ECHR Women Judgement Ukraine

ERIM support to Ukrainian lawyer in groundbreaking domestic violence case before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

Iryna Levchuk fought for years to evict her former husband, who had repeatedly subjected her to physical and psychological violence in front of her four children. The couple divorced in 2015 but remained living in the same flat. Ms Levchuk spent years taking her case through the national courts but lost before the Supreme Court of Ukraine which refused to force her former husband to move out of the family home, persistently putting his interests above those of her and her children.

Attorney Natalia Bukhta, represented Ms Levchuk in taking her case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg to fight the Ukrainian national courts’ decisions.

In her preparation for the case, Ms Bukhta received one-to-one mentor support and attended training in Strasbourg organized by ERIM and Ukrainian Women’s Fund. This was part of a regional women’s rights project aiming to support and promote the emerging role of women human rights defenders and those working for women’s and girls’ rights, in five Eurasian countries . One aspect of the project focused on improving lawyers understanding of international mechanisms to protect women’s and girls’ rights, including national and regional training sessions with experienced lawyers in ECtHR procedures and mentoring in writing applications and third-party interventions.

In a groundbreaking decision, the ECtHR ruled that Ms Levchuk’s husband should be evicted and that she has the right to live in safety with her children. As the first ever Ukrainian woman to win a domestic violence case before the ECtHR, this will now set a legal precedent for future cases both at national and international level. It is a remarkable victory for Ms Levchuck, Attorney Bukhta and our project. Levchuk vs Ukraine will serve as a model for further strategic cases in the fight for the protection of women’s rights.

«This is definitely a new practice for Ukraine. The case was considered not by the Committee but by the Chamber of Judges. Such procedure is provided for only in exceptional cases where the ECHR wishes to initiate a new practice or draw attention to a particular legal issue. Only a year and a half passed from the submission to the adoption of a positive decision – this is a record speed result. The applicant had been complaining to the Ukrainian law enforcement authorities about the use of domestic violence since 2010, but her efforts to protect her rights and the rights of her children had been in vain. Thanks to the support of the Ukrainian Women’s Fund, trainings in Kyiv, Strasbourg, work in Council of Europe projects, effective mentoring, we have set a precedent of protection from domestic violence, in the case when all the opportunities of remedy in our country have been exhausted. Iryna Levchuk will forever go down in the history of the European Court of Human Rights as the first Ukrainian woman who has raised the problem of domestic violence in Ukraine at the European level. I hope that the decision in the case of Levchuk v. Ukraine will help thousands of Ukrainian women who suffer from domestic violence not to keep on silent about the problem, but to seek protection, defend their rights and achieve justice»

Attorney Natalia Bukhta.