Representatives of the Commission met with representatives of the UN Women in Ukraine
On 02 April 2018, the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine hosted the working meeting of the Commission’s representatives with Ms. Eileen Skinnider, Senior Associate of the International Center for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy, International Consultant of the UN Women in Ukraine, and Mr. Andrii Vyshnevsky, National Consultant of the UN Women in Ukraine.
At the meeting the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine was represented by Mr. Sergii Koziakov, Commission’s Chairman, Ms. Tetiana Shylova, member of the Qualification Chamber, Ms. Anastasiia Zaritska, member of the Chamber for Selection and Public Service of Judges, and Ms. Olena Ponomarenko, Head of the Secretariat.
The purpose of the visit of the international consultant on gender policy and human rights was to evaluate the possibilities and potential of the judicial system in promoting and protecting women’s rights in Ukraine and the execution of the Concluding Observations on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination against Women and other international human rights treaties.
The meeting was devoted to the discussion of possible areas of cooperation between the Commission and the UN Women in Ukraine in the framework of the implementation of international norms in the field of women’s rights protection. In particular, experts were interested in how the Commission was gender-sensitive in the exercise of its powers.
The Chairman of the HQCJ informed the international experts about the Commission’s main functions and procedures and provided statistical data on the gender balance among the members of the Commission and the staff of the secretariat: 12 men and 4 women were in the composition of the Commission, and 54 men and 175 women were in the Commission’s secretariat.
They also talked about gender equality among judges of the new Supreme Court. So, in its new composition, there are 64 men and 52 women. “For the first time in the history of Ukraine, a woman has been elected as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court”, – emphasized Mr. Sergii Koziakov.
Ms. Tatiana Shylova, the member of the Commission, told about the rights equality in the selection of candidates for the position of a local court judge. “More than 5,000 people took part in the selection announced by the Commission in April 2017. Among them there were 2162 men and 3176 women”, – Ms. Tatiana Shylova said.
Ms. Anastasiia Zaritska, the member of the Commission, shared her more than forty years of experience in the judiciary. “The fact that I am a woman has never influenced neither my salary nor my career growth, or anything. I think a lot of women can say the same thing. They are proud to be women”, – concluded Ms. Anastasiia Zaritska.
Representatives of the Commission and UN Women in Ukraine agreed on cooperation to ensure the development of gender equality policy within the framework of the Commission’s procedures.
