Chernihiv residents will be asked whether they trust the judges

From November to the end of December 2014, the Court of Appeal of Chernihiv Oblast will conduct a survey of visitors regarding the quality of its functioning. Volunteers are involved in the implementation of the project, who will conduct monitoring using special anonymous questionnaires. The overall goal of the project is to improve citizens’ access to the courts and increase the authority of the judiciary by identifying and effectively eliminating shortcomings in the activities of the courts.

is implementing the project “Creating a Positive Image of the Court by Identifying and Eliminating Typical Problems in the Activities of the Courts” with the support of the USAID Fair Justice Program in 4 pilot regions of Ukraine, including Chernihiv Oblast.

To study the level of public trust in the courts, volunteers offer visitors to the court to fill out an anonymous questionnaire with several blocks of questions.

– This project is aimed at increasing people’s trust in the judiciary and eliminating the problem of citizens’ access to the court, – says the lawyer of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights

Natalia Piddubna

. – Very often, people, coming to court, need basic consultation, which will help them overcome a certain fear of the court, the judge, official procedures, etc. According to the observations of our lawyers, in the courts you can often hear a negative tone, a person is sent from office to office, where he is forced to defend a long queue. All this is negatively reflected in the general image of the judiciary in Ukraine. In addition, people often do not know which court to turn to, they cannot always navigate in information stands, samples of procedural documents, etc. As a result, they form a negative opinion that it is impossible to achieve the truth in court.

The Court of Appeal welcomed such an initiative, as it will help to identify hidden shortcomings in the work and eliminate them.

– All critical comments and wishes expressed by court visitors will be taken into account, – assured the head of the Court of Appeal of Chernihiv region

Sadig Taghiyev

. – The court is interested in ensuring that citizens who have applied for protection of their rights leave the premises with a sense of the triumph of justice. This can be achieved, first of all, by legal and fair court decisions, but comfort, courtesy of employees, availability of information, compliance with procedural deadlines, etc. are no less important. The court is simply obliged to be authoritative – a real guarantor and reliable defender of the rights and interests of citizens. Our task is to ensure that Ukrainian justice is respected all over the world: a fair court of the state is its authority beyond its borders.

Executive Director of the All-Ukrainian Coalition for Legal Aid

Vitaliy Misyats

supported the view that changes in the judicial system are necessary so that every citizen has confidence in the judiciary and knows that going to court is not a “red tape”, but a real chance to solve a problem in the legal field.

During the project, information will be collected and analyzed on such parameters as, for example, accessibility of the court, convenience and comfort of being in court, completeness and clarity of information, acceptability of costs associated with going to court, availability of legal aid if necessary, compliance with the terms of court proceedings, perception of the work of court staff, perception of the work of the judge.

The results of the study will be presented in Chernihiv in early 2015.