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The Tribunal for Putin (T4P) global initiative was set up in response to the all-out war launched by Russia against Ukraine in February 2022.

Propositions of the participants of the seminar

21.05.2000   
On 28-29 May the Union of soldiers. mothers of Ukraine, supported by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, held an international seminar. Problems of legal counseling to recruits, soldiers and to persons suffering from remote consequences of army service.. The participants of the seminar turned to the President of Ukraine L.Kuchma, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine O.Kuzmuk and the general army inspector at the President. s administration V.Sobkov.
The participants of the international seminar on having listened reports pronounced at the seminar agreed as to the following:

the operating laws of Ukraine about military problems contradict in many points the Constitution of Ukraine and the norms of the international right; that is why they form an obstacle in realizing the Constitutional right to a citizen who seeks protection of his rights and freedoms;

annual pre-term release of 4-5 thousand from the armed forces, because they had before recruiting the 3rd-4th degree of able-bodiness, brings immense material damages to the state, damage to the health of these young people and causes unpredictable remote consequences of the military service; besides it forms a very negative public image of the conditions of military service;

absence of principal changes in the already approved Articles of War and in the draft of the law. On universal military service. ; as a result of this law only 6% of the recruiting age will be taken to the army, which causes a complex of. second-sort people. in those young men who will get to the armed forces;

unpredictable remote consequences of the army service, the growth of such consequences, inaccurate pay, procrastination in passing and paying insurance, which is incomparably smaller than analogues sums paid to members of the Ministry of Interior and the security service, negatively affect servicemen, their parents and relatives, who, under the influence of these reasons, form a negative public opinion of the army;

problems of legal counseling of recruits, servicemen and former servicemen, who suffered from the remote consequences of the army service, have a great theoretical and practical importance for ensuring Constitutional rights and for supporting in military units the absence of dedovshchina; all these problems require principally new approaches for their solution.

The. Main principles concerning the role of lawyers. were adopted by the 8 thUNO Congress (1990) on preventing crime and treatment of culprits; in particular they contain the following suggestions:

governments shall appoint sufficient finances and other resources for juridical counseling of those who are unable to pay for the juridical aid;

governments and trade unions of lawyers must support the program of informing people about their rights and duties, and about the important role of lawyers in protection main freedoms of citizens;

in all cases, when it is required by the interests of the right, every person, who has no lawyer, has the right for the legal aid of a lawyer, whose experience and competence is adequate to the character of the offence.

Having in mind the agreement of the operating laws of Ukraine on military topics with the Constitutional norms and realizing the Constitutional right for free legal aid to recruits, servicemen and former servicemen, who suffered from the remote consequences of the army service, the participants of the seminar suggest:

Develop a codex of laws on military service. To this end, the President should issue the edict for creating a commission for the development of the codex. Professionals of different specialties, both military, civil and representatives of public organizations, shall be included to this commission.

The priority task of reforming the armed forces must not be a restructuring of the army, but such a reform, which shall be based on the humanization of relations between all categories of servicemen.

Amend the regulations about the recruitment procedure, which was introduced by the order of the Minister of Defense. Approve the new regulations by the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers, including into the regulations the obligations of state officers in concrete solving recruits. problems, that can negatively affect their service.

Introduce into each recruiting commission and independent lawyer, who would represent a juridical organization or the local administration. This lawyer must control the observance of law during the recruiting campaign and provide legal aid to recruits.

Introduce into the armed forces the institute of juridical aid for protection rights of servicemen.
To this end, create within the structure of the general military inspector at the President or at the Cabinet of Ministers the service of juridical protectionwith corresponding territorial substructures without submission to commanders of military units or garrisons. The duty of this structure shall be rendering legal aid to servicemen and former servicemen, who suffered from the remote consequences of the army service.

Taking into consideration the fact that the system of psychological service is insufficient in the armed forces today, start the preparation of specialists in psychology and psychiatry.

Develop and adopt the law which shall give the rights to the former servicemen, who suffered from the remote consequences of the army service, to get medical aid in military hospitals.
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