By Lino Brosius
In October 2016, phase I of the project Peer 2 Peer 4 Justice Ukraine started. CILC and its Ukrainian partner organisation Centre for Judicial Studies implement this initiative that aims at strengthening the rule of law in the Lviv region of Ukraine. In the first year Dutch and Ukrainian experts will focus on assessing the state of play of the courts of general jurisdiction and the regional and local prosecutor’s offices in the Lvivskaja Oblast’. Another project strand is a series of workshops for judges on legal ethics, organised in close collaboration with the regional branch of the National School of Judges of Ukraine.
Between 27 November and 10 December 2016, CILC experts Johannes Verburg and Martin van der Jagt together with CJS colleague Andriy Alyeksyeyev visited four courts of general juridisction in the Lviv region and the regional department of the State Court Administration. The goal of their visit was to map the main challenges in administering justice in these courts.
The assessment included the district courts of Lviv (Shevchenko), Pustomyty and Stryi, and the Court of Appeal of the Lviv region. The team of experts worked on the basis of a pre-defined assessment tool, targeting both substantive, as well as court management topics. The draft assessment report with practical recommendations for future activities is currently being translated and will be discussed during a round table discussion with court representatives in spring.
This bilateral Dutch-Ukrainian project is funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs under its Matra programme.