Draft:Dmytro Lubinets

Dmytro Lubinets
Born	July 4, 1981 (42 years old) Volnovaha
Citizenship	Ukraine
Alma mater	Donetsk National University
Occupation	Ombudsman
Years active	In office since July 1, 2022
Predecessor	Ludmila Denisova's
Website	https://www.ombudsman.gov.ua/

Dmytro Lubinets

Dmytro Valeriiovych Lubinets (born 4 July 1981, Volnovakha, Donetsk Oblast, Ukrainian SSR) — Ukrainian lawyer and politician. Member of the Volnovakha City Council of the VII convocation (2010-2014). First Deputy Chairman of the Board of the People's Patriotic Union of Donbas. Member of Parliament of the VIII convocation from the "Bloc of Petro Poroshenko" (2014) and of the IX convocation, nonpartisan (2019). Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights since 1 July 2022.

Contents

1. Biography

Dmytro Lubinets was born on 4 July 1981 in Volnovakha, Donetsk Oblast. His father is Valerii Lubinets and his mother is Liudmyla Lubinets.

1.1. Education

In 1998, Dmytro graduated from secondary school No. 5 in Volnovakha with honours and a gold medal.

From 1998 to 2003, he studied at the Faculty of History of Donetsk National University, Department of International Relations and Foreign Policy. He received a qualification in international relations.

From 2008 to 2013, he studied at the Law Faculty of the Yaroslav Mudryi National Law Academy, Kharkiv, judicial and prosecutorial specialisation. He received a qualification in law.

In 2021, he defended his thesis at Mariupol State University and received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in the field of Social and Behavioural Sciences, specialising in Political Science.

1.2. Academic degrees

He holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree.

1.3. Professional experience

He began his career in 1996 as a corporate client manager at ATT, a small commercial and production cooperative enterprise, where he worked until 1998. In 2004-2005, he worked as an administrator at the individual entrepreneurial business "Khodorochenko V.V."

From 2010 to 2014, he worked as a lawyer at the KFG "Praktyka".

From 2010 to 2014, Dmytro Lubinets was a member of the Volnovakha City Council of the VI convocation from the party "Front for Change" for the 9th majority constituency, and a member of the party. He was also the first deputy chairman of the board of the People's Patriotic Union of Donbas NGO.

In 2014, he was elected as a Member of Parliament of Ukraine of the VIII convocation and Secretary of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Rules of Procedure and Organisation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

From 2014 to 2019, he participated in the development, amendment and initiation of a number of draft laws. In particular, he submitted proposals to the draft laws on ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language, on privatisation of state property, on improving the accessibility and quality of healthcare in rural areas, on the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine, and on national security of Ukraine. In total, he submitted over 200 draft laws and 30 amendments to draft laws.

In 2019, he was elected as a member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the IX convocation as a nonpartisan self-nominated candidate for constituency 60 (Donetsk Oblast) and became a member of the "For the Future" parliamentary group, which became a party on 2 June 2020. In the same year, he was elected Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Human Rights, De-occupation and Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories in Donetsk and Luhansk Regions and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the City of Sevastopol, National Minorities and Interethnic Relations. He was a member of the Permanent Delegation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to the Parliamentary Assembly of the EU - Eastern Neighbours (PA EURONEST).

In 2019, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted 6 draft laws and 2 resolutions prepared by the Committee. Among them:

• Amendments to the law that allow temporarily displaced persons to draw up documents at their current place of residence.
• Adoption of the Law of Ukraine "On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on Provision of Free Meals to Children of Internally Displaced Persons".
• Adoption of a law that enabled thousands of people to obtain official stateless status and enjoy the social guarantees it provides.
• A resolution to appeal to the Government to establish railway connections between Luhansk region and other regions of Ukraine.

The Committee, in effective cooperation with the public sector, international partners and with the support of MPs, held a number of roundtables and conferences on combating violence in the conflict zone, strengthening the role of women in peacekeeping processes, humanitarian support for people in eastern Ukraine, compensation for housing lost as a result of the war, and many other issues.

