On July 14, 2023, Ruslan Sydorovych, Deputy Chairman of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, took part in the XI International Judicial and Legal Forum.
During the session on “Human Resources for Justice,” he focused on the issues left unresolved by the previous HQCJ and the key task, in his view, of selecting judges.
“In democratic countries, the judiciary is always the highest elite of society. These are people who possess not only high professional but also moral qualities. During the selection process, we will focus on these qualities of future judges,” – emphasized Ruslan Sydorovych.
The Deputy Chairman of the HQCJ noted that the current procedure for selecting judges is extremely lengthy. Its optimization will allow the Commission to fill judicial vacancies more quickly. However, it is difficult to say today what this procedure will look like, as draft amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges” are currently being developed, which will introduce some novelties in the selection of judges.
According to Ruslan Sydorovych, the Commission, together with the High Council of Justice, the National School of Judges of Ukraine and the Council of Judges of Ukraine, should make every effort to ensure that the Law of Ukraine “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges” is amended in order to simplify the selection procedure without compromising its quality.
The Deputy Chairman of the HQCJ paid particular attention to the incomplete qualification evaluation of judges, the resolution of the issue of the so-called “five-year” judges, the completion of the competitions launched by the previous composition of the Commission, and the issue of the judges of the liquidated high specialized courts and the Supreme Court of Ukraine.
Ruslan Sydorovych stressed the importance of training for the judiciary. Raising the professional level of a person who has taken up the position of a judge is one of the most important tasks because judges should not remain at the level of their knowledge.
The XI International Judicial and Legal Forum is organized by the Yurydychna Praktyka Publishing House in cooperation with the High Council of Justice. It is attended by representatives of judicial governance and self-governing bodies, as well as judges, lawyers and other representatives of the legal community.
