International experts may return: draft law registered in the Parliament

A new draft law No. 13382 has been registered in the Verkhovna Rada to bring back independent international experts to the judicial selection process. It concerns the Selection Commission responsible for choosing candidates for the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine (HQCJ).

The initiative was submitted by 11 members of parliament: 6 from the “Servant of the People” faction and 5 from the “Holos” party. The draft law is authored by Anastasiia Radina, Oleksii Movchan, Yevheniia Kravchuk, Oleksii Zhmerenetskyi, Volodymyr Tsabal, Maksym Khliapuk, Roman Hryshchuk, Yaroslav Zhelezniak, Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, Oleksandra Ustinova, and Roksolana Pidlasa.

They propose extending the mandate of international experts in the Selection Commission for at least three more years.

Just recently, 90 civil society organisations called on the President and Parliament to preserve and extend the involvement of international experts in selection commissions. We thank the MPs who are willing to hear the voice of civil society and defend justice reform.

To recap, the mandate of the previous composition of the Selection Commission expired on June 1. Now, representatives of the old Portnov-Medvedchuk elite are seeking to replace international experts. They are attacking the High Council of Justice (HCJ) to appoint their delegates to the HQCJ selection process — a scenario that risks the appointment of low-integrity judges for decades to come.

The DEJURE Foundation notes that the current compositions of the HQCJ and HCJ — selected with international expert involvement — have shown significant progress compared to their predecessors.

We urge members of parliament to urgently consider this draft law and restore a successful model of selection for Ukraine’s judicial governance bodies!