On February 9, 2022, the National Association of Lawyers of Ukraine and the Department for the Execution of Criminal Punishments under the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine concluded a Memorandum of Cooperation. The document was sealed with the signatures of the Head of the Department Serhiy Grechaniuk and the Head of NAAU, RAU Lidia Izovitova.
The parties agreed on cooperation, exchange of information and experience, as well as raising the level of legal assistance provided by lawyers, and strengthening the role and authority of the legal profession and the State Criminal Enforcement Service of Ukraine in society.
The document envisages the implementation of international standards and best practices in the field of observing human and citizen rights by strengthening cooperation, achieving common goals and objectives of the Department and NAAU on the basis of combining common capabilities.
Within the framework of the memorandum, the Department for the Execution of Criminal Punishments and NAAU will contribute to the creation of appropriate conditions to ensure that convicted persons, persons taken into custody, realize their rights and legitimate interests, in particular, the right to receive timely and professional legal assistance.
A separate area of activity will be the disassembly of joint proposals and recommendations regarding draft laws and other normative legal acts, state programs, action plans, etc.
It is planned to conduct joint projects on topics of mutual interest, as well as to facilitate the exchange of information on relevant issues.
During the meeting, Head of the NAAU, RAU Lidia Izovitova, Head of the NAAU Secretariat Vadym Krasnyk, Chairman of the Committee for the Protection of Lawyers' Rights and Guarantees of Advocacy Activities of the NAAU Volodymyr Klochkov, Secretary of the RAU Ihor Kolesnikov, Head of the Department for the Execution of Criminal Punishments Serhiy Grechanyuk, Deputy Head of the Department Vyacheslav Rudenko, Serhiy Chabanyuk, Head of the Department of Regime, Supervision and Security of Penitentiary Institutions of the State Criminal Enforcement Service of Ukraine, discussed the terms of implementation of the memorandum and ways of implementing common goals and objectives.