28 October, 2025
On 24 October 2025, Acting Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Oleksandr Petryshyn took part in the 12th Annual International Scientific and Practical Conference “The Role of Independent Oversight Institutions in the Constitutional Framework”, held on the occasion of the Constitution Day of the Republic of Lithuania and the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Parliamentary Ombudspersons’ Office of the Republic of Lithuania.
The participants were welcomed by Speaker of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania Juozas Olekas, Rector of Mykolas Romeris University Inga Žalėnienė, Chairpersons of the Seimas Committees on Legal Affairs and Human Rights Julius Sabatauskas and Laurynas Šedvydis, as well as the Parliamentary Ombudsperson of the Republic of Lithuania Jolita Miliuvienė. The conference gathered judges of European constitutional courts and supreme judicial institutions, members of parliaments, and scholars from international academic institutions.
The discussion focused on issues relating to the constitutional status and functional challenges of independent oversight institutions; the ombudsperson as a complementary institution in the human rights protection system and its role during wartime; and specialized independent oversight bodies.
On behalf of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, Acting Chairman Oleksandr Petryshyn congratulated the participants on the anniversary of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania and the establishment of the Parliamentary Ombudspersons’ Office of the Republic of Lithuania, and delivered a presentation entitled “Constitutional Proceedings on Applications Submitted by the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights”.
He outlined the practice of exercising the right of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsperson) to apply to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine and the Ombudsperson’s participation in constitutional proceedings. In this context, he referred to the Court’s decisions emphasizing the particular importance of the Ombudsperson’s role in ensuring parliamentary oversight over the observance of constitutional human rights and freedoms, and highlighted the effectiveness of the established mechanism.
The speaker noted that, throughout the operation of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, 20 decisions have been adopted based on constitutional submissions by the Ombudsperson, in the majority of which the contested provisions of legal acts were declared unconstitutional. These decisions concerned, inter alia, the right to establish trade unions freely; state guarantees for restoring citizens’ savings; elections of local council members and village, township and city mayors; mandatory state social insurance for work-related accidents and related payments; freedom of religion; and state assistance to families with children.
Oleksandr Petryshyn underlined that, as a result of constitutional review, the protection of such human rights as liberty and personal inviolability, access to psychiatric care, freedom of religion, freedom of movement and free choice of place of residence was ensured.
During his visit to Vilnius, the Acting Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine also held a meeting with Judges of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania. He informed his Lithuanian colleagues about the work of the Ukrainian constitutional review body under martial law and drew attention to the decisions adopted by the Court during this period. The parties discussed current challenges faced by constitutional jurisdictions and exchanged views on a broad range of issues of constitutional proceedings.
Acting Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine made an entry in the Book of Honorary Guests and expressed gratitude to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania for its continued support and readiness to further strengthen bilateral cooperation.
As part of the visit, Oleksandr Petryshyn also held working meetings with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Lithuania Olha Nikitchenko, and Deputy Speaker of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen.
