Further unreasoned reforms may destroy the judicial system - Lydia Izovitova

Head of UNBA and Bar Council of Ukraine Lydia Izovitova participated in an online discussion of the draft Annual Report on the independence of the judicial system in Ukraine, prepared by the High Council of Justice in cooperation with the judiciary self-government bodies and professional partner organizations.

          Ukrainian National Bar Association (hereinafter –the “UNBA”) maintains a dialogue with the High Council of Justice on strengthening the independence of judges and emphasize those systemic problems that should be addressed urgently. Among such problems, Lydia Izovitova mentioned the need to reduce court fees and the huge shortage of staff in the judicial system.

          "On behalf of the bar, I emphasize the necessity to reduce the amount of court fees today. If the Ministry of Finance expected that it will be possible to fill in the budget and reduce the number of judges in this way because there will be fewer lawsuits, then there is a downside, namely the people, legal entities suffer from the fact they do not have judicial protection. They are impoverished and cannot appeal to a court. We, the attorneys, want to pay the attention of the High Council of Justice to the judges’ outflow which also leads to the fact that people do not have the opportunity to resolve their dispute, do not have effective judicial protection. It is urgent to do something about it” - Lydia Izovitova said.

          Commenting on the course of judicial reform, the UNBA Head emphasized that further attempts to make significant changes to the legislation on the judicature may totally destroy the judicial system.

          "Society is already tired of the number of judicial reforms. When it comes to improvement, that's one thing. But if we are talking about another reform, then we can destroy the entire judicial system, which today is very poorly protected, which has become unstable, weak. All of us, justice participants, must take care of strengthening the judiciary" - the UNBA Head urged.

             She reminded that in the conditions of non-functioning of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, there are constant attempts to change the legislation on the method of forming this authority, which cannot be acceptable. "High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine should work, but we are constantly watching the legislation novelties. We are very concerned about certain competition commissions, their structure, especially commissions composed of international experts. It is impossible to evaluate national courts with the participation of foreign citizens" - the UNBA Head said.

          Lydia Izovitova also supported the expansion of the powers of the High Council of Justice and guaranteeing the independence of members of the Council. In particular, the High Council of Justice should be given the right of a legislative initiative to strengthen the role of the constitutional body of judicial governance in the formation of relevant legislation. Also, according to Lydia Izovitova, it is necessary to extend the terms for consideration of disciplinary proceedings against judges, which will provide opportunities for better consideration and strengthen guarantees of independence of judges.

          Reminder: in November-December 2020, UNBA and the High Council of Justice co-organized a series of national discussions "Access to Justice: Realities and Prospects". During these events, strategic issues of judicial reform implementation, the role of professional communities in the development of legislation on the judicature and bar, constitutional aspects of the participation of international experts in the formation of judicial governance were discussed.