The Chairman of the High Council of Justice Mr. Hryhorii Usyk and the member of the High Council of Justice Ms. Inna Plakhtii participated in the International Conference on the Recovery of Ukraine (Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC2024), which was taking place on June 11-12 in Berlin.
The Chairman of the High Council of Justice spoke at the discussion panel "EU Dimension: Rule of Law, Judicial Reform and Establishment of an International Compensation Mechanism". Answering the panel moderator's question about how to make the reforms, in particular of the Constitutional Court and the judicial governance bodies, irreversible, and how Ukraine's partners in the EU and G7 can further support the implementation of the reform and sustainable changes, Mr. Hryhorii Usyk said:
«The progress made by Ukraine in ensuring the rule of law and developing the judiciary is obvious. The key bodies that must ensure the irreversibility of the judicial reform are the High Council of Justice and the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, reformed under new selection rules with the participation of international experts. The High Council of Justice is responsible for ensuring the independence of the judiciary and its accountability to the public, as well as for the formation of a highly professional and honest judiciary both through the appointment procedure and by cleansing the judiciary of dishonest judges through disciplinary proceedings».
The Chairman of the HCJ informed that a competition is currently being held with the participation of international experts to select vacant positions in the service of disciplinary inspectors. This is a new, functionally independent structural unit that will be responsible for preliminary examination of disciplinary complaints against judges and preparing conclusions on bringing judges to disciplinary responsibility.
An equally important body in ensuring the irreversibility of the judicial reform is the newly appointed High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, which is responsible for conducting a competitive selection of candidates for judicial positions under new procedures based on new procedures that emphasize merit, integrity, and professional ethics of the candidates.
«Nowadays around 2,000 judicial positions are vacant. The infusion of such a number of new highly professional and honest judges should change the face of the judiciary, ensure the successful completion of judicial reform, and make it irreversible», – Mr. Hryhorii Usyk noted.
The Chairman of the HCJ also emphasized that an equally important body in ensuring the rule of law and further developing democracy in Ukraine is the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, whose reform began with the implementation of a new competitive procedure for selecting judges involving the Advisory Group of Experts, which included reputable international experts delegated by our international partners.
«Hryhorii Usyk emphasized that it is the activity of these key bodies that should ensure the irreversibility of the judicial reform».
Successful implementation of the judicial reform depends not only on its legislative and organizational support, but also on the people who will bring it to life and on financial and material-technical support.
Mr. Usyk reported that currently the financial support of the judiciary is 60% of what is needed. Under the martial law, the Government of Ukraine cannot fully provide the judiciary with all necessary resources.
The material and technical base, in particular, computer equipment, video conferencing facilities, is morally outdated and 80% physically worn out, especially in the courts of first instance and appellate courts. Taking this opportunity, the Chairman of the HCJ called on international partners and their governments to allocate part of the financial aid provided to Ukraine specifically for ensuring the administration of justice.
"The visit was supported by the EU Project "Pravo-Justice III".
Ms. Věra Jourová, the Vice-President of the European Commission took part in the discussion panel as well as the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Ms. Marija Pejčinović Burić, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Ms. Iryna Mudra, Parliamentary State Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Justice of Germany Mr. Benjamin Strasser, representative of the Center of Policy and Legal Reform Ms. Viktoria Melnyk, and the Chairman of the USAID Program " New Justice" Mr. David Vaughn. The panel was moderated by Mr. Wilfried Jilge, Senior Advisor for Ukraine and the Black Sea Region at the Integrated Response Center for Ukraine (Stabilization Platform, Berlin).