The Ukrainian delegation at the Federal Court of Justice. Copyright photo: Tobias Westen
Ukraine
As part of a working visit organised jointly by GIZ and IRZ, a delegation of five judges from the Constitutional Court and five judges from the Supreme Court of Ukraine are visiting Karlsruhe, Munich and Vienna this week for a professional exchange.
GIZ and IRZ are jointly organising this working visit with various meetings at the Federal Court of Justice, the Federal Public Prosecutor General's Office, the Federal Finance Court, the Bavarian Constitutional Court and the Federal Patent Court.
The delegation also met with Federal Constitutional Court Judge Prof. Dr Henning Radtke and German Judge at the European Court of Human Rights Prof. Dr Anja Seibert-Fohr for a lecture followed by a discussion. The delegation then travelled to Vienna for meetings at the Austrian Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and the Federal Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Austria, as well as at the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) in Vienna.
All discussions were characterised by a shared understanding of the fundamental role of the judiciary in safeguarding the rule of law, especially under the current challenging conditions. It is clear how much Ukraine sees itself as part of the European legal family. This was evident in the detailed, critical questions and in-depth discussions on core areas of judicial independence. Thanks to the combined forces of GIZ and IRZ, detailed expertise on the practice of German, Austrian and European supreme court jurisprudence was conveyed during this working visit.
The participants of the “Drafting School on International Contract Law and Dispute Resolution”.
Ukraine
From 15. – 18. September 2025, the 18 Ukrainian students and their coaches, gathered upon the invitation of the DIS and the IRZ at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow for the Drafting School on International Contract Law and Dispute Resolution.
The Drafting School jointly organized with the IRZ, CIDR and Jagiellonian University is part of the DIS’ and IRZ’s continued support of the Ukrainian dispute resolution community. It provided a highly appreciated opportunity for the next generation of Ukrainian lawyers to get an introduction into arbitration, mediation and international sales law from experienced German and Polish dispute resolution specialists.
The enthusiasm of the participants and their gratefulness made the Drafting School also a special event for the leading German and Polish experts acting as instructors. A special thanks thus goes to David Tebel, Maciej Durbas, Tobias Strecker, Joseph Schwarz, Alicija Eisen-Szelinska, Katja Kröll and Malgorzata Kozuch. All of them had found ways to make their participation in the Drafting School possible on a very short notice.
According to the feed back from the participants the “depth and scope of the knowledge acquired are truly invaluable”. Taking into account the comment by a further participants that “[y]our commitment to empowering the next generation of Ukrainian legal professionals, especially in these challenging times, is so important” the next edition of the Drafting School is already planned for Summer 2026. We thank our Polish friends from the Jagiellonian University for the support and the cooperation and look forward to the next addition of the Drafting School.
The IRZ and the DIS are convinced that beyond the moral and educational support for our Ukrainian colleagues, the Drafting School also serves the interest of the business community. In particular for the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine efficient out of court disputes resolution mechanisms are need which require trained lawyers on all sides.
Four Ukrainian administrative judges at the Higher Administrative Court in Koblenz, the Administrative Court in Mainz, and both the Minister of Justice and the State Parliament of Rhineland-Palatinate were shown great solidarity and respect: despite the challenges posed by the war, their Ukrainian partners are tirelessly pushing ahead with constitutional reforms in their country. Administrative jurisdiction in particular has an important role to play in protecting the rights of citizens even under martial law and in balancing the interests of individuals with the legitimate security interests of the state.
Twenty years ago, Ukraine introduced an independent administrative judiciary, thus taking a major step forward in the development of the rule of law. IRZ advised its Ukrainian partners on this development and, together with the administrative judiciary of Rhineland-Palatinate, has maintained a continuous professional exchange with the Ukrainian administrative judiciary ever since. One of the cornerstones of this exchange is the annual German-Ukrainian colloquium on administrative procedural law, at which Prof. Dr. Lars Brocker, President of the Higher Administrative Court, welcomes four Ukrainian administrative judges to Koblenz for a week.
In this anniversary year, Mykhailo Smokovych, President of the Administrative Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court, also took part in person, emphasising once again that Ukrainian administrative jurisdiction would not exist without the above-mentioned advice from IRZ. During their stay, the delegation members were once again able to participate in hearings and discuss current administrative procedural law issues on an equal footing with their German colleagues.
