Experience in selection and evaluation of Ukrainian judges was shared in Lithuania
On September 5-8, 2018, Mr. Stanislav Shchotka, Deputy Chairman of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine and Mr. Denys Kuznetsov, Head Specialist of International Cooperation Department of the HQCJ Secretariat participated in legal forum that took place in the Republic of Lithuania.
In Molėtai, delegations of the judiciary and professionals in the field of law from Ukraine, Georgia and Lithuania discussed and identified challenges in the functioning of judicial systems and other institutions closely connected with the activities of the judicial bodies.
In his speech, Mr. Stanislav Shchotka emphasized the procedures for the selection and qualification evaluation of judges in Ukraine.
“Ukraine has taken a big step forward. In response to a request from the public, new, well-regulated procedures for evaluating judges and candidates for judicial positions have been developed and applied. These procedures have become transparent and give every citizen an opportunity to see the actual profile of each judge during an extraordinary evaluation procedure for eligibility of judges for their position,” the Deputy Chairman of the Commission emphasized during the report.
He also added that the qualification evaluation was designated for 5,157 local and appellate court judges in Ukraine. “Out of these, 4,736 judges appeared for the examination in the evaluation procedure and 2,261 judges passed psychological testing, which, by the way, is applied only in four countries in the world. For various reasons, 259 judges did not pass the evaluation. They are subject to dismissal or have already been dismissed. As regards 1,376 judges, the qualification evaluation procedure is completed. At the same time, 131 judges did not confirm their eligibility for the position of a judge and 128 more were dismissed on various grounds,” added Mr. Stanislav Shchotka.
The topics discussed also included the role of judicial self-governance bodies in ensuring the independence of judges, disciplinary practice regarding judges, strengthening cooperation between judicial authorities and other state institutions in the field of human rights protection and building public trust in judges.
Participants of the forum are convinced that the areas of cooperation and the action plan considered within the framework of the event are extremely important for further cooperation of judicial institutions of all the states-participants and the implementation of the judicial reform in Ukraine.
The legal forum was held within the framework of the Project “Assistance to Georgia and Ukraine in implementing legal reforms”.
