A system to ensure rights of detainees launched in the temporary detention facility in Kherson

On April 3, a custody records system to ensure rights of detainees was presented in Kherson. The system was launched in the temporary detention facility in Kherson. Prior to that the same system was introduced in the temporary detention center No. 1 in the city of Dnipro.

On April 3, a custody records system to ensure rights of detainees was presented in Kherson. The system was launched in the temporary detention facility in Kherson. Prior to that the same system was introduced in the temporary detention center No. 1 in the city of Dnipro. 

From now on, a new integrated system will be in use to record all actions relating to detainees during their stay in the police unit. Specially trained human rights inspectors will interrogate detainees, conduct electronic document processing and round-the-clock video surveillance. Such a procedure ensures the security of both detainees and the police officers. How the system looks from the inside and its essential elements are shown in the video.

The introduction of this system in the Kherson temporary detention facility has brought the police operations in Kherson one step closer to European standards. From now on, detainees will be fully protected from violation of their rights. At the same time, police officers will be protected from unlawful accusations.IwanttothanktheleadershipoftheNationalPoliceofUkraine, theInternationalRenaissanceFoundationandotherorganizations, duetosupportofwhichthisinnovationwasmadepossibleinKhersonregion”, said MykolaVerbytsky, Deputy Head of the National Police Headquarters – Head of the Investigation Department.

A key principle of the custody records system to ensure the rights of detainees is to guarantee the security and decent conditions of a person’s detention.

 “The system of ensuring the rights of detainees involves keeping an electronic register of actions relating to detained persons, as well as the establishment of a separate unit of human rights inspectors. Their task is to ensure safety and decent detention conditions. Notifying relatives on the detention, timely legal advice, proper medical care and compliance with other rights of detained persons will be under constant control of human rights inspectors”, – explains Roman Romanov, director of the Human Rights and Justice Program Initiative of the International Renaissance Foundation.

The custody records system to ensure the rights of detainees is one of the necessary conditions to guarantee fair justice. It will be gradually implemented in all temporary detention facilities and police departments of Ukraine.

 “The proposed system should change the approach of the law-enforcers. As a matter of fact, on the one hand, we teach them to see in a detainee, first of all, a human being, having the same rights as the others. On the other hand, the system of ensuring the rights of detainees and recording all actions relating to them in an electronic data base fully protects law-enforcers from complaints about misconduct. In addition to it, the system warns against the human rights violation by operatives and investigators, since upon being taken to the detention facility, a detainee may inform the inspector of the violation of his or her rights. In turn, such reports should be competently investigated, and guilty officials should be brought to justice”, – explains Yuriy Belousov, Executive Director of Human Rights Expert Center.

The system was implemented due to joint efforts of the Human Rights Protection Office within the National Police of Ukraine, the International Renaissance Foundation, the Ukrainian Legal Aid Foundation and the Human Rights Expert Center.

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