On 16 November 2021 in Zagreb a new project aimed at the modernisation of judicial training in Croatia was jointly launched by the Council of Europe, the European Commission (namely DG Reform) and the project partners: Judicial Academy and the Office of the Government Representative before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

The modernisation is an element of the strengthening of efficiency of Croatian judiciary which is one of the key elements of the rule of law. The need to improve the effectiveness of the justice system in Croatia, to shorten the length of court proceedings, reduce the backlog of cases and improve the digitalisation of judicial procedures, is highlighted in the EU Rule of Law Report. The Croatian judiciary should be strengthened though development of remotely accessible training resources, and specifically training providing information on the existing standards in the field of human rights protection and the rule of law.

The Project “Promotion of the rule of law and fundamental rights through high-quality online trainings in the Croatian judiciary” will last 20 months and is aimed to support the Judicial Academy in Croatia to improve the methodology, tools and expertise to design and deliver high-quality trainings, especially in the field of human rights and the rule of law, tailored to the needs of the Croatian judiciary. The expertise of the CoE HELP (Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals) and its online courses (combining CoE and EU legal systems) will be crucial regarding the development of online training adapted to the national context. It will also take into consideration the EU Judicial Training Strategy adopted in 2021.

The event was attended by representatives of various stakeholders in the project: Judicial Academy of Croatia, Office of the Croatian Government Representative before the ECtHR, representatives of the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration, as well as representatives of international organisations: Council of Europe and European Commission.

The project is funded by the EU via the Technical Project Instrument of the European Union and implemented by the Council of Europe, in cooperation with the European Commission.