Through Parliamentary Accountability for the Security Sector (PASS Ukraine), the Parliamentary Centre and the Agency for Legislative Initiatives (ALI) promote peace and stability in Ukraine, by supporting Ukrainian Parliament in overseeing and reforming the governance of the security and defence sector.

PASS Ukraine offers targeted support to three committees of the Verkhovna Rada: the Committee on National Security, Defense, and Intelligence, the Committee on Law Enforcement and the Committee on Ukraine’s EU Integration. Through expert support, the project enhances parliamentarians’ ability to:

1. Debate and pass security sector legislation;
2. Strengthen parliament’s staff capacity in legislative impact assessment of bills; 
3. Oversee the relevant work of government;
4. Develop a structured approach to hearing inputs from Ukrainian civil society organizations, like women’s groups into the legislative and oversight process;
5. Make gender an integral component of the security sector reform. 

 The project focuses on: 

• Developing the knowledge and skills of committee members and staff to better structure and manage their work; 
• Facilitating a series of knowledge exchanges between the executive and legislative branches aimed at breaking barriers  between them;
• Identifying ways for improved interaction between parliament and the executive on security sector reform.

Every step of the way, PASS Ukraine integrates the needs of citizens, especially women and marginalized groups. The project will help fill the existing gap between efforts to expand Parliament’s capacity to govern effectively and efforts to ensure the needs of both men and women are being addressed.

PASS Ukraine Briefing Note – October 18-19, 2022

PASS Ukraine Briefing Note – September 20-21, 2022

PASS Ukraine Briefing Note – September 12, 2022

PASS Ukraine Briefing Note – August 31, 2022

PASS Ukraine Briefing Note – August 18, 2022

PASS Ukraine Briefing Note – July 20, 2022

PASS Ukraine Briefing Note – July 13, 2022

PASS Ukraine Briefing Note – June 29, 2022

PASS Ukraine Briefing Note – June 23, 2022

PASS Ukraine Briefing Note – June 20, 2022

PASS Ukraine Briefing Note – June 9, 2022

PASS Ukraine Briefing Note – May 30, 2022

PASS Ukraine Briefing Note – May 26 & 27, 2022

PASS Ukraine Briefing Note – May 17, 2022

PASS Ukraine Briefing Note – May 10, 2022

PASS Ukraine Briefing Note – April 22, 2022

PASS Ukraine Briefing Note – April 20, 2022

PASS Ukraine Briefing Note – April 14, 2022

PASS Ukraine Briefing Note – April 12, 2022

PASS Ukraine Briefing Note – March 30, 2022

PASS Ukraine Briefing Note – March 15, 2022

PASS Ukraine Briefing Note – March 10, 2022

PASS Ukraine Briefing Note – March 4, 2022

PASS Ukraine Briefing Note – March 3, 2022

Ukraine
Project Duration: 2020-2022
Focus: Security Sector Reform, gender, Parliament of Ukraine
Funder: Peace and Stabilisation Operations Program of the Global Affairs Canada

Parliamentary Accountability for the Security Sector of Ukraine (PASS II) 

With the support of the Peace and Stabilization Operations Program (PSOPs) of the Department of Global Affairs Canada, the Parliamentary Centre (Canada) in partnership with the Agency for Legislative Initiatives (Ukraine), is implementing a second phase of the Parliamentary Accountability for the Security Sector Project (PASS II) – this new phase of PASS runs from April 2023 until March 2025. PASS II continues to support the Ukrainian Parliament’s role in providing improved democratic oversight, focusing on Ukrainian resilience and non-military resistance in relation to Russian aggression. In its first phase, the project placed an emphasis on the differential impacts on women and girls, as well as men and boys.

PASS II has three components:

• • To support the Verkhovna Rada and its relevant committees to initiate, debate and pass legislation focused on the defence effort, non-military resistance, accountability for human rights violations and other impacts of war.

• • To strengthen the efficiency of the Rada to operate under the conditions of war and reconstruction, with a particular focus on the business continuity of the parliament.