In 2020, Dmytro Lubinets, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, De-occupation and Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories, National Minorities and Interethnic Relations, initiated the creation of a working group on the basis of the Committee to develop a new version of the Law of Ukraine "On National Minorities (Communities) in Ukraine".

Understanding the importance of creating an effective institutional framework for the implementation of the state ethnic policy, protection of the rights of indigenous peoples and national minorities, the Human Rights Committee appealed to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to restore the position of Government Commissioner for Ethnic and National Policy. Subsequently, the Committee sent letters to the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine regarding the full launch of the newly created State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience. The State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience has since begun its work.

Thus, the Human Rights Committee managed to raise the issue of ethno-national policy and the rights of indigenous peoples and national minorities in Ukraine to a new level.

In December 2021, he was among the MPs who submitted a bill proposing to restore the mixed (proportional-majority) election system. The relevant draft law No. 6444 from the "For the Future" group of MPs was registered on the website of the Verkhovna Rada on 17 December 2021.

Member of the Permanent Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Member of the Inter-Factional Deputy Associations in the Verkhovna Rada. Dmytro Lubinets was a member of 18 associations, and held leadership positions in 2 of them:

• Chairman of the "National Communities"
• Co-chairman of "Clean Energy - Healthy Environment"
• Head of the group on interparliamentary relations with the

Republic of Cuba Deputy Head of the Group for Interparliamentary Relations with the Republic of Chile, etc.

On 1 July 2022, the Verkhovna Rada appointed Dmytro Lubinets as the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman of Ukraine). This decision was supported by 250 MPs.

In 2022, he became a member of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

1.4. Activities as the Ombudsman of Ukraine

After becoming the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets started reforming the institution. The Secretariat of the Commissioner introduced 9 main areas of work. These are:

1. Rights in the security and defence sector;
2. Children's rights;
3. Rights of citizens who are victims of the armed aggression against Ukraine;
4. Social and economic rights;
5. Equal rights and freedoms, rights of national minorities, political and religious beliefs;
6. Human rights in places of detention (NPM);
7. Information rights;
8. Rights in the judicial system and the right to fair trial;
9. Work on international cooperation and European integration.

The Commissioner started to expand its regional network. It is planned to have a Representative of the Commissioner and a regional team in each of the 24 regions of Ukraine. Currently, the Commissioner's representatives work in Volyn, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zakarpattia, Zaporizhzhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Cherkasy, Chernivtsi, Chernihiv regions and in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

The Commissioner has established an Advisory Council and Advisory Council on the implementation of the NPM, as well as expert councils under the Commissioner's representatives.

The Office has developed a new level of interaction with civil society. The Ombudsman's Office has established a hub for civic initiatives. Civil society organisations can gather at the Ombudsman's Office for public discussions and hold their events.

In 2022, under Lubinets' leadership, the Ombudsman's Office began to work on the return of deported and forcibly transferred children back from the Russian Federation and temporarily occupied territories (TOT) to the government-controlled territory of Ukraine. The return is taking place within the framework of the action plan of the President of Ukraine Bring Kids Back UA.

As part of Bring Kids Back UA, the Child Rights Protection Center was also opened at the initiative of the President of Ukraine. Since its opening, the Center has been visited by top officials and representatives of other countries: First Lady of South Korea Kim Keon-hee, President of Portugal Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, President of Hungary Katalin Novak, Prime Minister of Moldova Dorin Recean and others.

In 2023, the Ombudsman of Ukraine became responsible for the implementation of Point 4 of the Ukraine's Peace Formula of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Its task is to return all detainees and deportees back to Ukraine.

As part of this Point, the International Coalition of Countries for the Return of Ukrainian Children was created by Ukraine and Canada.

Dmytro Lubinets is actively working to protect children's rights. In particular, on his initiative, the Ombudsman's Office contributed to the development of the text of the PACE resolution on the recognition of the deportation of Ukrainian children by Russia as genocide of the Ukrainian people.

Thanks to Dmytro Lubinets, the Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights started holding meetings with relatives of prisoners of war and missing defenders of Ukraine. Representatives of the institution participate in the repatriation of prisoners of war.

