Building partnerships among Eastern European countries: a focus on women’s access to justice

On 6 May 2026, the fourth meeting of the Local Steering Committee of the EU–Council of Europe Programme ‘Partnership for Good Governance’ (2023–2027) took place.

During the annual meeting of the Steering Committee, representatives of Ukrainian institutions briefed international partners on key achievements in expanding women’s access to justice and combating violence against women, countering hate speech, supporting the development of constitutional justice, and combating money laundering and terrorist financing, and shared their plans for further steps and expectations for the next phase of the ‘Partnership for Good Governance’ initiative.

The National School of Judges of Ukraine was represented at the meeting by Kateryna Sliusareva, Deputy Head of the Department for Research into Judicial Issues and Scientific and Methodological Support for Judicial Education. She highlighted that the School is constantly improving its training programmes on gender equality, integrity and professional ethics, the rule of law, leadership (particularly women’s leadership), protection of vulnerable groups, combating domestic and gender-based violence, combating hate speech, as well as combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

The representative of the NSJU presented the key results of the institution’s cooperation with international organisations regarding ensuring women’s access to justice and combating violence against women. In particular, she highlighted such important steps as judges attending a training course for mentors (2023, Budapest, Hungary), judges’ participation in an annual mentoring programme, following which they took part in an evaluation meeting and inter-regional exchange of experience with lawyers from the Western Balkans (2024, Tirana, Albania), the organisation of a seminar for judges of local general courts on ‘Issues of women’s access to justice within the framework of a judge’s gender competence. Civil Aspects’ (2024, Kyiv, Ukraine), as well as a presentation by mentor judge Mariana Druziuk at the international conference ‘Promoting Gender Equality through the Training of Judges and Prosecutors’ (April 2026, Chișinău, Moldova).

Particular attention was drawn to the features of the methodological seminar on ‘Gender Competence of Judges’, organised in April 2026 by the National School of Judges of Ukraine for course developers. The distinctive feature of the event lay in the combination of two strands: on the one hand, enhancing the gender competence of training course developers, and on the other, demonstrating course development techniques and communication with the audience using the sensitive topic of gender equality as an example.

In addition, Kateryna Sliusareva highlighted the training courses of the Council of Europe’s HELP Programme and mentioned the ‘Combating Hate Speech’ training of trainers, which comprised three webinars and one face-to-face training session bringing together police investigators, prosecutors and judges. She also provided information on the training courses planned for development on the Steering Committee’s topics and emphasised the need for further cooperation in light of new challenges.