The human rights project funded by the European Union rolls out its results

A roll-out of results and products of the project “Promotion of a wider application of the international human rights standards in the administration of justice in Belarus” will take place on 20 October 2009 in the “Princess” conference room of the Crowne Plaza Hotel (2nd floor, 13, Kirova Str.), between 14:00 and 17:00. The event will be attended by the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Belarus Mr. Victor Golovanov, UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP Resident Representative in Belarus Mr. Antonius Broek, and Chargé d'Affaires of the Delegation of the European Commission to Belarus Mr. Jean-Eric Holzapfel, the as well as representatives of the other project partners organizations, NGOs and academia.

The project, funded by the European Union, was implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Ministry of Justice of Belarus between April 2007 and September 2009. The Ministry of Foreign of Latvia and Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of the Swiss Confederation provided additional co-financing of the project component related to the promotion of juvenile justice. Total project expenditures comprised US$ 850,000. Major national project partners were the Constitutional Court, Supreme Court, General-Prosecutor’s Office and National Bar Association.

The aim of the project was to contribute to the improvement of the administration of justice in Belarus through better access for justice sector professionals to information about international human rights standards and relevant case-law, familiarization with best international practices, and development of recommendations to further improve the national legislation and law enforcement in the area of administration of justice.

The project allowed justice sector professionals and government officials to discuss most pertinent issues and to observe best practices of European countries. Within the project a team of national and international experts developed a set of recommendations how to improve national legislation and law enforcement in the 11 areas: “Judicial system and the status of judges”, ”Judicial system and the status of lawyers”, “Judicial system and the status of prosecutors”, “Controversy in the criminal process”, “Guarantees of implementation of the constitutional right to judicial protection”, “Constitutional control and the judicial system”, “Application of the international human rights standards in the administration of justice”, “Alternative sentencing”, “Legal assistance”, “Implementation of court decisions”, and “Effective performance indicators for the justice system”.

Additionally, the roll-out will include the presentation of the 4-volume compendium of the international human rights standards and case-law of the European Court of Human Rights and the UN Human Rights Committee. The 3,200-page compendium published in 8,000 copies was distributed across the country to cover each and every judge and lawyer of Belarus, as well as prosecutors, legislators other government institutions, libraries, universities and NGOs.

Finally, an electronic CD-based and Internet-based database of the documents included in the compendium will be presented. Distributed on 10,000 CDs and posted on the Internet in free access, the database will enable anyone in Belarus and elsewhere to have access to most important international human rights documents, and its comprehensive search engine will make working with it effective and easy.

For more information please contact Uladzimir Shcherbau, Adviser to the UN Resident Coordinator in Belarus, at +375 17 227 48 76, e-mail: uladzimir.shcherbau(at)undp.org

17. October 2009 in Veranstaltungen

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