Activity Details (ID# 7302)

Activity Synopsis

Target group: Ukrainian judges, lawyers and journalists

The main objectives of the seminar were to present an overview of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights on Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights, to discuss Ukrainian Courts’ practice in cases concerning the mass media (with special regard to defamation, insult, and criticism of public figures), to present relevant European and Ukrainian practice concerning access to information, the protection of sources, state secrecy and whistle-blowing, to raise awareness about the implementation of Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights and case law on this Article, to present concrete examples from current practice and prepare a case-study in a workshop involving the participants and to define the perspectives for the implementation by Ukrainian judges of European standards in their practice.


 

The participants of the seminar received relevant information and documents on the implementation of the ECHR, in particular, Ukrainian versions of the ECHR, case law of the European Court of Human Rights concerning Article 10 of the Convention, a collection of recent decisions of the European Court on Article 10, an analysis of Ukrainian legislation in the context of the implementation of the ECHR.

Three role games were conducted, two using foreign examples and one Ukrainian material. The games demonstrated that the judges had mastered the main principles and approaches of the European Court concerning the violation of the Article 10 of the Convention.

The judges who participated in the seminar played an active role in the discussions with the experts, which made it possible to define the circle of the participants, mostly interested in such problems. It will help to involve them in future training activities on this subject.

A questionnaire distributed to participants at the end of the seminar demonstrated the high esteem for the seminar and the topicality and timeliness of this activity.

A rather large number of journalists and representatives of law institutions took part in this Seminar. This made it possible to consider the problems of the implementation of Article 10 of the Convention, to elaborate the case-law by judges, journalists and lawyers from 4 regions in the workshops.

This seminar showed that it is more desirable to invited younger judges to participate in seminars, rather than judges at the end of their career.

The journalists from local as well as from Vinnytsia and Zhytomyr TV and Radio Companies highlighted the work of the Seminar in the local mass media.
 

The Seminar allowed real dialogue between the Ukrainian judges and the Western and Ukrainian experts and the sharing of experiences concerning the respect for freedom of expression;

The judges took great interest in the question of their independence. Therefore regional seminars on Article 6 of the ECHR would be of interest.

The judges paid attention to the need for the implementation of the ECHR and case law of the European Court in the decisions of the Supreme Court Plenum.


 

Judges from the district (local) and appeal courts from 4 regions of Ukraine (Kirovograd, Zhytomyr, Cherkassy, Vinnitsa), lawyers dealing with the cases concerning freedom of expression, journalists.

 

Ms I. Blauuw, Vice-President, Regional Court of Zwolle (the Netherlands)
Ms V. Alaburic (Croatia), Lawyer, Zagreb (Croatia)
 

Mr Olexander Pavichenko, Director of the Information Office of the Council of Europe, Co-ordinator of the Action Plan for the media in Ukraine