Protection of the rights of ATO participants discussed in Konotop

The heads of the regional and local centers for the provision of free secondary legal aid of the Chernihiv region, together with representatives of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights, took part in an interregional event on the protection of the rights of ATO participants.

The round table “Rights of ATO participants. Self-organization for their protection and restoration of violated rights” was held on September 16, 2016 at the Konotop local center for the provision of free secondary legal aid. The following were invited to participate in the event: Olena Sinchuk, head of the department for ensuring access to legal aid of the Coordination Center for the Provision of Free Legal Aid, Iryna Stegniy, head of the project “Know! Demand! Teach! Network of paralegals on issues of protection of the rights of ATO participants and their family members”, which was recently presented in Sumy. Also participating were directors of regional and local centers for the provision of free secondary legal aid in Chernihiv, Poltava, Kyiv, Sumy regions, representatives of public organizations and the media.

Chernihiv region was represented at the event by: Iryna Protchenko, director of the Regional Center for the Provision of Free Secondary Legal Aid in Chernihiv region; Volodymyr Bobruyko, director of the Chernihiv Local Center for the Provision of Free Secondary Legal Aid; Volodymyr Bryhynets, director of the Nizhyn Local Center for the Provision of Free Secondary Legal Aid; Viktor Tarasov, executive director of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights.

As the organizers noted, the main task of the event was to develop a large number of proposals for creating a strategy to prevent violations of the rights of ATO participants and their family members. In this context, special attention is paid to the self-organization of all interested parties, primarily the fighters themselves, in the issue of protecting and improving the violated rights of the participants. During the lively communication, examples of life situations were given, problematic issues that the participants had to help solve. Already ready-made developments were also presented on providing free legal aid to ATO participants, the activities of regional and local centers for providing legal aid in Sumy, Chernihiv, Poltava and Kyiv regions.

According to Viktor Tarasov, executive director of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights, the civilization of a society can be measured by its attitude towards those who fought for the independence of the state, died in the name of the interests of this society and to those who, after the death of a hero, were left alone with their own grief. Therefore, human rights activists must do everything possible to ensure that the defenders of our homeland and their families receive high-quality legal aid.

Assistant Coordinator of the UHHRU Public Reception Center in Sumy, Nataliya Yesina, noted that more and more ATO fighters have been coming to the reception center recently, and certain mechanisms of action have already been developed in different situations, depending on the problem that people come with. Thanks to such events, there is an opportunity to learn about the experience of colleagues, tell about their own achievements, and share successful stories.

During the moderated discussion, the participants discussed various aspects of practical activities on issues of protecting the rights of ATO participants – the need to expand legal services and make amendments to the current legislation on free legal aid in terms of providing legal services specifically to ATO participants, cooperation with various institutions and organizations to resolve issues of protecting the rights of both ATO participants and their families.