The Winter School of Justice awarded its five most successful participants on 9 March 2018. The Winter School was held on 24-28 February 2018 in Borjomi, Georgia and aimed at providing theoretical knowledge and practical skills to judicial assistants, representatives of court analytical units, and graduating Law School students. Sessions covered the issues on judicial ethics, discrimination, mediation and juvenile justice. Special emphases were made on the significance of the human rights based approach in the civil servants’ daily work.
The participants were selected by the specially established Commission that ensured diversity through the regional representation. The final positive assessment of the course provides solid grounds for sustainability and continuation of this programme by the Georgian Judiciary.
The Winter School was organised under the auspices of the High Council of Justice and the Supreme Court of Georgia. Organisational and financial supports were provided by the EU4Justice project, USAID/PROLoG project “Promoting Rule of Law in Georgia”, UNICEF, UNDP, the Council of Europe and UNHCHR in the scope of EU/UN joint programmes.
Chief Justice Ms Nino Gvenetadze highlighted the overall positive assessment of the Winter School despite its rather complex nature and expressed hope for its further continuation. High Council of Justice Secretary Mr Giorgi Miqautadze stressed the role judicial assistants serve in achieving quality justice, alongside the judges and extended gratitude to the Winter School donors for implementing this programme. Head of the Council of Europe Office in Georgia Mr Cristian Urse congratulated participants for their successful accomplishment of the demanding programme that had also contributed to their time-management skills, team-work capacity and self-discipline. Two participants will have the opportunity to participate at the study visit in Strasbourg, where they can familiarise themselves with the work of the European Court of Human Rights and other bodies of the Council of Europe.
The Council of Europe support for this activity was extended within the framework of the Project “Support to the Judicial Reform in Georgia”, funded by voluntary contributions of Bulgaria, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Norway, the Slovak Republic and Sweden to support the implementation of the Council of Europe Action plan for Georgia 2016-2019.
