On 24 June 2020 the Council of Europe Project “Further Support for the Execution by Ukraine of Judgments in Respect of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights” (the Project) and the High Council of Justice jointly organised and held the first public discussion of the Annual report of the High Council of Justice for 2019 “On Ensuring the Independence of the Judiciary in Ukraine”.
The event was attended by judges and representatives of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, the Supreme Court, courts of the first instance and appellate courts of Kyiv; members and representatives of the High Council of Justice, the Council of Judges of Ukraine, the National School of Judges of Ukraine, the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine and the Judicial Protection Service; representatives of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine; representatives of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine; representatives of law-enforcement agencies, civil society and international organisations; representatives and experts of the Council of Europe.
The purpose of the event was to present and discuss the Annual report of the High Council of Justice for 2019 “On Ensuring the Independence of the Judiciary in Ukraine” as well as the expert opinions related to it, share views on strengthening independence and impartiality of the judiciary in Ukraine in the context of standards and recommendations of the Council of Europe and discuss the execution by Ukraine of the judgements of the European Court of Human Rights in the Oleksandr Volkov group of cases.
In her opening remarks, Hanne Juncher, Head of Department of Justice and Legal Co-operation of the Council of Europe (the Department), noted that this event was dedicated to discussing the strategic document which reflected the actual state of affairs of the judiciary and analysed the main problems related to the functioning of the system of justice in Ukraine. For the third consecutive year, the Department supports Ukraine in developing and analysing Annual reports by the High Council of Justice in compliance with the requirements set out in the Opinion no. 10(2007) of the Consultative Council of European Judges (CCJE) on the Council for the Judiciary at the service of society. Furthermore, these documents are seen as an instrument of supervision of the execution by Ukraine of the judgements of the European Court of Human Rights in the Oleksandr Volkov group of cases.
Olena Lytvynenko, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, stated that the Annual report of the High Council of Justice for 2019 was an effective and viable mechanism to protect the independence of judges. This document highlights the key problematic issues which reflect the measure of interference with judges and serves as an indicator of the extent to which the independence of judges is subject to infringement attempts.
Andrii Ovsiienko, the Chair of the High Council of Justice, stressed that the Annual report of the High Council of Justice for 2019 “On Ensuring the Independence of the Judiciary in Ukraine” was not only the formal event required by law but functioned as the comprehensive universal instrument which included elements related to information, analytics and monitoring. In particular, this Report devotes considerable attention to the legislative regulation of the independence of judges and those novelties intended to change the key organisational principles of the Ukrainian judiciary.
Valentyna Danishevska, the President of the Supreme Court, noted that the Report of the High Council of Justice raised, at a systemic level, the awareness of the challenges that the judiciary faced and made it possible to identify whether there were progressive changes in overcoming systemic problems, as well as to outline plans for the future. The President of the Supreme Court also highlighted main threats to independence that emerged in 2019, in particular, lack of personnel in courts due to putting an end to the operation of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, excessive workload of judges and financial shortages. The majority of these challenges continue to affect the judiciary, seriously damaging the credibility of judicial bodies.
Pavlo Pushkar, Head of Division at the Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights of the Council of Europe, underlined in his intervention that the principles of separation of powers, irremovability of judges and guarantees for the security of their tenure are indispensable standards of the independence of the judiciary. These principles are also mandatory requirements established in the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. “Such structural principles protect judges from threats resulting from fluidity and fluctuations inherent to political power, namely, in terms of criticism of judicial decisions and administration of justice, and they provide that such actions be taken exclusively within the legal framework and based on the principles of the rule of law. Pavlo Pushkar also emphasised that constant changes in the legal framework within which the judiciary existed, could provoke threats to the independence of justice administration. In particular, the shortage of judges in courts and the growing workload of the judiciary are, as of today, the main negative consequences of permanent unstructured changes that lack necessary safeguards. In summary, Pavlo Pushkar pointed out that the independence of judges is beneficial for the society in whole, protects individuals, strengthens opportunities to exercise one’s rights and paves the way to the renewal of trust in the judiciary.
Diana Kovacheva, the international expert of the Council of Europe, and Iryna Kushnir, the national CoE expert, presented at the event their opinions on compliance of the Annual report of the High Council of Justice for 2019 with the Council of Europe standards. The experts also provided recommendations as to measures to be taken to enhance the independence and impartiality of the judicial bodies. Following the discussion, its participants supported, among the articulated proposals, the idea expressed by Iryna Kushnir, the national expert, that the problematic issues related to the independence of judges should be discussed at the highest political level.
The Council of Europe project “Further support for the execution by Ukraine of judgments in respect of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights” is funded by the Human Rights Trust Fund. The overall objective of the Project is to support Ukraine in providing accessible, full and effective justice through the execution of judgments in which violations of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights are established. The Project is focused on the following areas: the resolution of problems related to non-execution of judgments of national courts; introduction of effective remedies against excessively lengthy judicial proceedings; ensuring the independence of the judiciary and enhancing the access to justice; providing support to building effective procedures for the interaction between the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights.
This Council of Europe Project is implemented in Ukraine by the Justice and Legal Co-operation Department of the Council of Europe.
WEB LINKS TO THE EVENT
https://supreme.court.gov.ua/supreme/pres-centr/news/960860/
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