A coalition of civil society organizations — including the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, Transparency International Ukraine, ZMINA Human Rights Centre, Tomorrow’s Lawyer, and the Ukrainian Bar Association — has prepared a Shadow Report for Chapter 23, “Justice and Fundamental Rights”, of the European Commission's 2023 Report on Ukraine.

This is the first report submitted by Ukraine's civil society sector to the European Commission since the country became a candidate for EU membership. The report covers the period from June 2023 to August 2024.

The report provides an analysis of the current state of affairs, progress made by Ukraine, and existing challenges in the areas of the rule of law (courts, prosecution, Bar, legal education), the fight against corruption, and the protection of fundamental human rights and freedoms. The experts who prepared the Shadow Report also provided approximately 350 recommendations to address the urgent challenges of the current stage of reforms in these areas.

The Shadow Report, prepared by experts from specialised CSOs and led by the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, includes the following sections:

• Judicial Reform (Agency for Legislative Initiatives);
• Fighting Corruption (Transparency International Ukraine);
• Protection of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms (ZMINA);
• Reform of the Prosecutor's Office (Tomorrow’s Lawyer);
• Reform of the Bar (Tomorrow’s Lawyer);
• Reform of Legal Education (Ukrainian Bar Association).

Ivan Horodyskyy, UBA Vice-President, stated: “The European Commission's report on Ukraine and its assessments are key milestones in our aspiration to become part of the European community. The Shadow Report, prepared by civil society organizations, including the UBA, not only reflects the actual state of affairs in the areas of the rule of law, anti-corruption, and human rights protection, but also provides valuable recommendations for further improvement. The UBA's contribution to the "Reform of Legal Education" section of the Report is particularly important, as high-quality legal education is the foundation for building fair and effective justice in Ukraine. Our recommendations are aimed at ensuring a high level of training for future lawyers, meeting European standards and the demands of modern society. We are confident that our efforts will help Ukraine make significant progress on its path to full EU membership.”

You can view the Report at this link.

For reference:

The Agency for Legislative Initiatives (ALI) is a leading independent Ukrainian think tank, whose activities are aimed at strengthening the institutional capacity of the Parliament and Government, continuing European and Euro-Atlantic integration, supporting the stabilisation and reconstruction of Ukraine to overcome the aftermaths of the Russian Federation’s aggression, monitoring and backing reforms in justice and security, political and civic awareness-raising.

Transparency International Ukraine (TI Ukraine) is an accredited chapter of the global movement Transparency International. The organisation takes a comprehensive approach to implementing changes to reduce corruption in certain areas: it helped to create and subsequently transferred to the state the Prozorro, Prozorro.Sale, eHealth and ProZvit systems. TI Ukraine has also implemented the City Transparency and Accountability Rankings, built the DOZORRO community to monitor public procurement, and co-founded the RISE Ukraine coalition to promote the principles of integrity and efficiency in reconstruction.

ZMINA Human Rights Centre — The Centre is engaged in information, educational, monitoring, analytical, and advocacy activities in the field of human rights. It protects human rights defenders and civil society activists in Ukraine, including those in occupied Crimea. Following the onset of large-scale Russian aggression, ZMINA, together with 38 other CSOs, created the “Ukraine 5 AM” Coalition, which documents war crimes and aims to protect the victims of Russia's armed aggression in Ukraine and bring to justice the top leadership of the Russian Federation as well as the direct perpetrators of these war crimes.

Tomorrow’s Lawyer is a non-governmental organization that promotes the institutional development of justice to strengthen the rule of law and protect human rights. Since 2016, the NGO has been conducting research on state policy and the state of affairs in the justice sector, while also developing recommendations for their improvement and advancement. A key priority of the organization is the professional development of the legal community.

The Ukrainian Bar Association (UBA) is an all-Ukrainian non-governmental organisation founded in 2002 and currently uniting more than 8000 lawyers. The Association's activities include promoting the development of the legal profession, improving legislation, implementing ethical standards, and protecting the professional rights of its members and human rights in general.

The monitoring, analysis and preparation of the Shadow Report were carried out from February to August 2024.

This report was prepared with the financial assistance of the European Union within the framework of the EU Pravo-Justice Project. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the Ukrainian Bar Association and other civil society organisations and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.

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