Nowadays, among the politicians, lawyers and others the issue on improving the system and functions of the prosecution service, its reforming in order to bring the tasks and powers in line with international standards is being actively discussed.
The restructuring of the prosecution service is not only the urgent need, but the commitment of our country, made when joining the Council of Europe.
In particular, in Recommendations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe dated September, 26, 1995 № 190 (1995) on the entry of Ukraine it was pointed out that ...the role and functions of the Prosecutor General’s Office will be changed (especially, in relation to realization of general supervision over law observance) by transformation of this institute into a body that will correspond to the principles of the Council of Europe...
The change of powers is also provided for by the Constitution of Ukraine, however, till the present time the prosecution service in our country continues to perform a number of functions, which were inherent to this institution in Soviet times and are not recognized proper for the Prosecution Service in democratic the States.
There is no doubt that the reformation of the Prosecution Service under such circumstances is not somebody's subjective desire, but today’s need.
The Ukrainian Association of Prosecutors, as non-governmental organization of professional employees, who devoted a part of their lives to working in this institution, can not stand aside from this process.
At the same time, the Association would like to draw the attention of legislators and legal practitioners to the fact that the moral and ethical aspect should not be forgotten within the changes of functions and powers of the prosecutorial system.
In our view, this constitutive component of training and professional activity of prosecutors should not remain the last thing. So far as high moral qualities and exemplary conduct are the obligatory conditions for proper discharge of prosecutors’ duties.
In this regard, on behalf of the Association I would like to invite its members and all the lawyers to participate in the discussion of such an important issue as working out of the Prosecutorial Code of Professional Ethics.
While inviting you to discuss this topic, I submit to your consideration a number of documents of the United Nations Organization, the Council of Europe and other international organizations, which cover these issues.
We would appreciate if you make statements of your points of view in this regard, and we are ready to discuss on this site the positions of all the persons concerned.
Respectfully yours,
Oleksandr Shynalskyi
President
The Ukrainian Association of Prosecutors
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