• • To strengthen the efficiency of the Rada and civil society actors to support the rebuilding of regional and local democratic institutions and processes of governance in newly liberated regions, regions along the front lines, and other territories affected by the war.

Since the start of Russia’s aggression on Ukraine, the PASS Ukraine project team, Ottawa and Kyiv based, continues to provide practical and significant support to the Parliament in order for it to play its crucial role in supporting Ukraine’s defence and resistance while keeping democracy alive and functioning.

Project Highlights:

• • With PASS guidance and support, the staff of the Rada Committee on Law Enforcement and the Committee on European Integration have conducted legislative impact assessments of more than 15 draft laws since the start of the war. This includes bills focused on facilitating the process of war crimes investigation, the functioning of the National Guard, regulating civilian gun ownership, countering human trafficking, as well as measures to help Ukraine’s economy survive under war conditions.

• • In addition to this, the PASS Ukraine team has contributed to the Rada’s work on defining priorities for parliamentary reform in the post-invasion and reconstruction periods; prepared a Handbook on Legislative Impact Assessments (LIA) in the Ukrainian context, including gender analysis; law drafters from the Ministry of Defence were introduced to the nature and value of legislative impact assessments, which would help them bring their draft laws in accordance to NATO standards; and 27 briefing notes on the work of Ukraine’s wartime parliament reached 15 institutions and at least 100 individuals.

• • More recently, PASS II Ukraine completed a very successful visit by the Law Enforcement Committee of the Ukraine Parliament to Ottawa to study the Canadian military justice experience. The delegation, composed of 4 MPs, 3 from the leading party and 1 from the opposition, had presentations by various offices on the system of Canadian military justice, learned about the practical application of military justice in the field unit through a visit to the Petawawa military base, and on the political level met with various parliamentary committees and groups. Two months after the visit, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the draft law on military police, which defines the legal framework for organising the Military Police’s activities, general structure, tasks, and powers. The members of the Law Enforcement Committee were sincerely grateful to the PASS Ukraine team for arranging the visit to Canada and providing Canadian expertise that helped in preparing the just-adapted draft law on military justice.

• • PASS also supported the visit of the Regional Committee members to Lithuania to study Lithuania’s experience in international cooperation and to improve the legislation on cross-border collaboration that the Committee is currently working on.

• • PASS conducted a workshop on the principles and practices of legislative impact assessment (LIA) with the Committee on National Security, Defence, and Intelligence, Main Legal and Scientific Departments of the Ukrainian Parliament and the Ministry of Defence. LIA is an essential tool for improving the quality of draft laws and for decreasing the legislative spam in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Therefore, we actively work with the Verkhovna Rada Committees and assist them in implementing them.

Ongoing/Upcoming Activities:

• • Preparing the visit for the Defence Committee members to Canada to study the practicalities of parliamentary oversight over the security sector and dealing with classified information

• • The project team provides ongoing support to the Secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in developing a business continuity strategy for Ukraine’s parliament under martial law.  

• • The project team is conducting a study on parliament-CSO interaction under wartime conditions. The study will help inform us on how to improve the legislative and oversight process, including public consultations.

• • Provide ongoing support to the law enforcement and regional committees in preparing and reviewing the legislative impact assessments on the pieces of draft legislation. 

• • The project team is working on the study “The peculiarities of work of women parliamentarians during martial law in Ukraine”. The study will help the project better understand and address the evolving needs of women legislators working on defence and security issues.

Every step of the way, PASS Ukraine integrates the needs of citizens, especially women and marginalized groups. The project helps fill the existing gap between efforts to expand parliament’s capacity to govern effectively and efforts to ensure the needs of both men and women are being addressed.

To learn more about PASS II Ukraine’s work, check out our series “Parliament in Times of War” to explore briefing notes about the project’s progress!

