Joint Programme Enhancing judicial reform in the Eastern Partnership countries

1. Joint ProgrammeEnhancing judicial reform in the Eastern Partnership countries

2. General purpose Support judicial reform in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine • Independence • Professionalism • Efficiency Judicial component

3. Specific objectives • Challenges vs European standards on judiciary: identification • Solutions: finding • Recommendations: dissemination and follow-up Judicial component

4. Methodology Multilateral Regional Peer-to-peer approach ► Bilateral Country based, stakeholder focused► Process of intensive information and best practice exchange • CoE expertise Discussion of country recommendations; Follow-up with national authorities on concrete steps to be taken Judicial component

5. Issues addressed by the project • The institutional independence of the judiciary and the independence of individual judges; • The role of the bar, the access to the profession of lawyer, the training and ethical standards of lawyers; disciplinary proceedings against lawyers; • Initial and continuous training of judges; • The efficiency and the performance of the judicial system and the courts. Judicial component

6. Project progress • Three working groups on Independent, Professional and Efficient Judicial System completed their work; • Four comprehensive reports were prepared on “Judicial self-governing bodies and career of judges,” “The profession of lawyer,” “Training of Judges” and “Efficient Judicial Systems”; all reports were updated, reflecting the in-country discussions and are available on the project web-site; • In October 2013 the project will complete all in-country discussions and dissemination of the findings and recommendations of the analysis of judicial reforms in the Eastern Partner countries. Judicial component

7. Progress vis-à-vis specific objectives Target: Legal and practical obstacles to the implementation of the European standards as regards judicial reform to be identified, through intensive information and best practice sharing • Fully achieved – fully identified legal and practical obstacles to an independent and professional judiciary; shortcomings in the field of judicial efficiency were also identified. Regional trends and problems also identified. Judicial component

8. Progress vis-à-vis specific objectives Target: Projects recommendations and best practices are disseminated among key national authorities and stakeholders at the national level with a view to adjusting judicial reform policies in the identified areas of concern. • Fully achieved– dissemination of the recommendations and discussions on a bilateral level of were completed for the three working groups; all the reports were further disseminated among the key stakeholders and beneficiaries.

9. Progress vis-à-vis specific objectives • Five Eastern Partner countries have available a comprehensive analysis of the current state of judicial reforms, focusing on the issues of independence, professionalism and efficiency of the judicial systems in these countries; • Five Eastern Partner countries are aware of the main shortcomings identified as regards the compatibility of domestic legislation and practice with relevant European standards; the project drew up country-specific recommendations on the steps needed to be taken to meet these standards; • Their capacity on European standards and tools were strengthened, that would help to enhance national capacities of the elaboration in legislation and policies related to the independence, the professionalism and the efficiency of the judiciary;

10. Project results • Links among the judicial and legal professionals from the Eastern Partnership countries were strengthened, and helped pave the way for establishing a sustainable network for exchange of information on specific matters of concern between the professionals from Eastern Partners; • Georgia and the Republic of Moldova benefited from the project findings and amended their legislation in-line with the project recommendations during the project implementation, while other national authorities committed to consider the Council of Europe recommendations in the future cycle of judicial reforms.

11. Project outputs • In-depth reports on “Judicial Self-Governing Bodies and Judges’ Career,” “The Profession of Lawyer,” “Training of Judges” and “Efficient Judicial Systems” available in English and Russian: • Recommendations at a country and regional level; • Comprehensive analysis of the legislation of participating countries; • Examples of best practices from the participating countries; • Country sheets and relevant legislation of the EaP countries; • The analysis serves countries as a base line and benchmark the progress of their reforms vis-à-vis the key issues and recommendations provided by the project. • Judicial component

12. Project outputs • Multilateral forum: an informal forum, that allows: • to discuss the current state of affairs of the national judicial systems; • to exchange of the best practices and expertise at the regional level and opportunity to draw regional overviews and recommendations; • to see what is the progress made and in what directions the judicial systems have evolved; what are country specific issues to be addressed, as well as what issues are common in the region. Judicial component

13. Next steps • Take stock of the recent developments in the field of judicial reform in the Eastern Partners (in particular any follow-up provided to the Project recommendations) in a regional meeting; • Evaluate project results and possible follow-up to be given. Judicial component

14. On behalf of the Justice and Legal Co-operation Department Thank you for your attention Furtherinformation on the project: DGHL_capacitybuilding@coe.int http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/cooperation/capacitybuilding/ Judicial component