On 5th September, a bilateral meeting was held between Denys Maslov, Chair of the Committee on Legal Policy of the Ukraine Parliament, Volodymyr Vatras, Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Organization and Activities of the Bar and Legal Aid Bodies and Hallvard Gorseth, Head of the Anti-Discrimination Department of the Council of Europe. The meeting focused on the support of the Council of Europe to the Parlaiment, in upgrading legislation in line with European standards on equality, as part of the EU/CoE project "Support for implementing European standards relating to anti-discrimination and rights of national minorities in Ukraine".

Discussions highlighted the importance of strengthening the integration of European standards into Ukrainian legislation to fulfil commitments towards the Council of Europe and thereby also contributing to Ukraine's path towards EU accession, for which the project is placed at the disposal of Ukraine partners when it came to the equality and non-discrimination domain. Emphasis was placed on legislative initiatives such as the criminalisation of hate crimes (5488) and the establishment of a Civil Partnership Institute (9103), both of which contain key proposals to expand the protection of rights of vulnerable groups, including those of LGBTI persons and of national minorities. The Council of Europe recalled the commitment to support Parliament services through legal expertise, since related to its standards and to the existing ECtHR case-law.  Also, proposed amendments to the Law of Ukraine "On Free Legal Aid" (Draft Law No. 11456) were discussed, aiming to expand the list of individuals eligible for free secondary legal assistance.

This meeting was organised by the joint European Union and Council of Europe project "Support for implementing European standards relating to anti-discrimination and rights of national minorities in Ukraine".