The President of the Supreme Court Valentyna Danishevska Discussed with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe the Prospects and Challenges of Judicial Reform

On September 9–10, 2021, the President of the Supreme Court Valentyna Danishevska is on a working visit to the city of Strasbourg at the invitation of the President of the European Court of Human Rights Robert Spano. The visit was organized by the Council of Europe Project "Support for judicial institutions and processes to strengthen access to justice in Ukraine".

The program of the working visit includes meetings with representatives of the Council of Europe, the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission), and the European Court of Human Rights.

The President of the Supreme Court Valentyna Danishevska and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Marija Pejčinović Burić discussed the problems and prospects for further reform of the judicial system during a meeting on 9 September. The meeting was also joined by the Director General of Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe Christos Giacoumopoulos and the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the Council of Europe Borys Tarasiuk.

Marija Pejčinović Burić emphasized the key role of the Supreme Court in the implementation of important reforms of the judicial system and strengthening the independence of the judiciary.

Valentyna Danishevska thanked the Council of Europe and personally Marija Pejčinović Burić and Christos Giacoumopoulos, the Council of Europe projects for their attention to the development of Ukraine's judicial system.

Now the judiciary of Ukraine is faced with new challenges: a shortage of more than 2 thousand judges, which affects the duration of case consideration, insufficient funding for the needs of the judiciary for the second year in a row, and the need to defend the institutional independence of judicial administration bodies. 

On the same day, the President of the Supreme Court held a working meeting with representatives of the Directorate General for Human Rights and the Rule of Law of the Council of Europe. In particular, the meeting was attended by Director General Christos Giacoumopoulos, the Director of the Human Rights Directorate Christophe Poirel, the Head of the Department for the Implementation of Human Rights, Justice and Legal Cooperation Standards Mikhail Lobov, the Deputy Head of the Division for Cooperation Programs Lilit Daneghian, the Project Coordinator of the Division Andriy Kavakin and the Head of the Division of International and Legal Cooperation of the Supreme Court Lina Hubar.

Christos Giacoumopoulos outlined the areas of organization of the judiciary and exemplary selection of judges for the Supreme Court, in which the Council of Europe and Ukraine had achieved joint progress, and endorsed the results of judicial reform, which had started back in 2014.

According to him, the Council of Europe relies on the Supreme Court to apply the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. Christos Giacoumopoulos also reminded of a number of key judgments, including "Burmych and others v. Ukraine". Ukraine should make efforts to comply with all judgments of the European judicial institution.

"The Supreme Court has been, is and will be a supporter of all the positive changes that make it possible to improve the system of organization of the judiciary. We are taking new approaches to the development of judicial administration bodies. While the procedure for the formation of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine does not raise any particular questions from the judicial system, the situation with the updated legislation on the High Council of Justice (HCJ) is somewhat more complicated,” said Valentyna Danishevska. She explained to the European partners the shortcomings of the updated legislation and shared possible ways to overcome the flaws.

The President of the Supreme Court stressed that the HCJ was a constitutional body, and when amending the legislation governing the activities of the body, it was extremely important to adhere to the Constitution of Ukraine.

Valentyna Danishevska also noted that the demand for judicial services was growing. According to statistics, last year, 4 million cases and materials were considered by the judicial system, it is projected that this year, given the results of the first half of 2021, this figure will be about 5 million. The Supreme Court annually considers about 90 thousand cases and materials. The introduction of cassation filters did not significantly affect the workload of the Supreme Court, because, by law, the refusal to open cassation proceedings must be thoroughly grounded – the preparation of such decisions also requires some time. However, cassation filters have made it possible to consider fewer cases on the merits.

The European partners expressed their willingness to support Ukraine in implementing international practices and standards for the proper protection of human rights, strengthening the rule of law and ensuring the right of everyone to a fair trial.