Ukranian Officials Visit IPS Today

March 23, 2012

Five Ukrainian legal officials will visit IPS today. The officials are in Gainesville experiencing American democracy and the legal system in action through the Library of Congress' "Open World" program. Managed by the independent Open World Leadership Center at the Library of Congress, Open World enables emerging Eurasian political and civic leaders to work with their U.S. counterparts and experience American-style democracy at the local level.

While in Gainesville, the group will also meet with federal and state judges, the state attorney, the public defender, law students and professors, the mayor and the city attorney. They will observe court proceedings, tour the Alachua County jail, the Gainesville Police Department and the North Florida Evaluation and Treatment Center. They will also learn how law enforcement officers are trained at the Institute of Public Safety.

The visiting delegates are:

Oleksandr Mykhaylovych Drozdov

• Associate Professor, Yaroslav the Wise National Law Academy of Ukraine

• Founder, Community organization "Slobozhanshchyna Law Fund"

Dmytro Oleksandrovych Filipenko

• Informational Analyst, Institute of International Affairs of Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University

Pavlo Serhiyovych Lutsyuk

• Chair, Rivne Region Attorney Disciplinary & Qualifications Commission

Yana Mykhaylivna Masharova

• Chief specialist, Central Office of State Judicial Administration of Ukraine

Inna Vladyslavivna Rafalska

• Chair, Attorney Disciplinary & Qualifications Commission, Kyiv City

• Head, All-Ukrainian NGO "Council of Lawyers of Ukraine"

Nataliya Mazur accompanies them as a facilitator

Homestays will allow the delegates to experience American family life. They will also take part in cultural and community activities, and visit a state park and Disney World.

The Open World Leadership Center has awarded a grant to FHI 360 to administer this and similar exchanges in 2012.

The Open World Program is a unique, nonpartisan initiative of the U.S. Congress designed to build mutual understanding between the United States, Eurasia and Canada. More than 16,000 Open World participants have been hosted in all 50 U.S. states since the program's inception in 1999. Gainesville has hosted 16 previous groups. Delegates range from members of parliament to mayors, from innovative nonprofit directors to experienced journalists, and from political party activists to regional administrators, as well as judges, law professors and lawyers.

The group is being hosted locally by Sister City Program of Gainesville, Inc. (www.gnvsistercities.org).

For more information, contact Steve Kalishman, Sister City Program of Gainesville, Inc., at 352-494-0246.