SC Civil Cassation Court Judge Pavlo Parkhomenko co-authors and trains prosecutors in juvenile justice programme

The Council of Europe project “Protecting the Rights of Ukrainian Children and Ensuring Child-Friendly Justice” in co-operation with the Office of the Prosecutor General and the Prosecutors Training Centre of Ukraine have launched the training programme for juvenile prosecutors “Professional Development Programme for Juvenile Prosecutors: Strategies for Conducting Criminal Proceedings Involving Children”. The first training sessions took place on 7–9 September 2026 in Kyiv. One of the co-authors and trainers of the programme was Judge of the Supreme Court in the Civil Cassation Court Pavlo Parkhomenko.

As noted by the Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, Hilde Haug, the aim of this training is to bridge the gap between international standards and their practical application. The relevance of the event lies in supporting Ukrainian prosecutors in making well-founded decisions oriented towards the best interests of the child, and in enabling them to perform their procedural role effectively by acquiring new knowledge and skills aimed at introducing child-friendly procedures and practices, based on specific scenarios, including under martial law.

The training programme, which consists of four modules, involves prosecutors from five regions of Ukraine (Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Poltava, Lviv and Kirovohrad). The training will last for 16 days in a hybrid format.

It is expected that the training will contribute to the development of prosecutors’ professional competences in the field of strategic planning, preparation for and participation in criminal proceedings involving children, taking into account the individual needs and best interests of the child, the procedural tasks of the prosecutor, work with evidence, risk management and effective inter-agency co-operation.

As emphasised by the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, the war has created new challenges in the field of child-friendly justice. It is therefore important for prosecutors to undergo appropriate training on how to respond to these challenges related to interaction with children in the justice system.

The Council of Europe project “Protecting the Rights of Ukrainian Children and Ensuring Child-Friendly Justice” is being implemented by the Council of Europe within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” for 2023–2026.