Integrity as a Constitutional Category: Dialogue for the “Justice, Law, and Society” seminar alumni
On June 27, as part of developing the “Justice, Law, and Society” program direction, the Aspen Institute Kyiv and the OSCE Support Program for Ukraine held a Dialogue titled “Integrity as a Constitutional Category.”
Experts in jurisprudence, public administration, human rights activities, and judges discussed the integrity category, its essence, normative regulation, and evaluation practices in competitions for positions in the judiciary and civil service.
During the Dialogue, Martina Boguslavets, Head of Anti-Corruption Center MEZHA, Vitalii Gatseliuk, a member of the High Qualification Commission of judges of Ukraine, and Ivan Mishchenko, Head of the Selection Commission for candidates for positions of members of the HQCJ, shared their experiences in evaluating integrity in their respective institutions and provided recommendations on promoting a culture of integrity in Ukraine.
Recently, there has been a growing trend of the presumption of dishonesty in society. This leads to biased attitudes towards judges and candidates for vacant positions and, thus, the need to prove integrity. This approach significantly reduces the number of candidates willing to apply for relevant positions. Therefore, it is worth considering conditions when the presumption of integrity can become the starting position for the relevant commissions.
Participants noted that different state bodies and institutions interpret the concept of integrity differently. Thus, introducing general criteria for evaluating integrity is not only a requirement of Western partners but also a prerequisite for legal certainty and unified evaluation practices. At the same time, standardizing approaches to assessing integrity for all situations is a complex task since legislation provides separate regulations for judges, public servants, etc.
Participants in the Dialogue also discussed academic integrity. The concept of academic integrity is relatively new but significant as it is directly related to officials’ reputations.
Participants agreed that it is worth addressing cases of dishonesty personally. Generalizations can lead to the loss of authority in particular institutions or positions.
Efforts should be made to popularize integrity discourse in society, not just among representatives of specific categories. Comprehensive education, where children are taught the values of integrity-based decisions from an early age, can help achieve this.
Denis Poltavets, Director of Program Development at the Aspen Institute Kyiv, moderated the seminar. Olena Fomina, Policy Program Director at the Aspen Institute Kyiv, coordinated the event.
The Dialogue “Integrity as a Constitutional Category” was conducted by the Aspen Institute Kyiv in partnership with OSCE projects in Ukraine / Проєкти ОБСЄ в Україні.
