On April 19, 2024, the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine hosted a meeting with representatives of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission to Ukraine: Deputy Director Office of Democracy and Governance Ann Hopper, Anti-Corruption and Rule of Law Team Lead Office of Democracy and Governance Jay Totte, Democracy Project Management Specialist Office of Democracy and Governance Oleksandr Piskun, Chief of Party of the USAID “Justice for All” Program David Vaughn and his Deputy Chief Natalia Petrova and the Program’s legal advisor, Marta Hlomb.
Representing the Commission at the meeting were Deputy Chairman of the Commission Ruslan Sydorovych, HQCJ members Ruslan Melnyk, Serhii Chumak, Nadiia Kobetska, Vitalii Gatseliuk, Roman Kydysiuk, Mykhailo Bohonis, Oleksii Omelian and Head of the Secretariat Olena Ponomarenko.
The aim of the event was to discuss key issues of cooperation between the Program and the Commission and to identify priority areas of support and cooperation.
Ruslan Sydorovych informed in detail about the current status of the Commission’s procedures. In particular, they discussed the qualification evaluation of judges for their suitability for the position, the role of the Public Integrity Council in this context, and the course of competitions for vacant positions of judges in local and appellate courts.
Specifically, the American experts focused on the competition to the High Anti-Corruption Court. The HQCJ members highlighted the interviews with candidates for the positions of members of the Public Council of International Experts, which will soon be launched by the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine.
The Commission members also emphasized the importance of the automation of more work processes that are currently taking place in the HQCJ, as this will help optimize time, human and financial resources. Ruslan Sydorovych reminded that the introduction of an electronic judge’s dossier and computerization of the process of preparing, drafting and reviewing test tasks for judicial candidates in the framework of competitions remain on the table.
USAID representatives expressed their confidence in the work being done by the Commission and assured of their readiness to support it in implementing its plans. The participants agreed to continue the dialog on these issues to achieve results in the near future.
