189 judges are subject to dismissal or already dismissed based on the qualification assessment result

The High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine continues implementing human resources projects initiated within the judicial reform. To date, the public qualification assessment of judges for the compliance to their positions remains the Commission's key task.

Since qualification assessment of judges has to follow both quantitative and time limits, we periodically report on intermediate assessment results.

Thus, as of June 26, 2018, 994 judges completed the qualification assessment. Of these, 805 judges have been recognized as compliant to the judicial position. The other 189 judges are either awaiting dismissal or already dismissed, in particular:

87 resigned on their own accord during the assessment procedure;

102 failed to confirm their compliance to the judicial positions: 74 judges failed to pass exams, 28 judges did not manage to pass interviews with the Commission members.

As for other 144 judges, the assessment was suspended or its consideration has been postponed. One of the most common reasons is the PCI findings which do not meet the established requirements to their submission and the methodology of the qualification assessment of judges.

 "According to the results of the last few months of qualification assessment, 189 judges have already been dismissed or resigned. This is a hefty figure. And I would like to remind that 30% of the judicial corps had retired back already the assessment", said the Deputy Chairman of the HQCJU Stanislav Shchotka.

"However, we have to emphasize once again, that such statistics cannot objectively assert whether this is good or bad. We should discuss how will it affect the changes in the judicial system, rather than consider whether the fact itself is good or not. The Commission performs its work in the professional and efficient manner and highlights interim results", he noted.

The qualification assessment for compliance with the judicial position was introduced within the framework of judicial reform for all judges of Ukraine. As for the first thousand judges, the assessment was announced on October 20, 2017, and lasted for 7 months. Among the judges who passed the assessment, 242 judges – were the ones initially appointed for 5-year term, whose tenure has expired and who had been recommended to the High Council of Justice for lifetime appointment. This will allow restoring the operations of courts or decrease the accumulated case backlog. Currently, judges from the first group are passing the final stage of qualification assessment - interviewing and the dossier analysis. The second group of judges has completed exams and are currently undergoing the moral and psychological qualities testing. The third group approved for assessment on June 7, 2018, comprises 2,188 judges. They will start taking examinations on July 2, 2018.