29-30 March 2023, Warsaw - Partners from Ukraine gathered together with the Council of Europe and the European Union, taking stock of the previous years of cooperation in the anti-discrimination domain and its results. The event also enabled discussions about the prospect of reforms in the field of combating discrimination and hatred, as well as to protect rights of national minorities, and the future support needed by partners in these areas.

More than 50 representatives of central and local level institutions, as well as civil society organizations active on combating discrimination and protecting rights of vulnerable groups agreed on joint actions, expressing their commitment and motivation to ensure the advancement of Ukraine in the human rights domain.

Participants shared the willingness to bring forward the EU accession perspective of Ukraine as per the requirements set by European institutions in summer 2022. This means concrete work to ensure not only reforms in these areas advance at the legal and policy level, but can also have tangible effect on the life of all citizens and people living in Ukraine. 

Participants agreed on the role of the Council of Europe, as the leading pan-European human rights organisation, in supporting Ukraine in delivering such reforms considering the standards and monitoring developed in the field of national minorities, combating discrimination, hate speech and hate crime. The cooperation initiatives set as part of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” 2023-2026 ensure standards and recommendations are included in reform efforts at national level adapting to circumstances. 

On the second day, technical project committee meetings took place, confirming the activities agreed upon and proposing adaptation to latest developments for the workplans of the project “Support the reform of the national minority legal framework and the resilience of the national minorities and Roma in Ukraine” and of the joint EU/Council of Europe project “Combating hate speech in Ukraine”.

The event was organised in the framework of the Council of Europe project “Support the reform of the national minority legal framework and the resilience of the national minorities and Roma in Ukraine” and joint EU/Council of Europe project “Combating hate speech in Ukraine”, implemented under the programme “Partnership for Good Governance III, 2023-2026”.