Round table “Algorithms, mechanisms and rules of work of the Public Council of Integrity”
On 21 November 2016 the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine jointly with the Ukrainian Bar Association (UBA) and the Council of Europe Project “Support to the implementation of the judicial reform in Ukraine” organized the round table “Algorithms, mechanisms and rules of work of the Public Council of Integrity.”
At the round table the participants were discussing the key issues such as “rules of the game” under which the Council will work; key points regarding the Regulation on the Council’s activities; the balance between the independence of judges and their accountability in accordance with the guidelines and standards of the Council of Europe; mechanisms of interaction between the Public Council of Integrity and state, judges and the public.
The list of event participants included the representatives of the Commission, international organizations, newly elected members of the Council of Judges of Ukraine, scholars and advocates.
At the roundtable the preliminary analyzed by the experts of the CoE Project “Support to the implementation of the judicial reform in Ukraine” Draft Regulation on Public Council of Integrity was presented.
Member of the Public Council of Integrity, advocate Mr. Roman Maselko emphasized the need to establish an effective mechanism of responding to resorts of citizens. He stressed that verification of a judge or judicial candidate shall be based on proved evidences and close out any false data and dissemination of such false information on the judge.
Answering questions about the competition to the Supreme Court, Secretary of the Qualification Chamber of the High Qualification Commission Mr. Stanislav Shchotka said that currently more than a thousand of applications for taking part in the competition have been filed. For today more than 50 percent of those who expressed the desire to become a judge of the Supreme Court are acting judges. The proportion of advocates wishing to become a judge of the Supreme Court is 20%, scholars - 15%, the rest are the persons with total working experience of at least 10 years.
Mr. Stanislav Shchotka drew attention to some important features in work of the Public Council of Integrity. In particular, he said: “Some people think that it will be sufficient if the Public Council of Integrity is guided in their work only by the Code of Judicial Ethics. I believe that the Council should develop criteria for the definition of ‘integrity’ notion, to work out a methodology and tools of work. Article 83 of the Law of Ukraine “On Judiciary and the Status of Judges” identifies several criteria for the purposes of qualification assessment: competence, integrity and professional ethics. The legislator intentionally separates the notion of professional ethics and integrity, and it is clear that these concepts are not the same, and, thus, are different. So this should be remembered while determining the working scope of the Public Council of Integrity. In addition, the mentioned Code regulates only the behavior of judges. It deals particularly with the acting judges. However, the Public Council of Integrity shall check for integrity the representatives of other professions, including academicians and advocates who are not judges, but so far judicial candidates,” Mr. Shchotka said.
“The person should remember about virtue of integrity much long before deciding to become a judge. And the most important task of the Public Council of Integrity is to develop criteria and standards of this notion. The concept of ‘integrity’ should serve as a warning and preventive measure for those on the way of choosing legal profession, revealing a desire to become a judge instead of dealing with the functions that the NAPC, NABU do,” Stanislav Shchotka said.
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