The project, which is part of the “Horizontal Facility for Western Balkans and Turkey”, co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe (CoE), was launched on the 16 February 2017 in Skopje. It is expected to be completed by 31 May 2018.

The overall objective of the project is aimed at strengthening the capacities of judges and prosecutors, including Constitutional Court’s judges to safeguard human rights and to combat ill-treatment and impunity.

More than 50 representatives from the main beneficiaries from the country, including the Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors, the Constitutional Court, the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Court, Appeal Courts and the Ombudsman Institution, representatives from the international community, BAR association, non-governmental organization and media attended the launching event.

The welcoming addresses were delivered by:  Mr Nicola Bertolini, Head of Cooperation, Delegation of the European Union, Mr Daniel Schmidt, Head of South East Europe and Turkey Unit, Council of Europe; Mr Nikola Ivanovski President of the Constitutional Court and Ms Aneta Arnaudovska, Director, Academy for judges and prosecutors. Mr Daniel Schmidt reiterated the importance of preventing and protecting human rights violations through effective domestic remedies, applying European human rights standards at national level.

Participants were informed about project’s activities, the role of the judiciary in applying standards of the European Convention on Human Rights and the importance of judiciary training in strengthening capacities of legal professionals. Ms Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska, former Section President at the European Court of Human Rights (“ECtHR”) and Kostantin Bogdanov, Director of Bureau for representing the state before the ECtHR gave overview and impact of the most relevant ECtHR case-law in relation to fairness of the proceedings, rights to liberty and security and prohibition of torture and ill treatment. The launching event had very good media coverage.