Representatives of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine took part in round table –discussion “Rule of law protection – the duty of a judge”
Within the frameworks of the USAID Fair Justice Project on 11 February 2016 Mr. Mykhailo Makarchuk, Member of the Disciplinary Chamber of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine took part in round table-discussion “Rule of law protection – the duty of a judge”.
In his speech Mr. Mykhailo Makarchuk stressed that as of 01 January 2016 the Commission has considered 18,000 complaints on misconduct, disciplinary offenses, judicial errors from other activities of judges. So, in his view, for the unjust court’s decisions judges should bear full responsibility and that is out of the question. In the vast majority complaints received by the Commission in 80% of all cases are not complaints about a judge, but about judicial decisions and disagreement with judges’ procedural decisions in specific cases. All this stands that confidence in the judiciary is shaped not only due to behavior of judges, but ignorance of the laws, methods of protection of rights that exist in the country and that can be used. Therefore, bringing a judge to disciplinary, criminal or other type of responsibility, generally, would not resolve the issue of confidence in the judiciary. This is a complex issue and it requires to be settled not only from the point of view of judges' responsibility. Another query is the availability within society sufficient information on the judiciary assessment, including specific judges. For today, the society appraises judiciary based on several dozens of cases, which are constantly present within the media, raised from time to time and discussed openly.
During the round table, Mr. Hans Petter Graver, professor (Oslo, Norway), judicial accountability and lustration Expert, made presentation on the topic "Is it possible to bring to criminal responsibility judges of authoritarian regimes?". Mr. Pavol Zilincik, Expert on the rule of law, judicial reform and combating corruption in Slovakia, told the participants about judicial independence, criminal and disciplinary responsibility.
The event was also attended by Mr. Markiian Halabala, PhD, Mr. Roman Kuibida, Deputy Head of the Center for Political-Judicial Reforms, who reported on interference rating factors in justice and unlawful influence on judges from the time of the Euromaidan in the light of the Articles 375-376 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
At the end of the meeting there was a lively discussion on the topic “Discussion on effective ways to strengthen judicial accountability and responsibility of judges for obviously unjust decisions” with participation of Mr. Andrii Boiko, Member of the High Council of Justice, Mr. Aleksandr Volkov, Council of Judges of Ukraine, Mrs. Olesia Bahniuk, representative of the High Specialized Court of Ukraine for Civil and Criminal Cases, Mr. Roman Maselko, representative of the Lawyers Advisory Group, Mr. Aleksandr Hashytskyi, Head of Division for Special Training of Judicial Candidates, other experts and scholars.
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The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) FAIR Justice Project has been working in Ukraine from October 2011 to promote judicial reform.
The goal of the Project is to strengthen the rule of law through enhancing judicial independence, improving transparency and accountability of the judiciary, raising awareness of the public about the judiciary to increase public trust and confidence.
Objectives of the Project are to assist in harmonizing the national legislative and regulatory framework for the judicial reform with European and international standards of judicial accountability and independence; strengthen the accountability and transparency of key judicial institutions; enhance the professionalism and effectiveness of the judiciary; increase the role of civil society organizations as advocates for and monitors of the judiciary.
