The Deputy Chairman of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, Ruslan Sydorovych, made a visit to the institutions of the Council of Europe, dedicated to the discussion of Ukraine’s implementation of the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which took place on March 11 and 12, 2024, in the city of Strasbourg, France.
The event was organized with the support of representatives of the Council of Europe, in particular, the Department for the Execution of Judgments of the ECHR, Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law.
The Supreme Court Judge Oleksandra Yanovska, First Deputy Chief of Staff, Head of Analytical and Legal Work Department Rasim Babanly, High Council of Justice Member Serhiі Burlakov, Head of the HCJ Secretariat Mykhailo Shumylo, and Commissioner for the European Court of Human Rights Marharyta Sokorenko also visited Strasbourg.
Ukrainian delegates held a number of meetings with the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the Council of Europe Borys Tarasiuk, Head of the Department for the Execution of Judgments, DGI Clare Ovey and Legal Officer Oleksandr Dvornichenko, representatives of the Cooperation Programmes Division, Department for the Implementation of Human Rights, Justice and Legal Cooperation Standards of the Directorate General for Human Rights and the Rule of Law of the Council of Europe – Head of the Division Lilja Gretarsdottir and the Deputy Head Lilit Daneghian-Bossler, Head of the Division of the Department for the Execution of Judgments, DGI, Pavlo Pushkar and Head of Section Ketevan Tskhomelidze, ECHR judge Mykola Hnatovsky, Section Registrar of the ECHR Victor Soloveytchik, Co-Secretary of the Working group on judicial time management (CEPEJ-SATURN) Milan Nicolic, Legal Officer of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) and other experts.
During the discussions, the representatives of Ukraine and the Council of Europe discussed the state of implementation of ECHR judgments in the judiciary, in particular, the cases of Oleksandr Volkov v. Ukraine, Kulykov and Others v. Ukraine, Svetlana Naumenko v. Ukraine, and Merit v. Ukraine.
During the meetings, the European colleagues were informed about the progress of general measures, the status of implementation of the ECHR judgments and discussed the directions of further development of the judicial system, strengthening the independence of the judiciary and improving the efficiency of the administration of justice.
Representatives of the Council of Europe noted the significant progress made over the past period of time and expressed their readiness to continue to support Ukraine in implementing Council of Europe standards in the field of justice, judiciary and judicial governance.
At the end of the report, Ruslan Sydorovych emphasized the need to broaden and deepen the cooperation with the Council of Europe in order to ensure that high human standards are observed in the process of evaluating the qualification of judges by the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine and in competitive procedures for selecting new judges.
