EUAM proposes legislative changes to improve the effectiveness of State Bureau of Investigations
September 20, 2018
At a meeting of the Ukrainian Parliament’s Committee on Law Enforcement yesterday, the Deputy Head of the EU Advisory Mission Ukraine (EUAM) Fredrik Wesslau presented the Mission’s view on amendments to the Law on State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of the new organisation.
“We are pleased that some of our legislative proposals have been taken on board,” said Mr Wesslau “but there are still outstanding issues that should be addressed for the SBI to become fully operational.”
“It is important to bring more clarity to the selection procedure of management positions for the SBI,” EUAM’s Deputy Head continued. “SBI should be staffed with personnel of the highest moral and professional standing to ensure that the organisation can operate with political independence.”
EUAM is an observer in the two internal commissions, which select staff for the central office and regional offices. It does not play a role in the external commission, which selects managerial positions.
EUAM has advised that the selection procedure could be simplified and that the number of positions currently under the remit of the external commission could be transferred to the remit of the internal commissions. This would speed up the recruitment process and lead to the SBI reaching full operational capability sooner. EUAM has also argued that the role of civil society in the internal as well as the external commissions should be strengthened.
