Incorporation of the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights into tasks for qualification assessment of judges in Ukraine
On 26 September 2016 a round table “Incorporation of the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights into tasks for qualification assessment of judges in Ukraine”, organized by the Council of Europe “Support to the implementation of the judicial reform in Ukraine” was held.
During the two sessions the representatives of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, High Specialized Court for Civil and Criminal Cases, High Administrative Court of Ukraine, High Commercial Court of Ukraine, Council of Judges of Ukraine, National School of Judges of Ukraine, State Judicial Administration of Ukraine, NGOs and experts of the Council of Europe discussed the tasks for the qualification assessment of judges of different court instances in Ukraine and incorporation of ECHR case-law to the tasks.
The event was organized to discuss the process of preparing tasks for qualification assessment of judges in Ukraine, the methodology for developing the tasks, the ways of incorporating the ECHR case-law to the task for qualification assessment of judges and to inform the state authorities about the Council of Europe standards and European practice regarding qualification assessment of judges.
The event was started with the opening remarks of the Chairman of the High Specialized Court for Civil and Criminal Cases Mr. Borys Hulko, Chairman of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine Mr. Sergii Koziakov, Judge of the Supreme Court of Ukraine Mrs. Halyna Kanyhina, Rector of the National School of Judges of Ukraine Mr. Volodymyr Mazurok and Manager of the Council of Europe Project “Support to the implementation of the judicial reform in Ukraine” Mr. Andrii Kavakin.
In his speech Mr. Sergii Koziakov stressed on importance of qualification assessment procedures of judges for of the judicial system of Ukraine.
He also told that the main objective, currently placed before the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine is a competition to the new Supreme Court. At present the Commission actively works on preparations to development of practical and multiple-choice questions for the competition to the Supreme Court.
In the first part of the debate Mr Taras Neshyk, Director of the Professional Qualification of Judges and Judicial Candidates Department of the Commission Secretariat described the task of the Commission in respect of preparation the questions for qualification assessment of judges.
He noted that the Commission is getting ready to the competition to the Supreme Court under the Law of Ukraine “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges” with taking to account the international experience, relevant standards of independence and accountability of the judiciary.
Talking about the questions for qualification assessment of judges,
Mr Neshyk drew attention of participants to the already developed draft Program for exam within the competition to the Supreme Court, noting that it contains the potential topics for the multiple-choice questions that will have to be solved by the candidate of respective court in the future.
The participants also had the opportunity to learn the experience of Croatia in qualification assessment of candidates for judges and Council of Europe standards for evaluating judges.
In addition, during the event, the participants discussed the role and tasks of the National School of Judges of Ukraine within holding the qualification assessment of judges, methodological approaches to creating tasks for anonymous testing and developing practical questions in the context of the ECHR case-law, and the task for the qualification assessment of judges in terms of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
Reference:
The Project “Support to the implementation of the judicial reform in Ukraine” is supported through the financial contribution of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and is a continuation of work of the Council of Europe on reforming the judicial system of Ukraine. It aims to ensure further approximation of Ukrainian judicial system to the standards and recommendations of the Council of Europe.
