The European Union funded Project “Support to Justice Sector Reforms in Ukraine (PRAVO-JUSTICE III)” promotes greater rule of law in Ukraine, in line with European standards and comparative practices.
Development partner: European Union.
Implementing agency: Expertise France S.A.S. (France).
The general term of implementation of the Project: January 01, 2024 – June 30, 2026.
Project goals and content: to facilitate accountability for international crimes and serious human rights violations in Ukraine; to strengthen the independence, efficiency, quality, integrity and transparency of the judiciary and ensure access to justice; to enhance the enforcement of court decisions in commercial and criminal cases; to improve coordination of justice sector interventions and policy management in support of Ukraine’s EU membership application.
The objectives: to consolidate the HQCJU and the EU Project “Pravo-Justice” efforts aimed at ensuring fair, high-quality and transparent procedures for selecting judicial candidates, initial training for judges and carrying out qualification evaluation of judges.
The areas of cooperation:
- drafting and improving regulatory acts that govern the procedures for selecting judicial candidates; qualification evaluation of judges; forming and maintaining judicial dossiers (dossiers of judicial candidates); initial training of judges;
- drafting and improving regulatory acts determining the procedure and methodology of evaluation and self-evaluation of judges;
- development and improvement of assessment tools for judges and candidates for the position of judge for the purposes of selection procedures and qualification assessment;
- ensuring the conditions required for effective cooperation of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine with the Public Integrity Council;
- carrying out joint activities that meet the objectives of the Memorandum;
- exchanging information on best international practices and developing international cooperation of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine.
The Project’s activities:
Component 1. “Justice Sector Policy and Coordination”. Experts of the Component 1 contribute to spreading European practices and standards in the Ukrainian justice system; they also support Ukrainian justice sector institutions on the path towards Ukraine’s integration into the European Union and facilitate investigation of war crimes.
Component 2. “Judicial reform”. Component 2 experts work on various aspects of judiciary reform, provide expert support to judicial authorities, and also contribute to institutional capacity building of judiciary governance and administration bodies. Component 2 team is also involved in judges’ professional development, improving the operations of Ukrainian judiciary and ensuring its resilience in wartime, as well as creating the necessary conditions for national courts to properly consider war crimes cases.
Component 3. “Enforcement and Protection of Property Rights”. This Component is focused on protecting citizens’ right to a fair trial by building an effective system of enforcing court decisions, ensuring the protection of property rights by improving procedures for the enforcement of court decisions, improving insolvency and bankruptcy procedures, and creating a reliable system of property rights registration, as well as reforming the systems of carrying out sentences and forensic expert activity.
Component 4. “Support to EU Integration Process in the Justice Sector”. Component 4 is focused on facilitation of dialogue between justice sector stakeholders, public diplomacy, monitoring and communication on EU accession process; assistance to MoJ with regard to the approximation process and EU-adhesion negotiations as well as supporting the legal education reform and providing other thematic support.