During Lubinets' tenure, the Ombudsman's Office monitored the activities of 100% of the military medical commissions - 833 on-site and off-site monitoring visits (in 2022-2023), covering all regions, including the frontline.

After the massacre of prisoners of war in Olenivka, Dmytro Lubinets, together with members of the Ukrainian Parliament, arrived at the border with the temporarily occupied territory to urge Russia to gain access to Olenivka and visit Ukrainian prisoners of war. The Ombudsman of Ukraine also officially supported a petition to establish days of mourning and commemoration in Ukraine for the defenders executed as a result of the terrorist attack in colony No. 120 in Olenivka.

Dmytro Lubinets constantly raises the issue of the murder of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Olenivka, including at international platforms. The Ombudsman's Office also held meetings with family members of the killed and wounded prisoners of war in Olenivka and an event "A year of tragedy in Olenivka: a crime without punishment".

As Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets has been known to criticise the International Committee of the Red Cross in Ukraine and other institutions that are supposed to protect the rights of prisoners of war.

Lubinets was also one of the first to raise the issue of illegal detention of civilians in the TOT of Ukraine by the Russian military. Subsequently, the International Platform for the Release of Civilians Unlawfully Detained by the Russian Federation was created.

1.5. Annual and special reports of the Ombudsman of Ukraine

For the first time since 2011, Dmytro Lubinets submitted the Annual Report on the state of observance and protection of human and civil rights and freedoms in Ukraine in 2022 to the Ukrainian Parliament for voting. In accordance with the Commissioner`s mandate, such special reports are to be submitted annually.

Under the Commissioner's leadership, she presented special reports on:

• Special report on the observance of the rights of persons who are vicitms of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.
• Special report "Unbloomed. Violations of the Rights of Ukrainian children in the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine and in Russia: Deportation, Militarisation, Indoctrination".
• Special report on the observance of the constitutional right to information in the context of the legal regime of martial law.
• Special report on the state of observance of social and economic rights of adults in need of guardianship and care under the legal regime of martial law.
• Special report on the state of implementation of the national preventive mechanism in Ukraine for 2022.

1.6. Legislative initiatives

Under the leadership of Lubinets, the Ombudsman's Office participated in the development of the Law of Ukraine "On National Minorities (Communities) of Ukraine" and amendments to it, which were highlighted by the Venice Commission. This law came into force on 1 July 2023. Its adoption was one of the prerequisites for Ukraine's accession to the EU.

The Ombudsman's Office, together with the Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) Cluster, developed Minimum Standards for Places of Residence of Internally Displaced Persons, which formed the basis of Government Resolution No. 930. They officially defined the concept of a "place of temporary residence" and adopted standards of living for IDPs.

1.7. Membership in international organisations

Dmytro Lubinets started his work with the accession of the Ukrainian national human rights institution to the European Network of Equality Institutions (EQUINET). On 11 October 2023, the members of the organisation unanimously supported Ukraine's accession.

Dmytro Lubinets, as the Ombudsman of Ukraine, became a member of the European Board of Directors of the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI). This is the first time in history that a representative of Ukraine has joined the Board of Directors of the European region of the IOI, which involves participation in the coordination of the activities of ombudspersons around the world and in making joint decisions.

On Lubinets' initiative, the Ukrainian Ombudsman's Institution withdrew from the European Ombudsman Institute after two Ukrainian children, who were in the territory of the Republic of Austria due to Russian armed aggression, were taken to the territory of the Russian Federation by a "human rights defender of the European Ombudsman Institute (EOI)".

1.8. Lubinets' communication with the Russian counterpart

For the duration of martial law, Ukraine and Russia severed diplomatic relations. Currently, official communication with the Russian Federation is conducted only between the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights and the Human Rights Commissioner in the Russian Federation.

Dmytro Lubinets, in his capacity as Ombudsman, had several meetings with his Russian counterpart Tatiana Moskalkova. One of them took place in Turkiye in January 2023.

Honours and awards

Honorary citizen of the city of Volnovakha.

Family

He is married to Yanina Lubinets. He has two children - son Danylo and daughter Valeriia. Lubinets' wife is the founder of the charity organisation "I am Volnovakha", which has been providing assistance in various areas since 2015.