Today, at the initiative of the NGO DEJURE Foundation, a meeting of the HCJ members with representatives of judicial self-government and the public was held. The most urgent issues of the work of the HCJ and the judiciary bodies were discussed.
The purpose of the meeting was to launch a constructive dialogue, establish communication and outline possible areas of cooperation to achieve common goals – ensuring the independence of the judiciary, increasing its authority, participation of civil society representatives in improving the work of the judicial system, as well as ensuring transparency and openness in the work of the HCJ.
In particular, the following topics were discussed:
- ensuring guarantees for the independence of judges, formation of highly professional and integrity corps of judges;
- prospects for the beginning of the work of the new composition of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, development of criteria for the selection of the HQCJU members by the High Council of Justice members;
- problematic aspects of introducing the Disciplinary Inspectorate Service; the need to unify disciplinary practice of the High Council of Justice;
- improvement of the procedure for selection of judges – reduction of the number of stages and definition of clear and understandable criteria for qualification assessment;
- the need to optimize the network of courts, resumption of the work of courts in the de-occupied territories;
- resolving the issue of judges who do not administer justice due to the expiration of the five-year term for which they were elected, as well as judges of the Supreme Court of Ukraine and higher specialized courts;
- the urgent need to overcome the shortage of personnel in courts and preserve the personnel potential in the apparatus of the courts, other important matters.
The meeting participants emphasized the importance of public dialogue, development of a common vision to solve specific problems, productive cooperation in matters of improving relevant legislation and confirmed the need to continue holding such meetings.
The meeting was attended by the Chairman of the High Council of Justice Hryhorii Usyk, Deputy Chairman of the HCJ Dmytro Lukianov, members of the HCJ Tetiana Bondarenko, Serhii Burlakov, Olena Kovbii, Alla Kotelevets,Roman Maselko, Mykola Moroz, Olha Popikova, Vitalii Salikhov, Oleksandr Sasevych, the Head of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine Bohdan Monich; member of the Association for the Development of Judicial Self-Government of Ukraine Hanna Lebedieva, member of the Association of Judges of Ukraine Vadym Butenko; the Head of the Board of the DEJURE Foundation Mykhailo Zhernakov, Advocacy Manager of the DEJURE Foundation Stepan Berko.