What lessons did Ukraine learn during the formation of the High Anti-Corruption Court?

On September 27, DEJURE Foundation held The Formation of the High Anti-Corruption Court in Ukraine: Lessons Learned and Way Forward discussion within the framework of The Human Dimension Meeting 2019 in Warsaw.

At the beginning of September 2019, the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) started its work in Ukraine. The procedure for the selection of judges for the court was unprecedented: it included the Public Council of International Experts (PCIE) — a special advisory body consisting of known international legal experts. The PCIE supported the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine in selecting judges and could exclude a candidate, whose integrity is in justified question, from the competition.

Did the international expert serve as a safeguard against candidates with low integrity? Can this competition model be an option in the context of the implementation of future reforms in Ukraine and abroad? Andriy Kozlov, Olena Tanasevych, Clemens Mueller and Andrii Khymchuk were giving their view of the above questions.

Iryna Shyba, the executive director of the DEJURE Foundation, moderated the discussion.

Experts agreed that the PCIE and electronic declaration played an essential role in the competition. Thanks to efforts of international experts and the Ukrainian civil society, selected judges for HACC meet the criteria of professionalism and integrity.