Model Courts Initiative Project Board: Improving access to justice and the work of the judiciary

Project Board of the Model Courts Initiative held meeting for the first time in the format of a zoom conference on 27 March.

The meeting was attended by Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Legal Policy Andriy Kostin, Member of the High Council of Justice Larysa Shvetsova, Deputy Chairman of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine Serhiy Chornutsky, Rector of the National School of Judges of Ukraine Mykola Onishchuk, and representatives of 6 model courts, international and national experts of the EU Project Pravo-Justice.

Participants discussed the following issues:

• Current status and overall progress of the Model Courts Initiative;
• Analysis of the results of the survey of judges and court staff on security inside the court and outside it;
• Material and technical needs of model courts in the field of safety, proposals for the purchase of appropriate equipment for 6 model courts;
• Analysis of the needs and opportunities for the implementation of services for vulnerable people in court, including for people with hearing impairment, as part of the support system for vulnerable groups in court;
• The state of development of standard operating procedures, which are designed to help improve services in court;
• Opportunities for cooperation with representatives of the National School of Judges of Ukraine on the development of distance learning programs for judges and court staff.