In May and October 2022, the first two thematic workshops were held in Naples on the effective implementation of the ECHR judgments against Italy in the field of child adoption (Zhou group of cases), children’s placement in foster care and non-implementation of judicial decisions regulating parental visiting rights (Terna group of cases), domestic violence (Talpis group of cases) and secondary victimisation (J.L. case).
This was the result of the Italian authorities’ decision in 2022, during their Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, to promote an innovative approach to the training and capacity building of the judiciary. Thus, the Italian School of the Judiciary (“Scuola Superiore della Magistratura”) launched the "Strasbourg Workshops" project to offer judges the opportunity to discuss in a targeted and practical manner certain challenging issues concerning the execution of ECHR judgments against Italy.
These two-day workshops consist of two sessions: a first in which interventions of national and international experts (including national judges, the Ministry of Justice, the European Court and the Department for the Execution of Judgments) provide a general overview of the chosen subject which is then discussed by the participants in a guided plenary session.
In a second session, parallel working groups of approximately twenty judges are convened in which dialogue and experience sharing aim at identifying viable and effective solutions to the shortcomings highlighted by the ECHR judgments and the Committee of Ministers’ decisions in specific cases. This may include the development of national procedural guidelines and the gathering and circulation of a compilation of good practices. At the end of the workshop, a report takes stock of the discussions and necessary follow up.
In light of the extremely positive evaluation by the participants of the 2022 workshops, the School of the Judiciary plans to organise more workshops on topical execution-related issues in 2023.
