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2007 Assessment

Ukraine: Integrity Indicators Scorecard

Ukraine: Integrity Scorecard Report > Sub-Category: National Ombudsman
Indicators		Score
52	In law, is there a national ombudsman, public protector or equivalent agency (or collection of agencies) covering the entire public sector?	100
53	Is the national ombudsman effective?	59
54	Can citizens access the reports of the ombudsman?	83

Indicator and sub-Indicator Details

In law, is there a national ombudsman, public protector or equivalent agency (or collection of agencies) covering the entire public sector?

52: In law, is there a national ombudsman, public protector or equivalent agency (or collection of agencies) covering the entire public sector?

Score:

YES

Comments: The Ombudsman does not play a significant role in fighting or preventing corruption. While it collects thousands of citizen complaints, it does not analyze this information to identify problem trends but rather acts on a case-by-case basis and rarely passes this information to the offending governmental institutions to bring their attention to abuses and violations. The Ombudsman's Annual Report to Parliament primarily contains statistics on complaints and complainers but offers no systematic analysis or recommendations for reform.

References: Law of Ukraine On the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Constitution of Ukraine, Art. 55

Peer Review Comments: It is worth noting that the current Ombudsman became actively involved in partisan politics, made a number of political statements during the presidential elections of 2004 and was elected to Parliament in 2006 on the list of the Party of Regions.

Is the national ombudsman effective?

53a: In law, the ombudsman is protected from political interference.

Score:

YES

Comments: After last Parliamentary election, the Ombudsman is appointed by a Parliamentary coalition.

References: Law "On the Authorized Human Rights Representative of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine "

53b: In practice, the ombudsman is protected from political interference.

Score:

100

Comments: Due to his/her appointment by the ruling parliamentary coalition, the Ombudsman is not protected from political interference, although they declare themselves as an independent.

References: Interview with MP Levchenko

Peer Review Comments: The current Ombudsman's decision to stand as No.2 on the party list of the Party of Regions during the March 2006 elections, along with the fact that she did not formally resign her deputies' mandate until February 2007, in practice compromised her political independence.

53c: In practice, the head of the ombudsman agency/entity is protected from removal without relevant justification.

Score:

100

Comments: The Ombudsman has immunity for the entire period of service and may not be detained, arrested, searched, or brought to trial without prior consent of the Parliament. A criminal case against the ombudsman may be initiated only by the attorney general.

References: Art. 20, Law "On the Authorized Human Rights Representative of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine"

53d: In practice, the ombudsman agency (or agencies) has a professional, full-time staff.

Score:

100

Comments: The Ombudsman agency has a full-time staff, but sometimes it is not professional.

References: Interviews with leader of human rights protection NGO - Zhakharov

Peer Review Comments: In December 2006, staff reported that the Ombudsman remains significantly understaffed; officially they are entitled to 235 staff (including specialists and administrative staff), but have just over 100. This, it was reported, was due to various governments not allocating sufficient funding, or not disbursing the funds allocated.

53e: In practice, agency appointments support the independence of the ombudsman agency (or agencies).

Score:

100

Comments: The Ombudsman and staff appointed to the agency are among the most trusted civil servants in Ukraine.

References: Interviews with NGO representative Zhakharov

Peer Review Comments: Relatively little depends on the Ombudsman and therefore the appointments are more or less professional.

53f: In practice, the ombudsman agency (or agencies) receives regular funding.

Score:

100

Comments: The Office of the Ombudsman is funded by the national budget; the funding is requested by the Ombudsman every year when the budget is drafted by the government and earmarked as a special budget line. The funding, however, is rather modest.

References: Art. 12, Law "On the Authorized Human Rights Representative of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine"

53g: In practice, the ombudsman agency (or agencies) makes publicly available reports.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: Art. 18, Law "On the Authorized Human Rights Representative of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine"

Peer Review Comments: There are several dimensions to this issue. Firstly, the Ombudsman does not report to the Verkhovna Rada as often as is dictatated by the law, and copies of the reports are rather difficult to obtain. Only three of these 'annual' reports are available online in Ukrainian, the latest covering the activities for the year 2004. Hard copies are produced but in my personal experience it can take considerable time and effort to persuade staff at the Ombudsman office to supply an individual with copies. Other special reports made by the Ombudsman are also not available online. All reports are only available in Ukrainian language (with a few translated into English), despite a committment during 2006 by the Ombudsman to make them available in Russian.

53h: In practice, when necessary, the national ombudsman (or equivalent agency or agencies) initiates investigations.

Score:

100

$Scoring Criteria :: 100 Score Criteria: The agency aggressively starts investigations -- or participates fully with cooperating agencies\' investigations -- into judicial misconduct. The agency is fair in its application of this power. <p>50 Score Criteria: The agency will start or cooperate in investigations, but often relies on external pressure to set priorities, or has limited effectiveness when investigating. The agency, though limited in effectiveness, is still fair in its application of power. <p>0 Score Criteria: The agency rarely investigates on its own or cooperates in other agencies\' investigations, or the agency is partisan in its application of this power.$

Comments:

References: Art. 18, Law "On the Authorized Human Rights Representative of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine"

53i: In practice, when necessary, the national ombudsman (or equivalent agency or agencies) imposes penalties on offenders.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: Interview with president of La-Strada Ukraine

53j: In practice, the government acts on the findings of the ombudsman agency (or agencies).

Score:

100

$Scoring Criteria :: 100 Score Criteria: Ombudsman\'s reports are taken seriously, with negative findings drawing prompt corrective action. <p>50 Score Criteria: In most cases, ombudsman\'s reports are acted on, though some exceptions may occur for politicalally sensitive issues, or particularly resistant agencies. <p>0 Score Criteria: Ombudsman reports are often ignored, or given superficial attention. Ombudsman reports do not lead to policy changes.$

Comments:

References: Interview with NGO leader

53k: In practice, the ombudsman agency (or agencies) acts on citizen complaints within a reasonable time period.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: Interview with human rights protection activist in Kharkov

Can citizens access the reports of the ombudsman?

54a: In law, citizens can access reports of the ombudsman(s).

Score:

YES

Comments:

References: Law "On the Authorized Human Rights Representative of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine "

54b: In practice, citizens can access the reports of the ombudsman(s) within a reasonable time period.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: www.ombudsman.kiev.ua/

Peer Review Comments: In law this is the case, but in practice, availability is patchy. The Web site is rarely updated and contains only three 'annual' reports of the Ombudsman for the period 1998-2007, the most recent covering 2003. Hard copies are distributed to libraries, although the effectiveness of coverage is not known, and applications directly to the Ombudsman for reports are dealt with very slowly and with some bureaucratic resistance, requiring considerable effort and committment on the part of the interested individual.

54c: In practice, citizens can access the reports of the ombudsman(s) at a reasonable cost.

Score:

100

Comments: The reports are free.

References: www.ombudsman.kiev.ua/