Council of Europe Committee of Ministers urges Ukraine to tackle overcrowding, inhuman conditions of detention

KYIV. Dec 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers has called on the Ukrainian authorities to solve the recurring problem of overcrowding and inhuman conditions of detention, which is a very negative marker of the lack of progress in Ukraine’s implementation of ECtHR judgments for a fairly long period of time, Head of Division of the Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights of the Directorate-General for Human Rights and the Rule of Law of the Council of Europe Pavlo Pushkar has said.

"Since 2005, the ECHR has adopted over 110 decisions on various aspects of the problem of inappropriate conditions of detention, and adopted a pilot judgment in the Sukachov v. Ukraine case. In this ruling, the ECHR said the authorities should take measures aimed at reducing overcrowding in places of detention, improving the material conditions of detention and introducing appropriate protective and compensatory remedies," Pushkar told Interfax-Ukraine on Friday.

He said the final date for such actions, in particular the adoption of legislation that relates to protective and compensatory remedies, should have been November 30, 2021.

"This did not happen, and in this regard, the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers adopted an interim resolution, which is a very negative marker of the lack of progress in the implementation of the ECHR decisions for a fairly long period of time, and we can say that this problem exists in the supervision of the Committee ministers since 2005, that is, over 15 years," Pushkar said.

According to him, the Committee of Ministers drew attention to the serious humanitarian consequences of failure to comply with this decision, as everyone who is in custody is potentially victims of such violations, in particular, violations of the absolute prohibition of inhuman and such that humiliate behavior and punishment, which established by Article 3 of the Convention on Human Rights. The Committee of Ministers also expressed deep regret that there is no concrete progress on the implementation of this pilot decision.

Pushkar said pilot solutions cover a number of systemic problems, and not so much concern the person of the applicant and a specific problem, but rather the macro-level of the problem definition. He also said that, as a rule, in cases such as Sukachov v. Ukraine, there are a number of elements that relate to inadequate conditions of detention, including overcrowding of cells, lack of adequate hygiene conditions.

"But the most important thing about what is at issue in this case is the applicant’s inability to appeal against the conditions of detention in which he is, and to receive compensation or take preventive measures in order for the conditions to be changed," he said.

Pushkar said that as of December 2, 2021, in general, some 635 decisions of the ECHR regarding Ukraine are being implemented, of which 476 decisions are under enhanced supervision of implementation, since such decisions relate to problems of a systemic nature, that is, they can give rise to the following appeals, including number in the ECHR, on similar issues.

"According to the information that is at the disposal of the Committee of Ministers, in particular on the problem ‘Sukachov against Ukraine,’ there are currently about 300 applications in the proceedings of the ECHR without decisions that relate to the same problem," he said.

Pushkar said that one of the key problems associated with the implementation of the decisions of the ECHR by Ukraine is the lack of an effective mechanism for national response, since in the process of execution of 635 cases, more than 200 cases have been under the control of the Committee of Ministers for over five years, about 70 decisions have been under control for over ten years.

"Here the main problem that needs to be solved is to strengthen the institutional capacity of the state to implement the ECHR decisions, to strengthen the role of coordinator of the implementation of the ECHR decisions, in our country, the Ministry of Justice is responsible for these processes, as well as to strengthen the legislative framework for the coordination and implementation process, as implementation concerns not only the Ministry of Justice and executive authorities, but can also concern the parliament and the judicial branch of government, therefore, the joint activities of all branches of government for implementation of ECtHR judgments is extremely important," he said.

The Head of Division of the Department for the Execution of Judgments of ECHR said the major problem that concerns places of detention in Ukraine is the problem of overcrowding.

"It seems to me that it should be resolved primarily at the legislative level. Since now our standards regarding the size of cells do not meet the requirements of European standards. Our standards are understated in relation to the requirements of the ECHR decisions and the recommendations of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture of the Council of Europe," he said.

According to him, the problem of penitentiary reform also lies in the fact that in its process the Ukrainian authorities need to take into account and incorporate into the process of penitentiary reform the requirements of the decisions of the ECHR and the Committee of Ministers, but this is not done completely.

Pushkar said that, based on the government’s report and communication with the Ministry of Justice, intentions are being declared to reform the penitentiary system and improve the process of implementing the ECHR decisions.

"However, in order for this process to proceed and to proceed in accordance with European standards, it is necessary that there is a common understanding of the problems, and this understanding must be based on European standards," he said.