Strengthening the Quality and Efficiency of Justice in Kosovo* (KoSEJ II)
May 2019 - December 2022
The activities are implemented in the framework of the European Union/Council of Europe joint programme Horizontal Facility of the Western Balkans and Turkey II co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe.
An earlier phase of this programme (July 2016 - May 2019) was supported by the European Union.
The objectives of the Action
The overall objective of the KoSEJ II Action is to continue to improve the day-to-day functioning of the justice system in Kosovo by strengthening its efficiency and quality in accordance with European standards. It provides concrete and targeted support to courts and central authorities by empowering them with the methodology and tools of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) in light also of the recommendations made under the first phase of Action (KoSEJ).
The first specific objective is to ensure that the judiciary works with more reliable and specific statistics in light of KoSEJ recommendations and is empowered to address challenges to the efficiency of justice with CEPEJ standards and tools. This shall include the establishment of a sustainable and consistent methodology and process of data collection and analysis for sound policy making, including with reliable statistics in the new case management system.
The second specific objective is to improve the quality of its services in accordance with CEPEJ standards and tools such as with the use of CEPEJ satisfaction surveys and court coaching projects to address weaknesses identified by users.
The third specific objective is to assist the Kosovo Justice Academy (KJA) improve its training capacities in efficiency and quality according to CEPEJ tools and methodology.
Main beneficiaries and partners
Ministry of Justice, Kosovo Judicial Council, Kosovo Prosecutorial Council, Kosovo Justice Academy, Kosovo Bar Association, Courts and Courts’ users.
* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence".
Assessment reports
- First report: In-depth assessment report (English, Albanian, Serbian)
- Second Report: Comparative assessment (2014 – 2017) (English / Albanian / Serbian)
- Third Report: Comparative assessment (2014, 2017 and 2018)
- Fourth report: Comparative Assessment (2014 – 2020) (English, Albanian, Serbian)
- IT Report: Information Technology in courts in 2020 (English, Albanian, Serbian)
Translations of CEPEJ documents
- CEPEJ glossary (in Albanian / in Serbian)
- Councils for Judiciary in EU Countries
Council of Europe - Strasbourg
Bureau du Conseil de l'Europe à Pristina (Kosovo)
Project manager
Project assistant
Preliminary CEPEJ expert mission to Kosovo* to present its methodology on judicial mapping
On 20 and 21 October 2022, the CEPEJ expert Ms Carmela Germinario met with representatives of the Kosovo Judicial Council, courts, prosecution offices and the Ministry of Justice to present the CEPEJ Guidelines on the creation of judicial maps to support access to justice within a quality...
Peer-to-Peer international workshop with the Kosovo Judicial Council and the High Judicial Council of Albania on shared challenges concerning the efficiency and quality of justice
On 8-9 November 2022, members of the Kosovo Judicial Council and the High Judicial Council of Albania met in Tirana to discuss shared challenges concerning the functioning of their respective justice systems as well as the support that CEPEJ could provide in the coming years as a continuation of...
Improving the collection and analysis of statistics on the work of prosecution offices in Kosovo *
On October 10-11, 2022, CEPEJ experts Mr. Vincent Macq (Belgium) and Mr. Ivan Crnčec (Croatia) met with the Acting Prosecutor General, the Secretariat of the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council, as well as the Pristina Prosecutor's Office to discuss ways to improve the efficiency of the collection of...
CEPEJ support to the revision of the system of evaluation of the performance of judges in Kosovo*
On 26 and 27 September 2022, the CEPEJ expert, Ms Nina Betetto (Slovenia) met in Pristina with representatives of the Kosovo Judicial Council, the Commission for the Evaluation of Judges' Performance, the Academy of Justice and judges of courts of first instance and the Supreme Court for an...
Capacity-building sessions on CEPEJ performance indicators for courts in Kosovo*
On 14-15 September 2022, 45 participants from all courts attended the training on CEPEJ performance indicators organized in coordination with the Justice Academy and the Kosovo Judicial Council. The experts, Ms Marina Naumovska-Milevska and Ms Anna Skrjabina, presented the main CEPEJ tools, in...
Study Visit to Latvia for judges and members of the Kosovo Judicial Council
On 20-21 July 2022, CEPEJ supported a Study Visit of judges and members of the Kosovo Judicial Council to Latvian judiciary. A group of 16 participants including Mr Albert Zogaj, the Chairman of the Kosovo Judicial Council (KJC), Mr Enver Peci, the President of the Supreme Court, Presidents of...
CEPEJ organises a training on its tools linked with ICT used in Kosovo* courts
On May 16th and 17, in cooperation with the Justice Academy of Kosovo, KoSEJ II organized a training with members of the Kosovo Judicial Council, court presidents and supervisory judges, in particular on performance and efficiency indicators used by courts in their Court Management Information...
Release of the fourth assessment of justice system of Kosovo*
On 1 March 2022, the Ministry of Justice officially launched the assessment report on the functioning of the Kosovo justice system. This report, based on CEPEJ methodology, is the fourth one of its kind, and the second one prepared by the Ministry of Justice, which shows that the Ministry and the...
