Refurbished citizen reception areas in Lviv Prosecution Office to provide more welcoming environment for public

January 26, 2018

A new, more welcoming Citizens’ Reception Hall at the Lviv Regional Prosecution Office opened its doors today, after a refurbishment financed by the European Union Advisory Mission (EUAM) Ukraine. The cost of the refurbishment was more than 12 000 euros.

Reception rooms in prosecutors’ officers are mainly used by citizens to exercise their legal right to bring a complaint against decisions or actions taken in pre-trial investigations, and due to the sensitive nature of many of these complaints, it is important that vital information can be shared in confidence in a non-threatening environment.

Over the course of 2017, around 17,500 complaints were delivered to the Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office. Of these, 6,000 were registered in person – which works out at over 20 per working day.

“The EU Advisory Mission is committed to assisting the Prosecution Service of Ukraine carry out its functions in a way which corresponds to the expectations of the public,” said EUAM Head of Mission Kęstutis Lančinskas while touring the refurbished space with the Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine Angela Strizhevska and Lviv Regional Prosecutor Yurii Kviatkivskyi. “Improving the access of the public to the prosecution services is important in increasing public trust, accountability and transparency,” added Mr Lančinskas.

The Lviv Regional Prosecutor was keen to stress the new, online capabilities of the new rooms, which include the ability to host Skype conferences. “In this way, more people will be able to address the management of the Lviv Regional Prosecution Service without leaving their area,” he said.

EUAM is working with the Lviv Prosecution Service on a number of ongoing projects. The Mission is helping establish a more effective performance evaluation system that rewards good performance, including a component which evaluates how complaints are handled. It is also offering communications training to support prosecutors handle public complaints sensitively. Moreover, a leaflet campaign has been organised to inform members of the public about the roles of different law enforcement and rule of law institutions and where to turn if they feel their rights have been violated.

As a second stage to the refurbishment of the Citizens Reception Hall, EUAM will finance improvements to the building to allow increased access for disabled members of the public.