Ukrainian National Bar Association is a Private Entity
Regarding the inquiry contained within Part I, Question 178 of the European Union (EU) Questionnaire and Responses for Ukraine’s Candidacy Status:
“Does Ukraine possess a National Human Rights Institution (NHRI)? Is it in compliance with the Paris Principles concerning NHRIs, and does the NHRI hold accreditation from GANHRI, including its accreditation status?”
Ukraine’s response elucidates that the sole human rights body operational within the nation is the Human Rights Ombudsman.
There is an absence of a legal advocacy institution as delineated in the disclosed questionnaire, which raises certain implications.
The Ukrainian Bar is a non-governmental, self-governing institution tasked with ensuring the provision of defense, representation, and other forms of legal assistance on a professional basis. Furthermore, it autonomously addresses matters concerning the organization and function of the legal profession in accordance with established legal statutes.
The Ukrainian Bar comprises all lawyers within Ukraine who are authorized to engage in legal practice.
In Ukraine, a lawyer is an individual who undertakes legal practice as stipulated by the “Law of Ukraine on the Bar and Practice of Law.” Lawyers operate as self-employed individuals engaged in independent professional (legal) activities. It is noteworthy that the legal profession in Ukraine is perceived as the most corrupt sector, masquerading as a state entity without any formal association with statehood.
The Ukrainian National Bar Assosiation employs the term “NATIONAL” in its title as a guise for fraudulent activities, thereby misleading the global community.
Ukrainian lawyers hold prominent positions within the State apparatus (including judges, prosecutors, the Attorney General, and members of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau) and are accused of consciously concealing this fact.
The head of the Ukrainian National Bar Assosiation (UNBA) represents a non-governmental entity on behalf of the State of Ukraine, a status that the Ukrainian State does not contest, thereby affirming its legitimacy.
However, it raises the question of why the Ukrainian populace lacks a mechanism for legal protection against the State. There exists a fee-based protection mechanism as stipulated by the Law of Ukraine on the Legal Profession and Legal Practice, accompanied by an ambiguous provision for free legal aid. Lawyers providing free legal assistance, certified by this same private entity, have offered their services to the State under certain conditions if required.
As a result, the private, non-state entity known as the Ukrainian National Bar Assosiation operates without state oversight or accountability to its members, answerable only to the association’s leadership.
The Ukrainian legal profession declares its representations in every country worldwide, which generally do not benefit Ukraine or Ukrainians, whether in that country or elsewhere. None of these representations are accredited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which explains why no foreign consulate lists these representations on their websites, a fact that is arguably self-evident.
The question remains as to what occurs within the private legal profession in Ukraine and how its leaders maintain power, and why.
Pursuant to the assembly of lawyers on June 9, 2017, which resolved key personnel decisions regarding the leadership of the higher bodies of legal self-governance from November 17, 2017, to November 17, 2022, the tenure of the leadership within Ukraine’s private legal profession concluded on November 17, 2022. Despite this, throughout the duration of the conflict, the legal profession continued to make decisions, administer examinations, proliferate the number of lawyers, and represent the legal profession on behalf of Ukraine internationally.
This raises the question:
Can lawyers, who are complicit in the fraudulence within their own structure, expose corruption or defend Ukrainians?
From the aforementioned date, the bodies of legal self-governance in Ukraine have been operating without legitimate authority, as the mandates of all such bodies and their leadership have ceased, with no lawful basis for continuation.
The leadership of Ukraine’s legal profession employs the principle of continuity to extend its power, which, in this context, does not apply. Continuity is intended to bridge the period until a new body is constituted and operational. However, in the absence of a newly formed body of legal self-governance, there is no continuity, as it only applies post-election but before the newly elected bodies commence their duties.
This situation arises exclusively due to the monopolistic position of the legal institution, which remains uninfluenced as a private entity. Membership in this entity is at the discretion of its members. However, this structure self-regulates as a representative of the entire Ukrainian legal profession, which it fundamentally is not, deceitfully employing the term “NATIONAL” in its name.
According to Order No. 368/5 from March 5, 2012, by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the term “national” is used in the names of institutions in the humanitarian sphere in Ukraine that acquire national status in accordance with the Presidential Decree from June 16, 1995, No. 451 “On the Status of National Institutions in Ukraine.” According to this decree, the status of a national institution in Ukraine is conferred by a Presidential Decree, which is absent from the presidential's website.
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