Lobbying Activities

To contribute to the prevention of torture and in order to attract attention to the problem of torture among professionals and governmental structures the project staff has organized letter-writing campaigns to:

  • Legal Advice Offices in the different part of Ukraine (159 letters were sent). In the letter we informed about the project and activities and asked to contact IRC in case where lawyers' clients undergo cruelty and torture
  • Local Public Health Authorities in different parts of Ukraine (42 letters were sent). In the letter we informed about the project and activities and asked to contact IRC in case where doctors' clients undergo cruelty and torture.

The result:

We received 25 responses from Legal Advice Offices and only 2 responses from Local Public Health Authorities.

Furthermore, we cooperated with the State Authorities:

  • Verchovna Rada of Ukraine: T. Yablonska, IRC lawyer, contacted the deputy of the Verchovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine Olga Gerasimjyk, Committee of Mass Media. For many years, Olga Gerasimjyk has been occupied with human rights defense and the problem of delinquency. T. Yablonska prepared the list of the changes of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
  • Ministry Interior Affairs of Ukraine: Semen Gluzman, project Director and T. Yablonska, lawyer met with the Deputy Minister and discussed the topic of workshops for law-enforcement system staff.
  • Office of Public Prosecutor of Ukraine: the deputies of the Chief Prosecutor of the Ukraine Mykola Holomsha, Vitaly Shchetkin and Olexandr Shynalsky helped in difficult cases and cooperated with IRC lawyer T. Yablonska.
  • Primary Court of Ukraine: The IRC achieved the retrial of one difficult case.
  • The Investigating Office of the Ministry of the Internal Affairs of Ukraine: The staff was invited to the different seminars and workshops; in addition we distributed literature and information