03 Feb 2017 by Ludwig Boltzmann

Kick-off event of the Twinning project “Strengthening the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights” in Kiev, Ukraine

Valeriya Lutkovska (Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights) and Ambassador Hugues Mingarelli (Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine) chaired the high-ranking kick-off event held on 3 February 2017. Moreover, Milda Vainiutė, Lithuanian Minister of Justice, Andriy Zayats, State Secretary to the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Austrian Ambassador Hermine Poppeller, Lithuanian Ambassador Marius Janukonis, Hannes Tretter, Austrian Project Leader and Scientific Director at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights (LBI-GMR)
, as well as representatives of the Lithuanian partner institutions were present.

Amongst the speakers were Augustinas Normantas (Lithuanian Project Leader and Seimas Ombudsman), Olena Smirnova (Ukrainian Project Leader and Deputy Head of the Apparatus of the Commissioner for Human Rights), Dainius Žalimas (President of the Lithuanian Constitutional Court), Tomas Davulis (Dean of the Faculty of Law at Vilnius University) and Jurgita Paužaitė Kulvinskienė (Director of the Law Institute of Lithuania). They presented the involved institutions as well as the fields of work and the planned activities of the project.

The project is implemented by the LBI-GMR and the Lithuanian Seimas Ombudsmen’s Office. During implementation, 12 experts from the LBI-GMR and the Austrian partner institutions (Austrian Ombudsman Board, Anti-Discrimination Office Styria, Data Protection Authority) will support the staff of the Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner with their expertise. The further Lithuanian partners are the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson, the State Data Protection Inspectorate, the Law Institute of Lithuania and Vilnius University. The project has a duration of 24 months between 2017 and 2018 and is financed by the European Union with 1.5 million Euro.

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