The SC President Met with the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine

On 22 March the President of the Supreme Court Valentyna Danishevska discussed the spheres of further cooperation with the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, Ambassador Henrik Villadsen.

The SC President congratulated Henrik Villadsen on his appointment to the position and remarked that the SC appreciated the mission of the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, since then, when our state had started European integration process and had held reforms in many spheres, the cooperation with international partners had great significance.

Valentyna Danishevska thanked the international partners, particularly, for their assistance regarding the improvement of case law in the sphere of human rights protection and the elaboration of the SC communication strategy. The SC President underlined that gaining society’s confidence was the main goal of the judicial power, and the effective communication with public, mass-media and legal society would assist to achieve that goal.

Valentyna Danishevska emphasized that the new stage of the judicial reform, which was the most complicated and, at the same time, the most important one, was represented by the change of consciousness and attitude to the processes in our country. Herewith, both judges and society should change. Thus, the assistance of international partners, particularly regarding the professional development of judges, was gaining significant importance, and it was important for the SC representatives to communicate with foreign colleagues, the ECHR judges and experts.

The SC President thanked the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine for his support to the SC judges within the event “Overview of Key Reforms in Ukraine: Decentralization and Judicial Reform”, which had taken place in the OSCE Headquarters (Vienna) in March 2019, and for holding regional expert forums. She noted with appreciation the constructive cooperation with the Senior Project Officer of the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine Jeffrey Erlich, the National Legal Adviser of the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine Oleksandr Vodiannikov, the National Manager of the Programme for the Rule of Law and Human Rights of the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine Nataliia Stupnytska, who were also present at that meeting.

In return, the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine remarked that he was pleasantly surprised with the results of previous cooperation between OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine and the Supreme Court. Henrik Villadsen noted that in the future there were many opportunities to enhance such cooperation.

He expressed hope that his experience of work with judicial systems of different states would be useful for Ukraine and drew attention to the importance of taking information policy into consideration. Pursuant to Henrik Villadsen, significant changes are taking place in the short term in Ukrainian judicial system, thus, it is necessary to provide the society with clarification about the importance of each step done, the possibility of appearing particular risks and problems, as well as to talk about expected outcome of the judicial sphere reform.

At the end of the meeting, the parties discussed priority spheres of further cooperation, particularly, those regarding holding public forums, round tables, as well as concerning the participation of the SC judges in international events, their visits to courts in other countries, internship of the SC staff officials in the European Court of Human Rights.

The Head of the SC Division for International and Legal Cooperation Lina Hubar and the Project Assistant of the Programme for the Rule of Law and Human Rights Nina Reshetar also participated in the event.