On 27 March 2018, a round table “Execution of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in the cases of Yuriy Nikolayevich Ivanov v. Ukraine and Burmych and others v. Ukraine: required measures of a general nature” took place at the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. The event was organized by the Council of Europe project “Supporting Ukraine in execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights” jointly with the Subcommittee on the execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights of the Committee of the Verhovna Rada of Ukraine on legal Policy and Justice and the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.

The Minister of Justice of Ukraine, representatives of the Verhovna Rada of Ukraine, of the Supreme Court, other Ukrainian authorities, as well as representatives of civil society and international organisations, took part in the round table. The Council of Europe was represented by: Mr Christos Giakoumopoulos, Director General of Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe, Ms Hanne Juncher, Head of the Justice and Legal Co-operation Department, Ms Genevieve Mayer, Head of the Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights,
Ms Lilit Daneghian, Head of the Justice Sector Reform Unit 1, Justice and Legal Co-operation Department, Mr Pavlo Pushkar, Head of Division at the Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, and Mr Mathieu Chardon, Secretary General of the International Union of Judicial Officers and an international expert of the Council of Europe on enforcement of judgments.

When addressing the participants in his opening speech, Mr Giakoumopoulos has stated that over the last four years Ukraine has taken forward wide-ranging judicial reforms and the court system and the judicial institutions have been transformed towards a European model that meets the standards of the Council of Europe. The steps taken were necessary and the progress achieved is impressive. 

However, the Director General underlined that a comprehensive judicial reform process, such as the one undertaken in Ukraine, cannot be considered complete as long as the problem of non-enforcement or delayed enforcement of national judicial decisions, and the lack of remedies in such cases, is not solved.

Mr Giakoumopoulos stressed that non-enforcement of national judicial decisions represents a threat to the rule of law, undermines public trust in the judiciary and puts into question the credibility of the state. It also discourages potential foreign investors and may affect negatively the confidence of the international financial institutions. A situation like this leaves a gaping hole in the human rights protection in Ukraine. "This unprecedented situation needs to be addressed now through a holistic, multi-disciplinary and coordinated action by the Government and the Verkhovna Rada. The Council of Europe can support the work under way in Ukraine in this field, in particular the work of the Ministry of Justice… and the work of the Verkhovna Rada and its Sub-committee on the execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. It is high time to move forward on this crucial issue without delay", he concluded.

The Council of Europe project “Supporting Ukraine in execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights” is being funded by the Human Rights Trust Fund. The aim 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. 

WEB LINKS TO THE ROUND TABLE

http://rada.gov.ua/fsview/156388.html - the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine 

https://supreme.court.gov.ua/supreme/pres-centr/news/456607/ - the Supreme Court