On October 30, the expert consultations on improving socially-oriented legislation in the framework of the preparation to the parliamentary hearing "Problems of the execution by Ukraine of the European Court of Human Rights judgments" were held. These consultations became a part of meeting of sub-committee on Enforcement of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights and Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee of Verkhovna Rada on Legal Policy.
During the event participants presented and discussed the expert conclusions on problematic issues related to socially-oriented legislation as well as legal and regulatory measures that should be taken to eliminate the problems identified in the context of the execution of the European Court of Human Rights judgements in the cases of “Yurii Nikolaevich Ivanov v. Ukraine” and “Burmych and others v. Ukraine”.
“To solve the problem of non-compliance with the decisions of national courts on social issues and break this vicious circle when new social decisions continue to be made since people defend their social rights in the courts, there is a crucial need of radical changes to the formation of state social policy, a clear balance between social expenditures from the budget and current legislation as well as the financial capacity of the state. It is necessary to introduce a targeted approach to many payments, taking into account the real subsistence level, the method of calculation of which requires mandatory revision’, said Ms Alla Fedorova, national consultant of the Council of Europe project "Promoting social human rights as a key factor of sustainable democracy in Ukraine".
Participants exchanged opinions on the practices of the Council of Europe member states and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights aiming to eliminate the root causes of the non-enforcement of judicial decisions in the cases related to social security. They also proposed recommendations for eliminating deficiencies of the socially-oriented legislation causing the accumulation of state debt. The recommendations will be proposed for further consideration at the parliamentary hearing.
“It was very valuable exchange of opinions with engaging participation of representatives of various branches of power. The Council of Europe hopes for further developments in the direction of execution of the requirements of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights and decisions of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. The national dialogue, involving all branches of power and deep understanding of the legal and not only legal, but also social, economic and political aspects and consequences of this complex problem is extremely important”, concluded the event Mr Pavlo Pushkar, Head of Division, Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, Directorate General for Human Rights and Rule of Law, Council of Europe.
We would like to remind that the Council of Europe Project "Promoting social human rights as a key factor of sustainable democracy in Ukraine" presented the Analysis of the national legislation of Ukraine providing for social benefits in the context of execution of the European Court of Human Right judgements in Burmych and others v. Ukraine group of cases, other ECtHR judgements on non-enforcement of decisions of the Ukrainian national courts on social issues.
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This event was organised jointly by the Council of Europe Project "Further support for the execution by Ukraine of judgements in respect of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights" funded by the Human Rights Trust Fund and the Council of Europe Project "Promoting social human rights as a key factor of sustainable democracy in Ukraine".
