The round table, which was dedicated to the International Day “The Right to Know,” was initiated by the Center for Political Studies and Analysis in cooperation with Secretariat of the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for Human Rights and supported by UNDP in Ukraine within the framework of “Promoting the Work of the Secretariat of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights through Targeted Support of CSO’s projects” programme.

 

The Head of the Department for preparation of constitutional submissions and observance of the right to access to public information, the Representative of the Commissioner of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for Human Rights, Iryna Kushnir, told about the extensive plans of Ombudsman’s Secretariat with respect to parliamentary control over the observance of the right of access to public information. According to he, the Secretariat of the Commissioner of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for Human Rights has to join its forces together with that of the community in order to provide the control over the observance of the right to access public information. “Today, community and the Secretariat act as two pillars fighting for access to public information, - declared Iryna Kushnir, - It is critically important to join efforts for stronger pressure on public authorities in demanding the implementation of legislative and constitutional rules."

 
Vasyl Romanyuk, UNDP “Democratization and Human Rights in Ukraine” Project Coordinator, in his address to round-table participants emphasized that implementation of the law “On Access to Public Information” is impossible without cooperation between the community and public authorities. The monitoring, which was conducted within the framework of the project, showed that that the law itself is not enough. It is important to establish the mechanisms that would guarantee the effective law implementation where the key role in monitoring would be laid upon civil society institutions.

 

The expert of Center for Political Studies and Analysis, Darya Slyz’konis, presented the most recent results of annual Monitoring on public authorities’ openness in information provision upon request. As expert said, from September 2013 to August 2014 the level of public authorities’ openness decreased in comparison  with the same period of 2012-2013. The average level of all local authorities’ and municipal bodies’ openness declined by 2%. The average level of regional administrations’ openness decreased also by 2% and the level of city council’s openness decreased by 1%.  

The average grade of local government bodies’ openness is at the level of “minimum open”. The city council’s openness is at the same level. The average level of regional administrations’ openness is a bit higher – “Not open enough”.

“Unfortunately, the Ukrainian state authority is far away from the real openness,- noted Slyz’konis, - as practice shows, even the most advanced laws may just remain unexecuted in Ukraine."

According to the survey, during the period from September 2013 to August the public authorities in Dnipropetrovsk (first place), Sumy (second place) and Zaporizhia (third place) region were ranked highest. However, it should be noted that according to evaluation scale, the rating of public authorities openness through the regions is not raising higher than level “Not open enough”. Public authorities are the most closed in Mykolaiv, Kirovograd and Ternopil region.

 

The complete text of the research can be downloaded here.

Darja Slyz’konis also presented the Results of monitoring of city councils of oblast centers’ web-site’s content  against the requirements of the recently amendmended Law of Ukraine “On municipal self-government”. The results of the monitoring showed that city councils of regional centers disregarded their obligations to implementthose changes that were introduced in the Law of Ukraine “On municipal self-government”. None of city councils publish the information properly, as it is required according the Articles 46, 47, 50 and 59 of the Law “On municipal self-government”. Only Odesa, Rivne, Ternopil city councils and Kyiv City State Administration started to act in order to bring  their web-sites in  compliance with new requirements.

 

“It is still hard to tell where the absence of information is attributable to trivial inobservance or to ignorance of the new legislative rules, and where it is intentional, - stated Darja, - We will provide the results of our monitoring to local officials and emphasize on the necessity of consideration of law changes, that came into force five months ago. Soon we will be able to check whether officials have considered our request.”

The full text of monitoring can be uploaded here.

 

Julia Hryha (CSO “The philosophy of heart”, Vinnytsia city) and Natalia Zabolotna (CSO “People’s protection” Zaporizhia city) explained in details the situation and problems of free access to public service in their regions.

Furthermore, the new publication “Resticted information: the rules of defining and access” was presented during the round table. The electronic version of the publication can be downloaded below.