Judiciary and Society in Ukraine

A professional and predictable judiciary is a prerequisite for a proper functioning of the rule of law, and the right to a fair, timely, and efficient trial by an independent and impartial court. Facilitating cooperation between Ukrainian and Dutch judges, this project aims at strengthening the self-government and professionalism of judges, improving court procedures, and enhancing the quality of court decisions. With a wide variety of activities – including for instance trainings, roundtables, working visits and peer coaching – this project contributes to a better connection and increased trust between the judiciary and society.

In this project, experts from the Netherlands and Ukraine work as a team in a peer-to-peer setting to achieve their shared objectives. Judges that were involved in previous projects in Lviv and Odesa on judicial self-government and core values of the judiciary, contribute with their experiences and expertise to this project as well.

The project works on strengthening capacities of judges and staff off up to 7 target courts in the Kyiv and Vinnitsa regions. These courts are assisted in fostering judicial self-government, and developing and piloting of procedural guidelines in civil, criminal, and administrative law. Currently the following courts have teamed up to the project:

• Obukhiv District Court of Kyiv region
• Desnyanskyy District Court of Kyiv
• 7th Administrative Court of Appeal
• North Commercial Court of Appeal
• Kyiv Court of Appeal