News (#10 October 2016)

UBA News

UBA Committee on International Law

On 22 September 2016 Ukrainian Bar Association Committee on International Law held a round table devoted to the problem aspects of trade with the Crimean peninsula.

The first speaker, Dmitry Koval, associate at AGA Partners, analyzed the events that occurred after the annexation of the Crimean territory and reaction of international community to these events. According to the speaker, in 2013 the total turnover of Crimean ports was 11 million metric tons. After annexation of Crimean territory in March 2014, among the first steps of the new powers was nationalization of ports and opening them for foreign vessels. Ukraine, in its turn, acknowledged Crimea as an occupied territory and in May 2014 sent a note to the IMO with a statement of impossibility of ensuring security in Crimean ports. The prompt reaction from the side of the EU came in the form of imposition of sanctions on the import and export of products, services and technologies. The sanctions are currently in place until 2017.

Andriy Klymenko, project manager of “Maidan of Foreign Affairs”, BSNews chief editor, described the activities of his organization against the violators of legal regime on the occupied territory of Ukraine. He called publicity as among the most effective means of this fight. Mr. Klymenko also focused on examples of fighting with offenders of the automatic identification system, which tracks the movement of vessels to Crimea.

Yuriy Dobosh, associate of Vasil Kisil & Partners, touched upon the current investment arbitration processes, namely Ukraine — Russia public disputes and focused on cases under consideration by the European Court of Human Rights.

 

UBA V Judicial Forum

The Ukrainian Bar Associationheld the V Judicial Forum on 29-30 September 2016. In the course of these 2 days more than 200 delegates visited the event, including judges and practicing lawyers from Ukraine, Europe and USA. The first day of the Forum covered the matters of cooperation between the media and judicial authorities. The second day was devoted to Constitutional and Judicial Reforms, recent tendencies in procedural law, judicial practice in various business spheres as well as resolution of international disputes.

Opening the event Anna Ogrenchuk, member of the Presidential Council on the Judicial Reform, head of the UBA Committee on Procedural Law, managing partner at LCF, attracted the attention of the audience to the interesting fact that the Forum itself fell at the same time interval with amendments to the Constitution and the On the Judicial System and Status of Judges Act of Ukraine.

Maxim Kutsevich, PhD, deputy dean of the Law Faculty at Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University, spoke about the enhancing role of journalists in the judicial process. According to him, a separate specialization should be created called judicial journalism, which would accompany the work of courts and the judicial system.

Robert J. Cordy, a judge at the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, explained the reason for ways of creating awareness of the press on the court’s activities. Mr. Cordy outlined judicial practice in his state. According to the speaker, there is obligatory video recording of each case which is stored in a virtual library with open access to it. He pointed out that a Committee of cooperation between the press and the judicial power has been established at Massachusetts and at least four times a year this Committee discuss the problems they met in the course of work and ways of finding solutions. Mr. Cordy pointed out that over the last 25 years in Massachusetts there has not been a single case of corruption in courts.

During the panel discussion, entitled Judiciary and media. Why is synergy better than confrontation?”, moderated by Mykola Veresen, journalist, TV presenter, the experts discussed transparency in courts; top 5 obstacles in the relationship between court and media; media legal awareness and media culture of law; filtering of information as well as other urgent questions.

According to Mr. Veresen, the secret of successful work lies in “self-cleaning” in the profession. This statement relates both to the work of judges as well as journalists, who often lack sufficient knowledge and comply with journalistic ethics.

Describing the main obstacles in cooperation between the courts and media, Rustam Kolesnik, chief editor of Yuridi- cheskaya Practika Publishing, paid special attention to theabsence of a general information center in Ukraine as well the lack of independent media in our country.

Rachelle Cohen, editor at The Boston Herald, describing the situation with the judicial system in the USA, pointed out the transparency in their courts and named ways of building trust in the judiciary.

Summing up the results of the first day, participants outlined the means of facilitating social dialogue between the press and the judicial system.

 

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