On 6 October 2023, Maciej Janczak, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine met with Roman Ihnatov, the Chairman, and Ruslan Sydorovych, the Deputy Chairman of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine.
Mr. Ihnatov congratulated Mr. Janczak on his appointment as Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine. He described the current state of affairs of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, its priorities, needs and immediate plans. In addition, Mr Ihnatov highlighted that on 31 August 2023 the first meeting of the Public Council of Integrity took place and mentioned that this body will assist in establishing the compliance of a judge (candidate for the post of judge) with the criteria of professional ethics and integrity for the purposes of qualification assessment, which will allow replenishing the body of judges on the basis of objectivity and integrity.
Mr. Janczak expressed his gratitude for a welcome and admiration for the resilience and commitments of Ukrainian citizens throughout challenges brought by the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. He also congratulated the Chairman and Deputy Chairman the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine with recent formation of the Commission.
Mr. Janczak highlighted that filling the huge number of judiciary vacancies is one of the priorities in order to ensure justice for the victims of the Russian’s aggression and the right to access to court in line with the CoE standards. He underlined that it is important that duties of the Commission are fulfilled in line with the standards as its functioning has a general effect on the right to have efficient access to court on the one hand and can be supervised by the Strasbourg Court under the individual complaint on the other hand.
Mr. Janczak assured that the Council of Europe is ready to support the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine in implementation of the Council of Europe standards and reforms for Ukraine to become a member of the European Union.
