Results of a public survey of the quality of work of the Court of Appeal of Chernihiv Region

On May 14, 2015, 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 November-December 2014 at the Court of Appeal of Chernihiv Oblast.

The presentation was attended by the leadership and judges of the Court of Appeal of Chernihiv Oblast, representatives of the Main Department of Justice, the regional prosecutor’s office, the Regional Center for Free Secondary Legal Aid, representatives of the regional advocacy and human rights community, 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 “Creating a Positive Image of the Court by Identifying and Eliminating Typical Problems in the Activities of the Courts”, which is implemented with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Project “Fair Justice” in 4 pilot regions of Ukraine. In total, 110 visitors to the Chernihiv Regional Court of Appeal were surveyed using the methodology of citizen reporting cards.

“The Chernihiv Regional Court of Appeal took part for the first time in the citizen survey program, which aims to study the real picture of the public’s attitude towards the courts,” said during the presentation

Natalia Piddubna

, program manager of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights. – During November-December 2014, court visitors 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.

In general, on a 5-point scale, visitors rated the work of the court quite highly. In particular, about 70% of respondents assessed the quality of work of this court, giving it a score of 4 and 5 points, and almost three quarters of respondents perceive the work of judges at 4 and 5 points. 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. Regarding the assessment of the work of such innovations in the court as the introduction of SMS-informing and electronic document management, residents rated them at 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 due to the fact that ordinary citizens 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 this court was conducting such a survey for the first time, the court representatives were really interested in an independent assessment of the real attitude of citizens to the activities of the court.

Mr. Taghiyev

informed those present that the Braille boards with information for blind citizens in the Chernihiv Oblast Court of Appeal were the first in Ukraine and only after that they began to be recommended to other courts.

The Chairman of the Court of Appeal of Chernihiv Oblast emphasized that the wishes of citizens are already being implemented. “Our Court of Appeal is ready for critical remarks and is willing to change if this can increase the level of trust in the judiciary,” assures

Sadigh Taghiyev

. “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.”

Olesya Pyrkovska

, a representative of the Regional Center for the Provision of Free Secondary Legal Aid in the Chernihiv Region, noted that constant monitoring of the quality of services provided by lawyers in the free legal aid system, analysis of the results of observation of the work of lawyers in court, constant questionnaires of clients, oral communication with them, holding round tables with the involvement of representatives of courts, prosecutors’ offices and law enforcement agencies allows finding ways to solve emerging problems and improve the work of lawyers in the field of free legal aid.

“In judicial proceedings, there is always a satisfied and dissatisfied party, and such a high assessment of the work of the court indicates the impartiality of the expert environment during the survey,” emphasized Yuriy Vlasenko, Head of the Main Department of Justice in the Chernihiv Region. For him, “fairness” is synonymous with “impartiality” and the results of the monitoring of the work of the courts give hope for high public trust in these instances.

Alla Lepekha

, regional coordinator of the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights in Chernihiv region, summarizing the results of the monitoring and summing up the discussion, emphasized the success of this project, because thanks to it, positive changes are taking place in the organization of the work of the courts, which facilitate citizens’ access to judicial information and make their stay in the courtroom more comfortable. “If there is a positive result after the project, then the project is successful,” stated

Alla Lepekha

.

You can read the full version of the report .