Public assessment of the quality of work of courts in Chernihiv region – research results

On May 11, 2016, in the conference hall of the Court of Appeal of Chernihiv Oblast, a presentation of an analytical report prepared based on the results of monitoring the accessibility and quality of the functioning of the judiciary, which was conducted in the courts of Chernihiv Oblast during November-December 2015, took place.

The round table was attended by the leadership and judges of the appellate, commercial, administrative and other general courts of Chernihiv Oblast, representatives of the state judicial administration, and the USAID Fair Justice Project.

The survey was conducted by the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights within the framework of the project “Public Survey of Citizens’ Satisfaction with the Quality of the Courts of the Chernihiv Region and the Kyiv Administrative Court of Appeal Using the Methodology of Citizen Report Cards (CRC)”, which was implemented with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) within the framework of the project “Fair Justice”.

In total, 1,950 visitors to all courts of the Chernihiv Region were surveyed using the methodology of citizen report cards.

“Courts of the Chernihiv Region participated for the first time in the citizen survey program, which aimed to study the real picture of the public’s attitude towards the courts,” said during the presentation

Nataliya Piddubna

, Program Manager of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights. – During November-December 2015, court visitors had the opportunity to evaluate their activities according to the following parameters: accessibility of the court, convenience and comfort of being in court, accessibility, completeness and clarity of court information, quality of work of court staff, compliance with court deadlines, quality of work of judges, quality of writing and substantiation of court decisions, and also to provide their recommendations for improving the specified parameters.

According to

Natalia Piddubna

, in general, on a 5-point scale, visitors rated the work of courts in Chernihiv region quite highly. The average assessment of the quality of work of courts in general for 26 courts of the region ranges within 4.36 points.

Thus, the least variable measurement of the quality of work of the court is “accessibility of the court”, according to which the average assessment for courts ranges from 3.72 to 4.68 points. In fact, this means that in this aspect the courts work at approximately the same level, and the comments on the work of judges are typical: “unhindered access to the court premises for people with disabilities”, “the opportunity to receive free legal assistance to vulnerable segments of the population”, “parking for visitors’ cars”.

At the same time, the highest score achieved by the courts of Chernihiv region was found precisely in the dimension “completeness and clarity of information”. Here, the average score of the dimension reached 4.98 points. This is evidenced by the presence in the courts of information stands with information necessary for visitors about cases, cases assigned for consideration, samples of necessary documents. At the same time, the courts are quite different in the completeness of the filling of information stands (regarding samples of statements of claim, petitions) and the court’s web pages on the portal of the judiciary of Ukraine.

The most variable is the average assessment of the convenience and comfort of being in court. So, quite often, court visitors complained about the lack of repairs and the problem of free access to household premises (toilets). For example, in some courts located in district centers of Chernihiv region, there is a problem related to the fact that toilets are mainly located on the street. In addition, the concept of convenience and comfort for many court visitors is associated with the presence of free wi-fi, a cloakroom, a buffet, a terminal for paying court fees and a machine for making coffee and tea in the court premises.

“The need to conduct such a survey arose due to the fact that Ukrainians often form their point of view regarding judges and courts in absentia, which is why the results of a survey of real court visitors are important. However, in any case, this is an assessment of the administration of the court and its work, that is, respondents in the questionnaires did not give their assessments directly regarding the decisions of judges,” explained

Marina Rudenko

, a representative of the USAID Fair Justice Project.

As noted

Sadig Taghiyev

, the head of the Chernihiv Oblast Court of Appeal, since such a survey is being conducted in the regional courts for the first time, court representatives are really interested in an independent assessment of the real attitude of citizens to the activities of the region’s courts.

“The assessments of the activities of the courts are high, since not all parameters of the study depend on the courts themselves,” noted

Sadig Taghiyev

. – The evaluation criteria related to the accessibility of the court and the convenience of being in the court depend on state funding and are lower than those that directly depend on the court, namely the completeness and clarity of information, the perception of the work of court staff and judges.

During the discussion of the results of the study, representatives of the judicial corps assured that they are ready for critical remarks and are willing to change if this can increase the level of trust in the judiciary. Over the coming months, with the assistance of the Court of Appeal of Chernihiv Oblast and the territorial department of the State Judicial Administration, the courts of Chernihiv Oblast will do everything possible to implement changes to improve the work of the courts, taking into account the comments and wishes of citizens.

The full version of the report on the results of the study can be found

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The monitoring was conducted by the public organization “Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights” within the framework of the project “Public survey of the level of citizens’ satisfaction with the quality of functioning of the courts of Chernihiv region and the Kyiv Administrative Court of Appeal using the methodology of citizen reporting cards (CGS)”, which was implemented with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) within the framework of the “Fair Justice” project.

For reference: The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) project “Fair Justice” has been operating in Ukraine since October 2011. The Project’s goal is to promote the rule of law in Ukraine by supporting judicial reform, increasing the transparency and accountability of the judicial system, improving citizens’ awareness of the judicial system, and increasing public trust in the judiciary.

Detailed information about the USAID Fair Justice Project can be obtained on the official website www.fair.org.ua or by calling

+38 (044) 581-3303





+38 (044) 581-3303.

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