Council of Europe has presented the new Project “Supporting Ukraine in execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights”
On 19 April 2018, the representatives of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine participated in the official launching of the Council of Europe Project “Supporting Ukraine in execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights”.
Ms. Lilit Daneghian, Head of the Justice Sector Reform Unit of the Justice and Legal Cooperation Department of the Council of Europe, Mr. Sergii Koziakov, Chairman of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, Mr. Ivan Lishchyna, Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine – Commissioner for the European Court of Human Rights, Mr. Vsevolod Kniazev, Secretary of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court, Mr. Ruslan Sydorovych, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Enforcement of European Court of Human Rights Judgments of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Legal Policy and Justice, and Mr. Kostyantyn Krasovsky, Chief of the Main Department on the Legal Policy of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine, Secretary of the Judicial Reform Council, delivered their welcome addresses.
During his speech, Mr. Sergii Koziakov stated that there was a significant increase in the level of judges’ awareness of the European Court of Human Rights practice being observed in the course of personnel procedures. “For example, during the qualification assessment for the compliance with the occupied position with regard to 999 judges, about 80% of written works verified by the Commission contained references to the ECHR judgments”, the Chairman of the Commission noted.
Mr. Sergii Koziakov also thanked the Council of Europe representatives for fruitful cooperation over the last few years and assured that within its mandate the HQCJ would continue urging judges to apply the ECHR practice.
At the same time, Ms. Inna Liniova, “Supporting Ukraine in execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights” Project Officer, told participants about the main objectives of the Project, namely: 1) to support Ukraine in further implementation of the Council of Europe standards on organization and functioning of the judiciary so as to provide for a better judicial independence, in line with the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights “Oleksandr Volkov v. Ukraine” and the “Salov v. Ukraine” group of judgments; 2) to support the Ukrainian authorities in installing an effective system of remedies from alleged violations of the European Convention on Human Rights, in particular from non-enforcement of domestic judgments and from lengthy judicial proceedings; 3) to support the Supreme Court in ensuring full, through and effective reopening of the judicial proceedings following judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (cases “Bochan v. Ukraine (no. 2)”, “Yaremenko v. Ukraine (no. 2)” and “Shabelnik v. Ukraine (no. 2)”).
The participants also discussed the European Court of Human Rights practice in the context of independence and accountability of judges as the fundamental principles of the judicial system.
In addition, during the meeting the participants outlined the main activity priorities and the expected results of the Project implementation.
Representatives of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, judges and Supreme Court representatives, members and representatives of the High Council of Justice, the Presidential Administration of Ukraine, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, higher education establishments, international and public organizations, as well as Council of Europe representatives and experts participated in the solemn launching of the Project.
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The Council of Europe Project “Supporting Ukraine in execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights” is funded by the Human Rights Trust Fund. The objective of the Project is to support Ukraine in the improvement of its national system of execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights that involve violations of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, where the root cause is an issue within the judiciary.
