Тhe Aspen Institute Kyiv held the first seminar, “Justice, Law, and Society” (for judges) with the support of OSCE and the Council of Europe

From September 11 to 15, 2024, the Aspen Institute Kyiv, with the support of OSCE projects in Ukraine and the Council of Europe project “Support for the Judiciary of Ukraine in Wartime and Post-War Period,” held the first seminar, “Justice, Law, and Society” (for judges) in the Zakarpattia region.

The event brought together 24 participants—representatives of the Supreme Court, courts of general jurisdiction, specialized courts, the High Anti-Corruption Court, the High Council of Justice, and the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine. This diversity of participants provided a fresh perspective on worldview issues and professional challenges.

During the seminar, participants engaged in dialogues based on philosophical, journalistic, and scientific-practical texts through the prism of their professional experience on the following topics:

• the correlation between the concepts of “justice,” “honesty,” “sincerity,” and “truthfulness” in the moral and legal discourse of Ukraine;
• the content and forms of “democratic accountability” of the judiciary;
• the possibility of operationalizing and normatively enshrining the concept of “integrity”;
• ways to optimize the structures and functions of judicial self-government and judicial governance systems;
• the relationship between moral principles and legislative norms in judicial discretion.

During the seminar, participants had the opportunity to discuss issues related to judicial error and judicial discretion with Mykola Gnatovskyy, a judge of the European Court of Human Rights.

In addition, Vasyl Lemak, a Judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, discussed practical issues of interpreting the Constitution of Ukraine, guarantees of judicial control over the rights of detained persons, and the overall development of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine’s practice.

Roman Kobets, Research Fellow at the H. S. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and Tetiana Komarova, Professor and Head of the EU Law Department at Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, moderated the seminar.

Olena Fomina, Policy Program Director at the Aspen Institute Kyiv, coordinated the seminar.

We sincerely thank our partners, OSCE projects in Ukraine, and the Council of Europe project “Support for the Judiciary of Ukraine in Wartime and Post-War Period,” for their support in organizing the event and the participant’s contribution to the dialogue.