Council of Europe Office in Ukraine

The project

The Council of Europe supports Ukrainian partners with expertise in further development and implementation of the reform of the judiciary. On 1 February 2016 the new project Support to the implementation of the judicial reform in Ukraine started thanks to the financial contribution of the  Government of the United Kingdom. The project will offer activities both in Kyiv and in the regions of Ukraine. The regional dimension of the project activities will include issues related to justice in the conflict-affected areas and support to a court satisfaction survey developed by the European commission for the efficiency of justice (CEPEJ).

On 5 April the new project organised the following activities to mark its official launching:

• First meeting of the Project Steering Committee took place with participation of presidents of the Supreme Court of Ukraine and the three high specialised courts, the heads of the Council of Judges of Ukraine, the High Council of Justice, the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, the National School of Judges of Ukraine; and the Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine. The participants of the Steering Committee approved the thematic areas of future project work, the format of the four project components and the tentative plan for the first six months of the project.
• Press conference on the launch of new project, with participation of Ms Hanne Juncher, Head of the Justice and Legal Co-operation Department, Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law, Council of Europe; Ms Lilit Daneghian, Head of the Justice Sector Reform Unit 1, Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law, Council of Europe; Mr Yaroslav Romaniuk, Head of the Supreme Court of Ukraine; Mr Sergiy Petukhov, Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine.
• Official project launching event, which hosted a wide range of participants from the Ukrainian judiciary, law faculties of higher educational institutions, international projects and civil society organisations. The representatives of the Council of Europe informed the participants about the aim and objectives of the new project, its activities and expected results. The event was followed by an active discussion of the project partners and other stakeholders on their involvement in and contribution to the project activities.
• Meeting of potential regional participants discussed future activities with heads of appeal courts and law professors of Ukrainian universities from Dnepropetrovsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Lutsk, Lviv, Odessa and Zaporizhya.

Ukraine and the Council of Europe

Ukraine joined the Council of Europe in 1995 and, as a member-state of the Council of Europe, it took an obligation to reform its justice system so that to safeguard the transition to the European model of the judiciary. For today this transition is still in progress and the judicial reform is recognised by the Ukrainian authorities as one of the priorities for the sustainable move on the path of the European integration.

In 2015 the law of Ukraine On Ensuring the Right to Fair Trial was adopted and this law became another step towards Ukraine’s implementation of the European standards on justice by Ukraine. During 2015 the Constitutional Commission, established by the President of Ukraine, drafted constitutional amendments for the chapters on justice. The Venice Commission gave a generally positive opinion on the new provisions of the law and the constitutional amendments, highlighting the provisions concerning issues of appointment and dismissal of judges, their accountability, powers of the revised judicial council. Now the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is expected to finally adopt the constitutional amendments, which in turn will require further changes in the legislation that regulates functioning of the judiciary.