Supreme Court President: Courts need human resources to cope with such a workload

During 2023, courts of all jurisdictions and instances considered a total of 4.3 million proceedings. The trend towards an increase in the workload of the courts continues, while the number of judges is clearly not commensurate with such volumes of cases.

Undoubtedly, this is not a normal situation, but rather a struggle for survival to ensure the stability of the situation. But amid challenges, such as the urgent need for proper staffing, legislative and financial support for the work of the courts, the judicial system still manages to organise and ensure the administration of justice in the current environment.

This was stated by Stanislav Kravchenko, President of the Supreme Court, during an open interview at the XII International Judicial and Legal Forum organised by the Yurydychna Praktyka Publishing House.

"The staff shortage is undoubtedly the number one issue that arose even before the full-scale war. You can have high-quality legislation, develop progressive practice, study the judgments of the ECHR, the EU Court of Justice and the practice of the Hague Tribunal, but to be able to cope with such a workload, you need human resources. We simply cannot remain silent about this, because under such circumstances, the day may potentially come when the courts will not be able to perform their function. In addition, the problem with staffing has a decisive impact on the timeframe for consideration of cases. Meanwhile, the excessive duration of proceedings is one of the key systemic problems pointed out by the ECHR in its judgments in cases against Ukraine," the SC President said.

At the same time, Stanislav Kravchenko noted that a positive development in this regard is the resumption of the work of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine and the launch of competitive selection procedures as a result of the appointment of 114 judges to local courts by the decrees of the President of Ukraine in May this year. However, the number of appointed judges is currently significantly lower than the number of judges dismissed in 2023-2024. Therefore, the work to fill vacancies in the courts should be intensified.

In the interview, the SC President also focused on the development of e-justice in Ukraine, noting that information technology had been widely used long before the outbreak of full-scale war, and this had greatly simplified the work of the courts.

"We are grateful to the Parliament for taking this issue into consideration. After the introduction of martial law, legislative changes were adopted that allowed for the expansion of the use of electronic means in the work of the courts. The fact that the judicial system managed to cope with the challenges caused by the war and maintain the situation was made possible, in particular, thanks to these resources," Stanislav Kravchenko emphasised.

The President of the Supreme Court also drew attention to the fact that today the main efforts of the judicial system are aimed at ensuring judicial control at the stage of pre-trial investigation of war crimes, of which more than 133 thousand have been registered. More than a million court decisions made in 2023 were rendered by investigating judges.  

Approximately two thousand criminal proceedings on war crimes have already been submitted to the courts, and the vast majority of them involved civil claims for compensation for damage caused by criminal offences committed by the Russian military. In addition, an increasing number of citizens are filing lawsuits for compensation for damages caused by the war.

"It is possible to render a judgment to recover damages from the Russian Federation at the national level, but we must also think about how these decisions will be enforced. Obviously, these issues should be resolved at the international level. These processes are not standing still. An extremely important decision has already been made to create the Register of Damage, and the issue of how it will be filled and used, and the establishment of a commission to determine the amount of compensation in each case, must be resolved. We see some successes on this path, but it is obvious that it will be a long one," the SC President stated.