Ukraine

Project Duration: 2023-2025

Focus: Security Sector Reform, Gender, Parliament of Ukraine

Funder: Peace and Stabilization Operations Program of the Global Affairs Canada

For more information about PASS II Ukraine, please contact us at europeandasia@parlcent.org

Support to the Parliament of Armenia 

“In a world where democracy faces stiff competition from autocracy, too few countries are moving in the right direction. In this short list, Armenia is among the champions. Admittedly, its democratic progress is incomplete, fragile and reversible. But this is precisely why the support of well-established democracies is necessary.” 

– Special Envoy for Armenia H.E. Stéphane Dion, April 2022 report to the Minister of Foreign Affairs on “Supporting Armenian Democracy”

The first phase of the ‘Support to the Parliament of Armenia’ project was launched in 2019 by the Parliamentary Centre with the support of the Pro-Dem Fund of Global Affairs Canada. It was completed in March 2024. The project provided strategic support to the National Assembly of Armenia to enhance inclusive and responsible internal governance. In 2023, it also added support to the Human Rights Defender of Armenia and the National Assembly to initiate legislative amendments related to the rights of people with disabilities.

The project’s ultimate objective was to enhance levels of democracy and equality for Armenian citizens, particularly those from marginalized and vulnerable communities, including diverse groups of women, youth and persons with disabilities.

The project has achieved substantial progress and in many cases exceeded the expected results despite the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh and the challenges presented by COVID-19. The high motivation and engagement of the National Assembly interlocutors and the flexibility and commitment of the project team played a major role for the success. Two successive Speakers and several successive Secretary Generals of the Administration of the National Assembly remained committed to the project throughout its implementation.

The project’s centerpiece was support to the National Assembly to develop a five-year (2022-2027) Corporate Strategic Plan for the Administration of the National Assembly and a several one-year Operational Plans to guide the implementation of the Corporate Strategic Plan.

In his report “Supporting Armenian Democracy” Canada’s Special Envoy for Armenia H.E. Stéphane Dion acknowledged that “All interlocutors, including those at the highest levels of the Armenian government and parliament, have expressed to me their great satisfaction with the Parliamentary Centre collaboration to date, as well as their hope that this support will continue, notably with the heavy task of implementing the Corporate Strategic Plan.”

Key Achievements of the Project:

• Enhanced communication and cooperation between the parliamentary administration and Armenian civil society organizations on career prospects for young people, women, and persons with disabilities

• The National Assembly is leading meetings of development partners and using the Strategic Plan as a tool for efficiently coordinating international support to the institution.

• Launch of the Canada-Armenia Parliamentary Internship Program, providing opportunities for Armenian parliamentary staff to acquire in-depth knowledge of relevant policies and practices of the Canadian Parliament while assisting the National Assembly in it work.

• Framework established for ongoing dialogue and collaboration of Armenian CSOs and the National Assembly in implementing reforms to increase the opportunities for women, youth, and people with disabilities to pursue a career in parliament.

• Training and continuous expert support to the National Assembly’s administration in key areas identified in its Strategic Plan: human resource management, parliament-media relations, civic education on parliamentary democracy and more.

• Peer-to-peer exchanges between parliamentarians and parliamentary staff from Canada and Armenia on equipping elected members for international diplomacy efforts.

• Expert support for the Office of the Human Rights Defender to conduct a review of selected legislation and regulatory acts, including a comparison to international standards and instruments, and identifying legislative gaps in protecting the rights of people with disabilities.

Armenia
Active
Focus: Parliamentary Institution; Parliaments and Gender; Needs Assessment and Project Design
Funder: Global Affairs Canada

For more information about Support to the Parliament of Armenia, please contact us at europeandasia@parlcent.org

The Euromaidan events in 2013 led to a new era in Ukraine, where the people demanded democratic reforms and a more open, transparent and inclusive governance of the country. To support the ability of the Rada to address key areas of national interest, the Support to the Rada Project assisted in the strengthening of the Ukrainian Parliament and its interactions with civil society and other governance actors. The Parliamentary Centre implemented the project in partnership with the Ukrainian NGO Agency for Legislative Initiatives.

Ukraine
October 2015 – March 2016
Focus: Democratic Oversight of the Security Sector; Civil Society Organizations
Funder: Global Affairs Canada