Hryhorii Usyk, the Chairman the HCJ, led a delegation of heads of the justice system authorities, which on April 5-6, 2023 was on a working visit to Ivano-Frankivsk region within the framework of the implementation of Model Courts Initiative of the European Union Project Pravo-Justice.
On the first day, there were visited the Dolynsky and Tlumatskyi district courts of Ivano-Frankivsk region, which are participants in the implementation of Model Courts Initiative, as well as the Ivano-Frankivsk local court and court of appeal. The chairpersons of these courts and heads of apparatuses presented their developments on improving the system of organizing the work of courts that should meet the best international standards of efficiency and convenience, improve the safety of judges, court employees and court visitors. After the presentation, working meetings and communication with the teams of these courts took place.
On the second day of the visit, representatives of the delegation took part in the conference “Court Administration Capacity: from European Experience to Ukrainian Implementation”.
In his welcoming speech, Hryhorii Usyk, the Chairman of the HCJ, in particular, noted that full-scale hostilities on the territory of Ukraine and the introduction of martial law had a significant impact on all spheres of public life, including the administration of justice.
The legislative and judicial authorities early responded to such challenges so that citizens could exercise their right to access to justice in the new conditions, as well as to prevent threats to the life and health of trial participants, judges, and court employees.
Part of the courts of Ukraine suspended their activities due to active hostilities and temporary occupation of certain territories, but the uninterrupted functioning of the judicial system was provided by changing the territorial jurisdiction of cases according to the relevant amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges”, as well as by temporary secondment of judges to administer justice in court, which was determined to the new territorial jurisdiction of cases.
As a result of the military aggression of the russian federation, missile and artillery shelling, 104 judicial institutions were subjected to damage of varying extent – up to complete destruction and theft of property, of which 98 are courts. According to preliminary estimates, approximately over 1.8 billion hryvnias are needed for their restoration.
The Chairman of the HCJ thanked the European Union Project Pravo-Justice, which, among other areas of assistance to the judicial system of Ukraine, launched Model Courts Initiative in 2018, aimed at implementing a number of model solutions in the field of judicial administration, in particular, increasing the client-orientation of courts, ensuring proper security of judges, staff and court visitors, as well as improvement of work processes in courts.
The team of international and national experts of the Project, together with representatives of the High Council of Justice, the Council of Judges of Ukraine, the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine, the legal community and the public, developed the Model Courts Handbook with methodological recommendations on the rational use of space, proper equipment of premises, a human-centric approach, application of new technologies, proper management, maintenance and security of premises.
As the key international expert of the EU Project Pravo-Justice Anna Adamska-Gallant noted, the third phase Model Courts Initiative implementation is now starting. She recalled that six courts took part in the first phase, 70 more courts joined the second, and several more courts applied to participate in the third phase. So, in total, 90 Ukrainian courts are participants in the Initiative.
The Chairman of the HCJ expressed his gratitude to the entire Project team and experts for many years of methodological, practical assistance, support for the judiciary in striving to improve the work, as well as for the opportunity to personally get acquainted with the work of the courts. He noted that during the visit, he had the opportunity to see by taking the example of the work of four courts of Ivano-Frankivsk region how proactive and motivated judges and court employees are in an effort to improve the quality of work. According to him, these meetings with the teams of courts are important, because the HCJ strives to be open and understandable in its activities both for society and for judges and court employees.
At the same time, he noted that in addition to openness and the striving to improve the organization of the work of courts, there are of great importance for increasing the confidence of citizens the judicial decisions, which should be motivated, based on the principles of legality and justice. This is an extremely important component of the public's perception of the judicial system, and should be the main focus of the judiciary.
The Chairman of the HCJ also drew attention to the fact that in addition to the challenges of the war, the judiciary is faced with a blatant shortage of judicial staff, which causes an extra heavy burden on judges and personnel of courts. There is a high staff turnover. In early May, the HCJ plans to conduct interviews with candidates for the position of a member of the HQCJU in order to form the authorized composition of this body as soon as possible, which will provide an opportunity to fill the vacant positions of judges.
The delegation included: Chairman of the HCJ Hryhorii Usyk, judge of the Supreme Court, Head of the Ethics Council Lev Kyshakevych, Head of the State Judicial Administration Oleksii Salnikov, representative of the National School of Judges of Ukraine Ivan Balaklytskyi, Viktor Moroz, and Acting Head of the Court Security Service. The event was also attended by the Head of the territorial branch of the SJA in Ivano-Frankivsk region Oksana Rybak, the Head of the territorial branch of the CSS in Ivano-Frankivsk region Andrii Malanii and others.
The EU Project Pravo-Justice side was presented by – key international expert Anna Adamska-Gallant, international experts (Lithuania) Živile Navickaite-Babkin and Rada Moliene, experts Volodymyr Chaban, Olha Sribniak, Yevhenia Bondarenko and Serhii Horovenko.
Photo credit: EU Project Pravo-Justice