With regular changes in the law and practice, judges need to be systematically trained to keep up with the times and provide justice. That is why the NSJU has constantly updated its training curricula. The new training programme on access to information was developed in 2023 to ensure lifelong learning for members of the judiciary. It focuses on a wide range of topics, including provisions of national legislation on access to public information and the practice of its application; the constitutional principle of publicity in the judicial process and the peculiarity of considering cases containing information with limited access; and a review of European standards on access to information.
The National School of Judges of Ukraine (NSJU) and the Council of Europe Project “Safeguarding Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Media in Ukraine” (SFEM-UA) held the final round of training for 27 judges from 17 Ukrainian regions dedicated to access to information.
The training significantly enhanced the participants’ understanding of various aspects of the right to access public information, including the peculiarities of the access during wartimes. It featured practical exercises and interactive discussions to ensure comprehensive learning, based on principles from the Tromsø Convention, the European Convention on Human Rights and case law of the European Court of Human Rights, the Reykjavik Declaration, and others.
In 2023-2024, the NSJU in partnership with the SFEM-UA Project, trained a total of 111 judges from all three levels of courts, who successfully completed the two-day course delivered by a group of eight skilled lecturers, including active judges and independent experts:
- Ms Tetyana Oleksiyuk, the Council of Europe national consultant, Vice-President of the monitoring body of the Tromsø Convention “Access Info Group”;
- Mr Yan Bernaziuk, judge of the Administrative Court of Cassation as part of the Supreme Court, doctor of law;
- Ms Tetyana Shynkar, judge of the Eighth Administrative Court of Appeal, candidate of law;
- Ms Iryna Verba, judge of the Dnipropetrovsk District Administrative Court, candidate of law;
- Ms Hanna Lebedieva, judge of the Odesa District Administrative Court, candidate of law;
- Mr Valeriy Kuzmenko, judge of the district administrative court of Kyiv, candidate of law;
- Ms Liubov Honchar, head of the training department for lecturers (trainers) of the National School of Judges of Ukraine, a retired judge of the Supreme Administrative Court of Ukraine;
- Ms Iryna Kushnir, manager of the Council of Europe project “Support to the functioning of justice in the war and post-war context in Ukraine”.
The Council of Europe continues to support Ukraine's efforts to strengthen access to information as an essential component of democracy and the protection of human rights, by providing expert advice and capacity building to legal professionals.
The Council of Europe Project “Safeguarding Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Media in Ukraine” (SFEM-UA) is implemented by the Council of Europe Division for Co-operation on Freedom of Expression, in the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” 2023-2026.
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