CEPEJ key performance indicators included in dashboards for courts and prosecution in Kosovo*
On 4 February 2022, the CMIS (Case Management Information System) project within the Kosovo Judicial Council and Kosovo Prosecutorial Council presented dashboards to monitor court and prosecution performance to the members of the Users’ Working Group which is working to advance the CMIS in...
CEPEJ court users’ satisfaction surveys as a self-assessment tool of management in Kosovo* courts
In January 2022, court user’s satisfaction surveys will be launched in the courts of Pristina, Peja and Mitrovica. The surveys will enable courts to use the feedback of court users as to identify strengths and weaknesses in the courts’ functioning. The Kosovo Judicial Council (KJC) considers...
Kosovo Judicial Council announces new statistical reports for courts incorporating key CEPEJ performance indicators
On 6 September 2021, the Kosovo Judicial Council (KJC) announced that new statistical reports are now available in Kosovo* in the courts and can be used by all judges and court presidents to monitor performance, court backlogs, postponements of hearings, and the length of court proceedings. The...
Workshop on Automatic Re-Assignment of Criminal Cases
On 15 June 2021, the CEPEJ organised a hybrid workshop on implementation of an automatic Re-Assignment of judges and/or judicial panels in criminal cases during which CEPEJ experts presented their findings and recommendations. These recommendations aim to address situations when judges designated...
CEPEJ supports the setting up of a regular and sustainable assessment of the justice system in Kosovo*
In 2021, for the second consecutive year, the Kosovo Ministry of Justice will be leading, with CEPEJ support, the assessment of the justice system continuing to move towards the objective of setting up a regular and sustainable assessment of the functioning of the justice system in Kosovo. In...
Know-How guidelines on data collection and analysis to assess the functioning of the judicial system in Kosovo*
On 1 December 2020, an online consultation has been organised with representatives of the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council (KPC) and the Special Advisor of the EU Office in Kosovo to discuss the questions of the CEPEJ Evaluation Scheme related to the prosecutorial caseload, in order to improve the...
Pilot testing conducted at the Basic Court of Pristina to issue court summonses electronically to lawyers, Kosovo*
On 16 November, a team composed of a judge in the civil division at the Basic Court of Pristina, a legal secretary, and a trainer from the Case Management Information System project, conducted a pilot test to confirm that court summonses can be generated from the case management system and sent...
The Justice Academy in Kosovo* gets started with online survey on court efficiency
On 17 September 2020, the heads of the initial and continuous training programmes at the Kosovo Justice Academy worked with the KoSEJ2 Action team on creating their first survey on court efficiency for judges, court presidents, and court staff. The survey will be deployed via email, in accordance...
Issuing court summonses electronically in Kosovo*
On 3 September 2020, the CEPEJ international expert Mr Thierry Ghera, President of the Court of Strasbourg, presented to Mr Skender Çocaj, Chairman of the Kosovo Judicial Council, the benefits of issuing court summons electronically. Mr Ghera presented the French system in which all documents in...
Exploring the possibility to develop a document-exchange system to facilitate the communication between justice users, lawyers and courts in Kosovo* and Albania
On 23 May 2020, the CEPEJ Secretariat organised a meeting with Mr Ghera, President of the Court of Strasbourg, and the SEJIII and KOSEJII project teams to get an understanding of how courts and lawyers communicate in France through the e-Barreau platform, and to discuss if a similar platform...
First online training needs assessment survey at the Justice Academy in Kosovo*
On 23 May 2020, the Director of the Academy and the heads of the initial and continuous training programmes held an online meeting with the CEPEJ expert, Ms Marina Naumovska, to prepare the implementation of a training needs assessment survey, which will be for the first time conducted online....
Finalising the third assessment report on the functioning of the judicial system in Kosovo* and sharing the “know how” to collect and analyse the required data
On 7 May 2020, the two CEPEJ coordinators in the Ministry of Justice met virtually with the CEPEJ international expert Julinda Beqiraj to discuss the recommendations in the third assessment report on the functioning of the judicial system in Kosovo. The report examines the evolution of the...
Joining efforts with international partners to support the development of statistical reports and dashboards for courts and prosecution offices in Kosovo*
In February 2020, the KoSEJ II Action and the USAID-funded project ‘Justice System Strengthening Programme’ (JSSP) formulated three key recommendations for the Kosovo Judicial Council and Kosovo* Prosecutorial Council regarding the development of statistical reports and dashboards that will be...
Improving the training curricula of the Justice Academy in Kosovo* with CEPEJ standards
On 21 January 2020, the CEPEJ expert Ms Marina Naumovska met with the newly-appointed director of the Justice Academy in Pristina as well as the heads of the initial and continuous training programmes to discuss ways to improve its curricula with CEPEJ standards and methodology. The expert also...
Introducing statistics in the new case management system in Kosovo*
In October 2019, a coordination group of international experts from the Norwegian-funded CMIS/ICT project, USAID and the CEPEJ was established to support the development of the statistics function of the case management system for courts and prosecution offices in Kosovo*. As a first step in this...
KoSEJ II - first Steering Committee (SC) meeting in Pristina
The First Steering Committee meeting of the KoSEJ II Action took place on 11 September 2019 at the Council of Europe Office in Pristina. Members and observers had the opportunity to discuss thoroughly key aspects of the Action following the KoSEJ recommendations and made concrete proposals for...
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