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Back Well-reasoned judicial decisions are the key safeguard against arbitrary adjudication

From 5 -6 April 2022, the Council of Europe organised a training for 20 judges and legal advisors related to legal reasoning and legal drafting in criminal cases.

The trainings brought to light the necessity for the courts to give sufficient reasons to render judgment, since only the parties to the proceedings can understand the reason and the method used by the judge to come to a certain conclusion. Good reasoning also facilitates acceptance of the judgment by the parties and the general public. Additionally, well-reasoned judicial decisions are a safeguard against arbitrary adjudication and ensure the proper delivery of justice, but also public trust in the judicial system.

In deciding cases at domestic level, the courts are obliged under domestic law to provide detailed reasoning for their judgments. However, substantial obligations concerning the content of that reasoning stem also from the European Convention on Human Rights (the ECHR), as interpreted by the European Court of Human Rights (the ECtHR) in its case-law – explicitly under Article 6 of the ECHR.

The training was organised in cooperation with the Judicial and Prosecutorial Training Centres of Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina under the project: “Initiative for Legal Certainty and Efficient Judiciary in Bosnia and Herzegovina - Phase III”, funded by the Kingdom of Norway.

Bosnia and Herzegovina 5-6 April 2022
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DETAILED PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Project title

Initiative for Legal Certainty and Efficient Judiciary in Bosnia and Herzegovina - Phase III

Country/region

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Budget

700 000 EUR

Donor

The Project is funded by voluntary contributions in the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina

(2022–2025)-

Duration

24 months (1 January 2021 – 31 December 2023)

Partners and beneficiaries

Ministries of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Federation of BiH and Republika Srpska,  High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Supreme Court of Republika Srpska, Appellate Court of Brčko District; Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina; Judicial and Prosecutorial Training Centres of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska; Law faculties of Universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina; judiciary in BiH, Office of Government Agents before the ECtHR.

Main objective

To ensure a better protection of human rights of individuals under the jurisdiction of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the help of an efficient judiciary which delivers a timely, high-quality and coherent justice in line with the ECHR standards and the ECtHR case law.

What do we expect to achieve?
  • Enhancement of fora and measures for harmonisation of judicial practice and prevention of conflicting case-law;
  • Strengthening the mechanism for the execution of the ECtHR judgments as a prerequisite for effective and uniform national implementation of ECHR standards.
  • Strengthening the capacities of legal professionals to apply ECHR standards in coherent manner.
  • Improved efficiency of courts and ensured better judicial protection for citizens in line with the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights;
  • Strengthened capacity of National Training Institutions for judges and prosecutors in delivering a structured human rights training;
  • Support to law faculties to provide human rights training.

Key activities

- Development of a structured training modules in line with Human rights training curriculum for initial and continuous training of judges and prosecutors;

- Delivering of a structured training for judges/legal advisors from the case-law departments of the highest courts on consistency of judicial case-law and early identification of case law inconsistency and ECHR standards;

- Training of the representatives of Office of Government Agents before the ECtHR trained on execution process procedures and legal drafting of execution process related documents;

- Providing support to the national institutions in the process of execution of ECtHR judgements;

- Establishment of a pool of trainers for initial training for newly appointed judges and prosecutors;

- Thematic extracurricular activities on the ECHR standards for law students in Bosnia and Herzegovina;

- Establishment of preconditions for a systemic introduction of a Human Rights curriculum at the public law faculties in Bosnia and Herzegovina.