The Agency for Legislative Initiatives and the Parliamentary Centre (Canada) provide support to the Committee on Law Enforcement of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on the issue of military justice. In particular, during the joint work, a comprehensive Green Paper “Military Justice in Ukraine” was prepared.
The analytical document includes information on the international experience (in particular, NATO and the EU countries) of regulating and functioning of military justice, considering the project’s previous work on military prosecutors, advocacy, military police, military counterintelligence and military courts, and highlights the challenges of creating new bodies of the military justice system in Ukraine.
In addition, a working visit of the Committee’s representatives to Canada was organised to study Canadian and international practices of military justice, the system of parliamentary oversight, and the activities of law enforcement agencies, including the military police. Following the visit, a roundtable discussion was held on “Military Justice: Canadian Experience and Possible Regulatory Options for Ukraine”, which was attended by representatives of the Law Enforcement Committee, the General Staff, the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine, the State Bureau of Investigation, the Military Law Enforcement Service and the Prosecutor General’s Office. The event was also attended by representatives of the Office of the National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces Ombudsman, and the Office of the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal.
In addition, alternative options for regulating the military justice system in the context of a full-scale war in Ukraine are currently being considered.
This paper was conducted within the framework of the project “Parliamentary Accountability of the Security Sector in Ukraine” (PASS Ukraine), which the Agency implements together with the Parliamentary Centre, in cooperation with The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and with the support of Canada’s Foreign Policy—Global Affairs Canada as part of the Peacebuilding Program and stability (PSOPs).
