The conference “Competition to the new Supreme Court: best practices, lessons learned and prospects” was held in Kyiv
On 24–25 of October 2017, the conference “Competition to the new Supreme Court: best practices, lessons learned and prospects” was held in Kyiv under the initiative of the
USAID “New Justice” Program, supported in cooperation with the Commission, the HCJ, the
EU Project “Support to Justice Sector Reforms in Ukraine”, and the Ukrainian-Canadian Project “Support for Judicial Reform”.
The meeting was attended by the Chief of Party of the USAID “New Justice” Program Mr. David Michael Vaughn, Head of the High Council of Justice Mr. Igor Benedesiuk, Director of the USAID Regional Mission to Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova Ms. Susan Kosinski Fritz, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine Mr. Morten Enberg, Head of the Main Department of Legal Policy of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine Mr. Kostiantyn Krasovskyi, Head of the EU Project “Support to Justice Sector Reforms in Ukraine” Mr. Dovydas Vitkauskas.
The first session of the conference was devoted to the selection and appointment of judges to the new Supreme Court.
The parties discussed ensuring transparency processes of the selection procedure and the limits of discretion (distance) of the authorized bodies in the decision-making processes.
The Chairman of the Commission Mr. Sergii Koziakov, in his speech, emphasized the fact that the selection procedure, that took place in Ukraine, was unprecedented in its scale, open and transparent. “The competition lasted almost for a year and had to face many challenges for the first time. However, in order to give a final assessment of the competition and draw conclusions, there should be a certain criteria standard to be compared with”, - stressed the Chairman of the HQCJ.
“The unequivocal achievements should include the facts that for the first time in the history of Ukraine in the selection procedure were able to participate not only judges but also advocates and academicians. Moreover, for the first time judges of the first instance had the opportunity to apply for the position of a judge to the Supreme Court. For the first time in the history of the selection procedure, the Public was able to participate and observe. For the first time, candidates’ dossiers were published. For the first time, there was an online broadcast interview procedure with the candidates. A lot has happened for the first time, and now we have something to compare with,”- Mr. Sergii Koziakov summed up.
During the session, the members of the Commission presented the results of the selection of candidates for the position of a judge to the Supreme Court and also informed the participants about the positive aspects of this process and possible ways of its improvement.
The candidate for the position of a judge to the Supreme Court Ms. Hanna Vronska, an advocate, emphasized the high organizational support of the competition. She noticed that all candidates were on equal conditions from the very beginning and until the end of the competition.
Tomorrow the conference will continue its discussions.
