International Advisory Panel on Ukraine
The International Advisory Panel (“the Panel” and “IAP”) was constituted by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, to oversee that the investigations into the violent incidents which took place in Ukraine from 30 November 2013 onwards met all the requirements of the European Convention on Human Rights and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights.
From left to right: Oleg Anpilogov, Nicolas Bratza, Volodymyr Butkevych, Thorbjørn Jagland
Subject of enquiries
The subject of the Panel’s inquiries is events related to the Maidan demonstrations in Kyiv from 30 November 2013 to 21 February 2014 (“the Maidan demonstrations”). Moreover, the Panel will principally enquire into the investigation of violent acts committed by any person during three periods of the Maidan demonstrations (“the relevant incidents”): the night of 30 November/1 December 2013; 1 December 2013; and 18-21 February 2014.
Information gathering
The mandate provides that the Panel shall have full access to all relevant information and the right to request and receive any additional information as it deems necessary:
- State bodies: The Panel will exchange with a number of State bodies in order obtain information relevant to the scope of its work (Press release of 7 May 2014).
- Civil Society: The mandate also provides that civil society shall have the right to contact and communicate freely with the Panel. In order to facilitate the work of the Panel, NGOs wishing to make submissions should therefore follow the guidelines set out below and should do so prior to the deadline of 11 June 2014 (see IAP’s Guidelines about NGOs submissions).
- Individuals: The function of the Panel is to oversee that the investigations into the above-described violent incidents meet all the requirements of the European Convention on Human Rights and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. It is not therefore tasked with carrying out investigations itself. Consequently, it will not accept or respond to individual complaints about violent acts which should be forwarded to the competent authorities.
At the end of its mission, the IAP will report on its findings and, should it consider necessary, it will also report on an interim basis. The IAP would make it clear that it does not intend to reveal, in the course of its work or reporting, any confidential or personal information submitted to it.
In its letter of 12 September 2014 to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, the Permanent Representation of Ukraine to the Council of Europe reiterated the full support of the Ukrainian Government for the review by the International Advisory Panel of the authorities’ investigations into the violent incidents which took place in Kyiv during the Maidan demonstrations.
While underlining that the main focus of the Panel’s work should continue to be the Maidan-related investigations, the letter also confirmed the Ukrainian Government’s acceptance that the tragic events of 2 May 2014 in Odessa should also be covered by the Panel’s Mandate. The letter went on to indicate that the Mandate would be fulfilled on the completion of the Panel’s review of those two investigations.
The Panel expresses its readiness to undertake a review of the investigations into the violent incidents in Odessa of 2 May 2014. The Panel has published recently a Briefing, dated 10 September 2014, in which it outlined its work to date, as well as the steps it plans to take in the coming months, towards completing its review of the Maidan-related investigations (http://coe.kiev.ua/iap/news/2014/09/12-09-2014-en.html). As soon that Maidan-related work has reached an advanced stage of completion, the Panel will begin its review of the authorities’ investigations into the relevant events in Odessa of 2 May 2014.
IAP Members
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Sir Nicolas Bratza
IAP Chairman, former President of the European Court of Human Rights -
Mr Volodymyr Butkevych
IAP Member, former Judge of the European Court of Human Rights -
Mr Oleg Anpilogov
IAP Member, member of Kharkiv Regional Council
Media contact
Daniel Holtgen
Phone : +33 (0)3 90 21 50 20
E-mail : daniel.holtgen@coe.int
Daniel Holtgen on Twitter : @CoESpokesperson