The Supreme Court and UNDP discussed potential areas of cooperation to enhance access to justice at the local level

The President of the Supreme Court Stanislav Kravchenko met with a delegation of the United Nations Development Programme led by UNDP Acting Programme Manager Federica Dispenza, who provided information on the key areas of the Programme's work in Ukraine and spoke about the initiatives being implemented in the area of access to justice.

Stanislav Kravchenko noted the Supreme Court's long-standing and effective cooperation with UNDP, noting that identifying, understanding and then addressing the problems faced by local courts is a key factor in building the institutional capacity of the judiciary, and therefore the programme's work on the ground is extremely important.

The President of the Supreme Court also outlined a number of issues that need to be addressed in order for the entire judicial system to function effectively. These include filling vacant positions in the courts and digitising the judicial process.

In addition, the participants of the meeting discussed the further development of the partnership aimed at increasing confidence in the courts, involving young people in state-building processes and establishing interaction with students through educational activities and the introduction of internship programmes in the courts.

In this regard, the President of the Supreme Court noted that in June this year, the Supreme Court presented the concept of cooperation with higher legal education institutions and signed memoranda of cooperation with leading universities. The main objectives of such cooperation include the formation of a modern legal outlook of future lawyers, mutual exchange of knowledge between representatives of the judiciary and law schools, formation of a potential personnel reserve for the Supreme Court, and increasing confidence in the judiciary and strengthening its authority.

The meeting was attended by UNDP Community Security and Social Cohesion Coordinator Roman Khashchenkov, Rule of Law and Access to Justice Consultant Ivan Honcharuk, and Rule of Law and Access to Justice Analyst Iryna Lehka, Head of Youth Engagement and Volunteers of the Community Security and Social Cohesion Team Dmytro Tomenko, President of the Criminal Cassation Court of the Supreme Court Oleksandr Marchuk, Supreme Court judges of the CrimCC Viacheslav Marynych and Svitlana Yakovlieva, and Head of the Division for International Cooperation of the Supreme Court Lina Hubar.