Ukraine

2007 Evaluation of the Victim-Offender Mediation Programme
The Ukrainian Centre for Common Ground (UCCG), established in 1994, has for the past three years been implementing a pilot project in Victim- Offender Mediation (VOM) – the oldest, most widely used, and most research-based expression of restorative justice. VOM is a process that gives interested crime victims the opportunity to meet the offender with a trained mediator in a safe and structured setting, with the goal of holding offenders directly accountable for their behaviour while providing important assistance and compensation to the victim.

Launched in 2003, the Ukrainian VOM programme is currently implementing pilot projects in seven regions – Chernivtsi, Crimea, Ivano- Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Luhansk and Sumy. Initiatives in Odessa and Lviv did not provide any tangible results.

Key findings of the evaluation:

• Major reasons that referred cases did not meet in mediation included insufficient information, advice of lawyers not to participate, refusal of the offender to admit guilt, and lack of interest in meeting
• Ukrainian law significantly complicates the process of referring cases to mediation and following up on referrals
• In some of the juvenile offender cases, the youths were apparently not required to contribute directly to the compensation
• Explicit community representation in the VOM process is present in some regions but not in all

It is recommended that the UCCG:

• Continue to implement creative solutions to referral procedure problems while working toward national legislation to clarify and improve referral procedures
• Preserve the valuable regional flexibility in meeting differing regional situations
• Continue to develop creative ways to hold juveniles accountable within the constraints of current Ukrainian juvenile law

Download summary of Ukraine VOM evaluation (English)

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