On 23 November 2018, the First Annual Forum “Execution of judgments of national courts in Ukraine” took place in Kyiv, Ukraine. It was jointly organised by the All-Ukrainian non-governmental organisation “Ukrainian Bar Association” 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 event was attended by representatives of the legislative, executive and judicial branches of power of Ukraine, by representatives of civil society and international organisations, as well as by practicing lawyers and academia.

The Forum aimed at establishing a platform for discussion of the state of execution by Ukraine of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) “Yuriy Nikolayevich Ivanov v. Ukraine” and “Burmych and others v. Ukraine”, and at identification of priority measures that are to be implemented within the next year.  

During the event, representatives of the Department for the Execution of Judgments of the ECtHR – Ms Clare Brown, Head of Section, and Ms Yulia Gendlina, Lawyer – presented draft Memorandum on the execution of the group of cases in question. This draft Memorandum will be examined by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe at its 1331^st meeting on 4 – 6 December 2018.

International Council of Europe experts - Mr Mathieu Chardon, Secretary General of the International Union of Judicial Officers, and Mr Lilian Apostol, expert in the execution of ECtHR judgments – presented their reports with the relevant conclusions and recommendations on the enforcement of national judgments in Ukraine. Experts’ reports are available at the links:

Report on a mission to Ukraine for bilateral consultations with Ukrainian authorities concerning the improvement of enforcement proceedings, by
Mr Mathieu Chardon;

Expert report following a series of expert discussions on enforcement of national judgments in Ukraine in the context of the execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights Yuriy Nikolayevich Ivanov v. Ukraine and Burmych and others v. Ukraine, by Mr Lilian Apostol.

The video from the Forum in Ukrainian is available on the YouTube channel of the All-Ukrainian non-governmental organisation “Ukrainian Bar Association” at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keVQO-dwUmM&t=12s.

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. 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 cooperation between the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights.

The Council of Europe project “Support to the implementation of the judicial reform in Ukraine” is tasked with providing assistance to Ukrainian authorities in completion of the judicial reform and in implementation of the newly-adopted legislation with the aim to ensure independence, fairness and effectiveness of the judiciary, in line with standards and recommendations of the Council of Europe.

Both of the above-said projects are being implemented by the Justice and Legal Co-operation Department of the Council of Europe.

WEB LINKS TO THE EVENT

https://uba.ua/ukr/news/6086/ - All-Ukrainian non-governmental organisation “Ukrainian Bar Association”