the mechanisms for cooperation with the civil society and NGOs.
2. Cooperation with international missions and delegations.
3. Dissemination/publication of activity reports of the Prosecutor's Office, including the assessment of problems affecting the Prosecutor's Office.
4. Preparation and additional training for the employees of the Prosecutor's Office.
5. Ensuring compliance with the rule of law with regard to the preservation of cultural heritage, particularly in the following cases:
- UNESCO heritage sites in the Ensemble of the Historic City Center of Lviv
- Citadel - the Ensemble of the Defense Structures (former concentration camp Stalag 328), the Jewish Quarter of Lviv (Fedorova St. - Arsenalna Sq. - Staroyevreyska St. - Brativ Rohatynstiv St.),
- Old Jewish Cemetery (under the Krakivsky Market)
- Jewish section of the Janivsky Cemetery in Lviv
- Mass graves in Brukhovychi
- Jewish burial sites in the Lviv region: Kamianka-Buzka, Khodoriv, Sambir, Lysynychi, Bilogorshacha
- Synagogue in Olesko
6. Monitoring of the rule of law by the agencies/bodies of the central and local government in Lviv, representation of the rights and interests of citizens in court, especially in those cases where the rights and interests where violated by the illegal actions on the part of the bodies of the central and local government.
State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine
1. Civil society participation in the functioning of the Penitentiary Service of Ukraine, dissemination/publication of reports about the activities and problems of the Penitentiary Service.
2. Access by the observation missions to verify the detention conditions of the detainees, persons held in pre-trial isolation for the duration of the investigation, and prisoners.
3. Cooperation with the National Preventive Mechanism.
4. Social rehabilitation, return to normal live of the persons after the end of their sentence, cooperation of the Penitentiary Service of Ukraine with employment centers.
5. Preparation and additional training for the employees of the Penitentiary Service.
6. Work of inmates in prisons, matters related to the health and safety of working conditions.
7. Adjustments to dietary, medical and religious needs of the inmates.
8. Provision of appropriate medical help in the health facilities of the Penitentiary Service of Ukraine and the necessary transfer of detainees and prisoners to the facilities of the Health Ministry of Ukraine.
9. Matters related to assigning the disability status to detainees and prisoners.