Visitors gave the work of the Court of Appeal of Chernihiv Region a solid “four” rating

On December 18, 2014, the Chernihiv Oblast Court of Appeal presented the results of a survey of court-goers on the accessibility, efficiency, and impartiality of the work of the court of appeal.

All judges and staff of the Chernihiv Oblast Court of Appeal, representatives of public organizations, and the media participated in the presentation.

was conducted by the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights within the framework of the project “Creating a Positive Image of the Court by Identifying and Eliminating Typical Problems in the Activities of the Courts,” which is implemented by the All-Ukrainian Coalition for Legal Aid with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Fair Justice Project in 4 pilot regions of Ukraine.

“The Chernihiv Regional Court of Appeals first participated in a citizen survey program aimed at studying the real picture of the public’s attitude towards the courts,” said during the presentation

Natalia Piddubna

, head of programs at the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights. – During November-December 2014, visitors to the court had the opportunity to evaluate its 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.” The survey was conducted by student volunteers of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights. In total, 110 people were surveyed in the premises of the Chernihiv Regional Court of Appeals using the methodology of citizen reporting cards.

According to

Roman Rachko

, a representative of the All-Ukrainian Coalition for Legal Aid, on the whole, visitors rated the work of the court quite highly on a 5-point scale. In particular, about 70% of respondents rated the quality of the work of this court with a score of 4 and 5, and almost three-quarters of respondents perceive the work of the judge with a score of 4 and 5. More than 80% of respondents defined their impression of the visit to the court as meeting their expectations or better than they expected.

At the same time, almost 67% of respondents were unable to assess the effectiveness of the work of their representative (lawyer or advocate) in court. As for the assessment of the work of such innovations in the court as the introduction of SMS-informing and electronic document management, residents rated them with a solid 4.3 points.

In today’s conditions, respondents were also asked a question about the impact of protests outside court buildings on the final decision of the court. To this question, 33% of respondents answered that they really believe that protests affect the delivery of a fair decision in court.

“The need to conduct such a survey arose because 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

Maryna Rudenko

, a representative of the USAID Fair Justice Project.

As noted

Sadig Taghiyev

, the head of the Chernihiv Oblast Court of Appeal, since this court is conducting such a survey for the first time, the court representatives are really interested in the real attitude of citizens to the court’s activities.

“Our court of appeal is ready for critical remarks and is willing to change if this can raise the level of trust in the judiciary, – assures

Sadig Taghiyev

. – Within the next 1-2 months, the court will do everything possible to implement changes to improve the work of the court, taking into account the remarks and wishes of citizens, even without available budget funding.”

In addition, the Court of Appeal, together with representatives of the bar, will create a register of lawyers in the Chernihiv Oblast in order to inform residents of the region about the possibility of obtaining legal aid and will post this information on the court’s website and information stands. The Court of Appeal is ready to work in a budget-saving mode, using a system of SMS messages and providing copies of documents by e-mail.

You can read the results of the survey .