Supporting Ukraine in the execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights

The project on supporting Ukraine in the execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights was funded by the Human Rights Trust Fund and managed by the Justice and Legal Co-Operation Department of the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law.

The project aimed to support Ukraine in the improvement of its national system of execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights that involve violations of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, where the root cause is a dysfunction within the judiciary.

For a period of 20 months (completed in August 2019) the project worked closely with the Government Agent before the European Court of Human Rights, the Parliamentary Sub-Committee on the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights and the Supreme Court.

This project provided significant contribution to the Ukrainian authorities in establishing a solid connection between the process of policy development at national level and the implementation of general measures required for the execution of the European Court of Human Rights judgments (ECtHR). With the help of the project, the relevant legislation and court practice was brought in closer and better compliance with the Council of Europe standards and recommendations. Furthermore, the most serious issues of the judiciary, including the non-execution of judgments and lengthy judicial proceedings, strengthening judicial independence and ensuring effective mechanisms of interaction with the ECtHR, were raised to the highest political level and included in the agenda of the main project beneficiaries.

With the support of the project, the root causes of the problem of non-execution of national judgments in Ukraine were identified and the draft national strategy for the execution of the general measures of the Ivanov/Burmych judgments was developed.

The Project ensured that the principles of external and internal independence of the judiciary became a part of the message that is disseminated by the High Council of Justice through its annual reports on the status of judicial independence in Ukraine, and that the system of disciplinary accountability of Ukrainian judges are in compliance with the Council of Europe requirements and standards. Moreover, the project helped to analyse new procedural legislation in the context of the problem of lengthy judicial proceedings, and provided recommendations for the introduction of the necessary remedies.

Finally, the project assisted the Supreme Court with the preparation of the procedure for the application of Protocol 16 to the European Convention on Human Rights and monitored the Supreme Court practice on re-opening of judicial proceedings following the ECtHR judgments.

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Back Civil Procedural Code of Ukraine and its impact on the length of the civil proceedings: discussion during the round table

Supporting Ukraine in execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights

Civil Procedural Code of Ukraine and its impact on the length of the civil proceedings: discussion during the round table © CoE

On 13 December 2018, a round table «The length of civil proceedings: analysis of the Civil Procedural Code of Ukraine in the context of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights» was held in Kyiv. The event was jointly organised by the Supreme Court and by Council of Europe projects “Supporting Ukraine in execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights” and “Support to the implementation of the judicial reform in Ukraine”.

The round table was attended by judges of the Supreme Court, members of the working group of the Supreme Court for the analysis of the length of judicial proceedings in Ukraine, heads and judges of appellate courts of general jurisdiction, representatives of the High Council of Justice, of the Administration of the President of Ukraine, of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, as well as by representatives and experts of the Council of Europe.

The event aimed at presenting and discussing a draft Analysis of the Civil Procedural Code of Ukraine from the point of view of its impact on the length of judicial proceedings. The Analysis in question was prepared within the Council of Europe project “Supporting Ukraine in execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights”, its objective was to answer the following questions:

which timeframes for the examination of civil cases are established by the Civil Procedural Code of Ukraine, and how these timeframes correspond with the reasonable length requirements developed in the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights;

whether the regulation of different procedural stages and of the trial proceedings in general are efficient, coherent, reasonable and in line with other Ukrainian legislation on the judiciary and the new court structure;

which institutes or instruments introduced by the Civil Procedural Code of Ukraine provide judges with the possibility to accelerate the proceedings in an individual case, or to efficiently examine repetitive cases, and others.

Mr Borys Gulko, President of the Cassation Civil Court within the Supreme Court, and Mr Rasim Babanly, Head of Department of Analytical and Legal Work of the Supreme Court and Head of the working group for the analysis of the length of judicial proceedings in Ukraine, informed the participants about courts practice in certain groups of cases within the civil proceedings, and about the relevant court statistics.

Experts and representatives of the Council of Europe - Mr Ðuro Sessa, President of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia and President of the Consultative Council of European Judges, and Mr Matteo Fiori, Legal Officer, Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights – shared good practices of member states in dealing with excessive length of civil proceedings.

Opening speeches at the round table were delivered by: Mr Regis Brillat, Special Advisor of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe for Ukraine, Ms Hanne Juncher, Head of the Justice and Legal Co-operation Department of the Council of Europe, and Mr Fredrik Sundberg, Acting Head of the Department for the execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights of the Council of Europe.

The round table became the first event dedicated to the analysis of the new procedural legislation of Ukraine and of the practice of its application from the point of view of their impact on the length of judicial proceedings. The Supreme Court and the Council of Europe project “Supporting Ukraine in execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights” will further analyse the Commercial Procedural Code of Ukraine, the Code of Administrative Justice of Ukraine, and the Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine.

The Council of Europe project “Supporting Ukraine in execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights” is financed by the Human Rights Trust Fund and implemented by the Justice and Legal Co-operation Department of the Council of Europe. The overall objective of the project is to support Ukraine in the improvement of its national system of execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights that involve violations of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, where the root cause is an issue within the judiciary. The Project is focused on the following areas: independence and disciplinary of judges, effective remedies from non-enforcement of judgments of national courts and from excessive length of judicial proceedings, and on effective mechanisms of co-operation between the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights.

WEB LINKS TO THE EVENT

Judiciary of Ukraine

High Council of Justice

Kyiv, Ukraine 13 December 2018