The Center for Legal Research and Analysis promoted 5 documents for public policies which have emanated from the main conclusions from the First National Report from the Judicial Indicator Matrix for measuring the performances and reform in the judic
The promotion was held in Skopje on 6th of October 2019 and at the meeting, where judges and representatives of the judicial administration from the Basic Courts of the Appellate area of Skopje have participated, the recommendations of the policy papers of further judicial reforms have been discussed and other practical solutions have been proposed for overcoming the obstacles in the work of the judges.
Opening speaker of the event was Nikola Jovanovski, program manager at CLRA, who referred to the results of the First national report from the Judicial Indicator Matrix for measuring the performances and reform in the judiciary, where one of the problems was the publication of the verdicts, the following of the judicial practice of the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights and also the shortage of judges and court administration. Also, the representative of CLRA informed the attendants that for every noted problem, the CLRA has already undertaken activities and will continue in supporting the judiciary in the upcoming period. CLRA is in a process of forming a coordinative body for identification of problems of the application of the legal norms and proposals for solutions of the problems through the judicial practice of the higher courts and as well he announced the beginning of the Open Justice initiative, supported by the British embassy in Skopje.
The crucial recommendations and proposals were presented by Gordana Lazetic PhD professor where the problems and the proposals in the part of the independence and impartiality of the judges, the quality and the effect of the judicial practice, transparency and accountability of the judiciary, the efficacy and the professional development of the judges were referred.
Through fruitful discussion, the judges discussed about the main problems in their everyday work, as one of the example is the mechanism of determining the orientation norm which affects the quality in the delivering of the judicial decisions and determining the complexity of cases, the procedure for evaluation and promotion of judges as crucial aspect of the independence of the judges, the functioning of the AKMIS system but also the ongoing shortage of technical and human resources as well as the question of the financial independence in the judiciary. The main law norms were discussed, the role of the Judicial Council of RNM in providing independence of the judges and operation with human resources.
The state counselor of the Ministry of Justice, Nikola Prokopenko, noted that all the policies which were foreseen of the judiciary and executed, by now, are not conducted on a facts and analysis and that represents the reason why most of the institutions are preparing functional analysis in the actual period, to assess the real capacities and the needed policies in the judiciary. He stated that at the moment, a Strategy for HR in the Judiciary and the Public Prosecution is being prepared, which will be in focus for the next period.
The most important findings of these documents and their recommendations are intended for the creators of public policies in the judiciary, the members of the Judicial Council, the judges, the judicial administration, the Public Prosecutors, the legal profession as well as the rest of the stakeholders in the judiciary, and the same recommendations and conclusions should be in compliance with the main goals of the Strategy for reforms of the Judiciary 2017-2022 of the Ministry of Justice.
In the following period, CLRA will promote the documents before every appellate area and the high courts. The main recommendations will be part of improvement plan, which will be shared with the Ministry of Justice and the Judicial Council of RNM. The documents and their promotion are prepared with support of the British embassy of Skopje as part of the program “Enhancing the transparency, legal certainty and efficiency in the judiciary of North Macedonia”, implemented by the Center for Legal Research and Analysis.
