Model Courts of Ukraine 2022-2023: EU Project Pravo-Justice Rewarded Courts that Implemented Model Solutions During Wartime

On December 1, EU Project Pravo-Justice arranged a conference “Model Courts of Ukraine 2022-2023: Wartime Experience” and rewarded courts that implemented model solutions during wartime.

Opening the conference, Yevhen Synelnykov, Justice of the Cassation Civil Court within the Supreme Court, acknowledged the achievements of the Model Courts Initiative.

“Since 2018, EU Project Pravo-Justice has been working hard to develop court administration in Ukraine, improve access to justice, and implement best international practices. As a result, we can already see the positive effect of implementing model solutions in many courts,” said Yevhen Synelnykov.

Yuliia Bokova, member of the High Council of Justice, thanked the Project for long-term cooperation, especially in such difficult circumstances.

“Thanks to the Project’s efficient work in supporting the judiciary, Ukrainian courts have strengthened their capacity to provide quality court services. They have been working on implementing model solutions in various aspects of court management within the Model Court Initiative for many years now,” said Yuliia Bokova.

Tetiana Hrebeniuk, Member of the Council of Judges of Ukraine, Judge of the Commercial Court of Kharkiv Region, welcomed the enlargement of the community and expressed her hope that it will continue to grow.

“The Model Courts Initiative has become the voice of the community. The solutions implemented within the framework of the Initiative have proven to be useful and efficient for judges, court staff, and court visitors. Therefore, the Council of Judges of Ukraine will support the dissemination of the Initiative’s achievements and endeavour to strengthen cooperation among its participants,” Tetiana Hrebeniuk emphasized.

Maksym Pampura, Acting Head of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine, in his turn, noted the achievements of the Initiative and its contribution to improving the quality of court services and the work of courts in general.

“One cannot overestimate the role of every court staff member in maintaining the proper functioning of the judiciary. At the same time, it would be even more difficult to ensure access to justice in wartime without partners’ contribution. The Model Court Initiative has become one of these important partnerships for the judiciary and for building a community of like-minded court administrators. The presentations we have seen today are proof of that,” emphasised Maksym Pampura.

In his turn, Pavlo Malykhin, Head of the Court Security Service, noted that access to justice and the functioning of the judiciary, even under difficult circumstances, is of utmost importance. That is why the Court Security Service makes every effort to ensure that judges, court staff and visitors are safe.

Oksana Polna, Director of the Lviv Regional Division of the National School of Judges, emphasised that cooperation with the Project is important as best practices developed within Model Court Initiative are widely used by the NSJU trainer community.

Anna Adamska-Gallant, International Key Expert, Head of the Judiciary Reform Component of EU Project Pravo-Justice, stressed that the Ukrainian judiciary has been demonstrating its efficiency and resilience for many years now, coping with such complex challenges as the pandemic and full-scale invasion.

“The courts have demonstrated their willingness to work in incredibly difficult conditions to ensure that justice is administered. Every court staff member has made titanic efforts to keep the system functioning and to provide citizens with quality judicial services,” said Anna Adamska-Gallant.

The following courts were awarded within the Model Court Initiative’s distinction in the categories presented below:

Access to justice in wartime:

• Dolyna District Court of Ivano-Frankivsk Region;
• Kyiv District Court of Odesa City.

Access to justice and innovations in court administration in wartime:

• Vinnytsia City Court of Vinnytsia Region;
• Vinnytsia Court of Appeal;
• South-Western Commercial Court of Appeal.

Access to justice and managing court operations in wartime:

• Malyn District Court of Zhytomyr Region.

Managing court operations in wartime:

• Vyshhorod District Court of Kyiv Region;
• Dzerzhynskyi District Court of Kharkiv City;
• North-Western Commercial Court of Appeal;
• Sumy District Administrative Court.

Managing court operations and HR management in wartime:

• Leninskyi District Court of Kharkiv City.

Judicial communications in wartime:

• Vinnytsia District Administrative Court;
• Fifth Administrative Court of Appeal;
• Yuzhnoukrainsk City Court of Mykolaiv Region.

HR management in wartime:

• Commercial Court of Sumy Region.

Services for vulnerable court users:

• Kamianka-Buzka District Court of Lviv Region;
• Ivano-Frankivsk Court of Appeal.

Services for vulnerable persons and court volunteer service:

• Vinnytsia Court of Appeal;
• Ternopil City and District Court of Ternopil Region.

Presentations of the courts that participated in the conference can be found on online platform Model Courts: A Good Practices Platform.