ADMINISTRATIVE AND LEGAL SUPPORT OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE OMBUDSMAN’S OFFICE IN UKRAINE

Abstract

Administrative and legal support for the activities of the Ombudsman’s Office in Ukraine are analyzed and characterized in the article. Attention is drawn to the fact that Ukraine, as a democratic country, must ensure effective protection of human rights using state institutions, among which one of the key roles should be played by parliamentary control in the person of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. The Ombudsman organizes his activities through an office, which must provide organizational, legal, scientific and advisory, information and analytical, scientific and expert, control and audit, material and technical, financial and other components of the Ombudsman’s activities. The article notes that today the Ombudsman’s office consists of: the Ombudsman himself, 9 of his representatives in areas, 25 representatives in the regions, the Head and Deputies in the Ombudsman’s Secretariat, the Advisory Council under the Commissioner, the Donors’ Council, the Advisory Council on the Implementation of the National Preventive Mechanism, Expert Councils under the Ombudsman’s representatives, and 12 Advisors. The powers of the structural divisions of the Ombudsman’s office are analyzed. It is concluded in the article that in conditions of modern complexities of budgeting state functions and the development of methods of state-public interaction, it is necessary to optimize the structure of the Ombudsman’s office to avoid duplication of powers and tasks. The extensive system of advisory and consultative structures under the Ombudsman, except for those created on a non-profit basis, should be reduced in order to avoid duplication of functions and in order to optimize the costs of maintaining the staff of executors. A proposal is made regarding the need to introduce a systematic independent audit of the structure of the Ombudsman’s Secretariat to assess the feasibility of existing units and their contribution to achieving goals and objectives. It is also noted that the creation of an extensive system of foreign representations of the Ombudsman is impractical due to limited financial resources, duplication of consulate functions, and the complexity of the coordination system with the central office of the Ombudsman in Ukraine.