Since 1994 the Ukrainian Centre for Common Ground (UCCG) has built and strengthened individual and institutional capacity in Ukraine to deal with conflicts constructively and cooperatively. Informing all of UCCG’s work is the vision of transforming Ukraine by cultivating a sense of possibility and personal stake in the future of Ukrainians and by promoting the attitude and skills necessary for them to identify and solve their problems and conflicts in a peaceful and non-adversarial way.

The UCCG is a programme of Search for Common Ground, registered as a Ukrainian Philanthropic Organization. Within this broader vision, UCCG has launched the restorative justice initiative to develop and institutionalize the movement to reform the judicial sector in Ukraine. This project has been supported by the Institute for Sustainable Communities with co-funding from the British Embassy in Kiev in 2003-2004. European Commission has been supporting development and implementation of restorative justice model in Kiev and 5 regions of Ukraine during 2004-2005.

The pilot project is now implemented in Kiev and 5 regions of Ukraine in partnership with the Supreme Court, Academy of Judges, Ministry of Justice and General Prosecution Academy of Ukraine. This provides better opportunities for UCCG and Ukrainian Legal System officials to evaluate and monitor the process. The project is divided into five phases and run over three years.

During phase one, the pilot model was designed to establish a set of rules and procedures by which cases are outsourced and to train a number of practitioners (mediators) in victim-offender mediation. In addition, in this first phase of the project a web site was created that contains information on restorative justice and it's development process in Ukraine. Phase two saw the implementation of the system as a pilot project in Darnitskiy District Court in Kiev.  Phase three included an assessment of the pilot model and presentation of results at an evaluation seminar, as well as  the development of the report with recommendations for the future.  In phase four, which is running now, the improved model is being tested in the regions of Ukraine. During phase five, the Ukrainian Centre for Common Ground will evaluate the results of the test period and present the model and its possible modifications at the Open Conference on Restorative Justice Approaches.  

Concept of restorative justice 

The restorative justice approach exhibits key elements that make it a promising alternative system. “Restorative justice” is based on the concept of providing adequate restitution to the victim for the physical and emotional harm caused by the crime as well as the restoration of the sense of responsibility for the offender. The latter is especially important in juvenile cases. Victim-offender mediation is one of the most widespread forms of restorative justice. It has been passed into law in a majority of European countries as a modern approach to achieving criminal justice. 

Ukraine is still lagging behind other countries in the process of developing modern views of crime and punishment and especially in adopting restorative approaches to crime, which are increasingly recognized as essential in most western countries. 

The goal of the project 

To develop a pilot restorative justice program in Kiev that would provide opportunities for restoration to victims and offenders and would serve as a model for evaluation and future institutionalization process.  

Project tasks 

• establish partnership relations with justice system institutions;

• develop a system to establish rules and procedures through which cases are outsourced for mediation;

• train victim-offender mediators;

• implement the system as a pilot in Kiev;

• extend the project to regions outside Kiev;

• develop an evaluation mechanism to assess the effectiveness of the current restorative justice model;

• increase public awareness of the theory and practice of restorative justice through media, web-site development and training workshops for Legal System representatives;

• use opportunities for institutionalisation at national and sub-national levels.

The progress achieved by September 2004

• 20 volunteers have been trained as victim-offender mediators in Kiev and they have been gathering every week to develop their professional qualification through role playing and discussing real mediation cases.

• 15 more mediators have been trained to conduct victim-offender mediations in 5 regions of Ukraine.

• A group of experts in legislation and victim-offender mediation (VOM) including representatives of UCCG, Ministry of Interior Affairs, Academy of Prosecution Office of Ukraine and Academy of Judges conducted an assessment and developed a mechanism for the use of VOM within the Ukrainian legal system This mechanism received positive expert opinion from the Prosecutor General's Office Academy and was supported by the Supreme Court of Ukraine.

• UCCG has established partnerships with the Academy of the General Prosecutor's Office, Academy of Judges, the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Justice,  the Ministry of Family and Youth Affairs, the State Penitentiary Department of Ukraine and Darnitskiy District Court in Kiev.

• UCCG established partnership relations with Ukrainian regional NGOs for restorative justice implementation in Crimea, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv,  Lviv and  Lugansk.

• Ukrainian/Russian-language web site "Conflict Resolution Practice – from Competitiveness to Cooperation" has been developed and can be found on www.commonground.org.ua.

• The Monitoring Committee of Ukrainian Centre for Common Ground has conducted a survey on the current Restorative Justice model and possible ways for its improvement.

• Presentations on the Restorative Justice pilot program were made for investigation officers within the Prosecutor General's Office Academy of Ukraine, for the Supreme Court of Ukraine, and for the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. Also several half-day workshops on Alternative Dispute Resolution were delivered to the listeners of Academy of Judges of Ukraine. 5-day training on Basic Mediation Skills was conducted for judges selected from all regions of Ukraine. Three one-day presentation seminars on VOM were conducted for representatives of judiciary system and law-enforcement bodies in different regions of Ukraine.

• At the beginning of December 2003, a one-week study-tour to Poland for 6 Ukrainian representatives of judicial and executive powers took place. The purpose was aimed at experience exchange in the sphere of mediation for its further implementation, adjustment and development in Ukraine.

• The book "Mediation Development in Ukraine: Polish-Ukrainian Cooperation" was also compiled and published as a result of a fruitful cooperation between the Polish Centre of Mediation and the Ukrainian Centre for Common Ground, and of the exchange of Restorative Justice experience between representatives of the Polish and Ukrainian legal systems. The book presents experience of mediation programs held in both countries, illustrates the collaboration between Poland in Ukraine in realization of Restorative Justice ideas, and provides readers with Polish, Ukrainian and international normative documents relevant to use of mediation in criminal matters.

• On February, 2004 UCCG, in cooperation with the Supreme Court and Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, organized the Evaluation Seminar "Restorative Justice Implementation in Ukraine". It gathered Ukrainian, Russian, Moldavian, Belarus and Polish representatives of the judiciary system and NGOs, who develop and implement victim - offender reconciliation programmes. Two major goals of the seminar were to exchange experience in practical development of Restorative Justice in their countries and to assess its implementation in Ukraine. After this seminar, the Plenum of the Supreme Court of Ukraine (devoted to the problems of juvenile crime) has adopted Resolution #5, which recommends that Ukrainian judges increase the use of reconciliation procedures in criminal cases, that mediation be offered to victims and offenders, and that judges should cooperate with NGOs that provide Victim-Offender Mediation services.

• The book "Changing Lenses: a New Focus for Crime and Justice" written by one of the main Restorative Justice ideologists Howard Zehr was published. Translation has been done from English into Ukrainian with aim of free dissemination among representatives of legal system of Ukraine including judges, prosecutors, investigators etc.

• UCCG has prepared 9 articles dedicated to Restorative Justice and mediation, which were published in Ukrainian and foreign legal editions.

For more information about the project, contact the Ukrainian Centre for Common Ground,

 k.7, 8 Pecherskiy uzviz, Kyiv 01023, Ukraine,

Tel: (+38 044) 537 1007, tel/fax  044 290-39-18,

 e-mail: uccg@uccg.org.ua.

Web-site: www.commonground.org.ua and www.sfcg.org

Roman Koval

Vira Zemlyanska

February 2005