One judge works for three, and non-competitive salaries provoke staff outflow – CJU
The issues of staffing and financial support of the judicial system remain among the key challenges for Ukrainian justice. As emphasized by the secretary of the Council of Judges of Ukraine Tetiana Grebeniuk, the judge remains the central figure of the judiciary, and the effectiveness of the system directly depends on providing courts with a sufficient number of personnel and resources.
“Our priorities are recorded in the decision of the judges' congress, since the central figure of the judiciary, on whose shoulders everything rests, is the judge. That judge from the district court, from the city court, that is, an ordinary judge. Therefore, at the center of our priorities are the problems of judges and, accordingly, what the judges' congress entrusted us with. And this is primarily a matter of staffing. The congress emphasized the need to resolve this issue!” noted Tetiana Grebeniuk.
She added that this is also a matter of financial support. And generally everything related to the administration of justice under conditions of full-scale war.
Special emphasis was placed on the acute staff shortage. According to available data, with a normative need of over 11.5 thousand judges and an approved balance of 6.8 thousand positions, justice is actually carried out by about 4.2 thousand judges. Thus, the staffing deficit is covered by more than 30%.
The CJU also drew attention to the financial crisis, which manifests itself in the fact that the salaries offered to the staff, including assistants, secretaries, and clerical workers, are not competitive. Therefore, the staffing deficit and funding are directly related to the independence of the court. The issue of ensuring the administration of justice under martial law is also a challenge.
At the same time, the Council of Judges noted that they are not budget administrators but constantly address this issue, starting from coefficients to increase the salaries of court staff and judges' assistants, to matters of regulating judges' remuneration. This issue has been "frozen" in the budget process for five years, so the RSU decided to file an appeal to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine to recognize the consideration of this matter as urgent.
Among positive changes, the decision to regulate the issue of female judges traveling abroad was noted, which, according to estimates, helped avoid additional staff outflow from the system.
The CJU stated that judicial independence is the internal core present in every judge, and depending on external circumstances, a judge either endures or does not. But considering all these factors, the quality of justice is called into question, taking into account staffing when one judge works for three.
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