The Council of Europe held on 23 October 2019 in Sarajevo the second Steering Committee meeting of the Project „Initiative for Legal Certainty and Efficient Judiciary in Bosnia and Herzegovina“. The steering committee members include the key stakeholders within the judiciary: the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HJPC), representatives of the Supreme Courts of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska, judicial training centres and the ministries of justice in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Steering Committee discussed the progress in the implementation of the project, which included the organisation of capacity building trainings for judges, launching of the human rights legal clinic for students, study visit of representatives of the judiciary of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Council of Europe, including the European Court of Human Rights, training for teaching staff of the law faculties in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Human Rights Summer School for students from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.

It also addressed the challenges related to the creation of an improved case law database within the HJPC and co-ordination between different actors involved in the process. It was noted that in the next six months the Project team should focus on supporting the case law departments within the highest courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina with a view of strengthening their role.

The Project will last until 30 June 2020 and is funded by the Kingdom of Norway.