Project : Eastern Partnership – Enhancing judicial reform in the Eastern Partnership countries

Title Eastern Partnership – Enhancing judicial reform in the Eastern Partnership countries
Project area	Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Republic of Moldova, Ukraine
Budget	EUR 923 995
Funding	European Union
Implementation	Legal and Human Rights Capacity Building Department (LHRCB)
Duration	11/03/2011 - 10/09/2013 (30 months)
Overall objective: Support and strengthening of reform of the judiciary with a view to increasing independence, efficiency and professionalism of the judicial systems Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Specific objective: To provide a forum for discussing among the participating countries of the applicable European standards as regards the judiciary, drawing on expertise and experience, and extracting key findings for shared use. Expected result 1: Identification of legal and practical obstacles to the implementation of the relevant European standards in the areas of concern. Formulation of recommendations and best practices to address these obstacles. Expected result 2: Dissemination of the Project’s proposals among national authorities and other stakeholders.
Presentation (en, powerpoint)
New publication : Working Group on Independent Judicial Systems - Project Report, Judicial self-governing bodies : Judges' Career Full text in English Full text in Russian
Activities organised under the project :
Calendar of activities 2011-2012 : Download
Eastern Partnership: first meeting on professional judicial systems Strasbourg 31 August – 2 September 2011 The Joint Programme entitled “Enhancing Judicial Reform in the Eastern Partnership (EaP) Countries” which is financed by the European Union and implemented by the Council of Europe organized on 31 August – 2 September 2011 the first meeting of the Working Group on “Professional Judicial Systems”. It gathered representatives of national ministries of justice and Bar Associations from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The subgroup’s mandate is to review national laws and practice as regards the role of the Bar, access to the profession, training of lawyers and, finally, ethical issues and disciplinary proceedings against lawyers. The Group is also in charge of making recommendations to increase compliance of national legislation and practice with European standards, which will be subsequently presented and discussed with the national authorities. This the first time when representatives of the Civil Society Forum joined to the Project activities. Civil society and non-governmental organizations have an important role to play in the participating countries as they can provide policy input, new initiatives and hold governments accountable. Therefore, the inputs of the Civil Society Forum will contribute to making the recommendations of the Working Group more targeted. Agenda List of Participants
Eastern Partnership: second meeting on independent judicial systems Strasbourg, 11-13 July 2011
The Joint Programme between the Council of Europe and the European Union entitled “Enhancing Judicial Reform in the Eastern Partnership (EaP) Countries” organised on 11-13 July 2011 the second meeting of the Working group on “Independent Judicial Systems”, which gathers judges, members of judicial self-governing bodies and representatives of ministries of justice from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The meeting was focused on the identification of gaps between European standards and national legislation in EaP participating states with regard to the composition of judicial self-governing bodies, including the nomination procedures of their members. Moreover, national delegations also presented the legislative framework and practice concerning the appointment, promotion and career of judges in their countries, and discussed with the project experts possible measures and steps to be taken to meet relevant European standards. A report summarising the conclusions of the meeting will be available by the end of August and will be widely disseminated in the EaP countries. Programme
Enhancing judicial reform in the Eastern Partnership countries Project Strasbourg, 18 May 2011 The first meeting within the framework of the Joint Project entitled “Enhancing judicial reform in the Eastern Partnership countries” will be taking place 18 May 2011. It is envisaged that the meeting will be attended delegates from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus. The participants will represent national High Judicial Councils, Supreme Courts, Ministries of Justice, Bar Association and Training Centres for judges. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the most problematic issues relating to independence of the judiciary issue and common for all beneficiary countries and select those on the basis of which the future expert groups will work out their Recommendations with a view to increasing independence, efficiency and professionalism of the judicial systems of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus.