On May 31st and June 1st, year 2021, the Fifth workshop on responsibility, effectiveness and transparency in the judiciary was held in hotel Gardenia in Veles for the employees of the courts of the Skopje appellate area.
In the framework of the project “Joint Commitment for Better Achievements in the Judiciary”, a total of five workshops of this type were planned with interactive participation of the attendees and lecturers, and this was the last workshop held within the framework of this project.
Due to the seriousness of the situation with the COVID-19 virus, the meeting was held in full compliance with the measures and protocols provided for the protection of the participants when holding such meetings.
The event was opened by the president of ICP, Margarita Nikolovska Caca, where she gave a brief overview of the project activities, the importance of the project itself and the challenges arising from it, which refer to the focus of the project, i.e. court administration.
In the welcome addresses, Nikola Jovanovski – Program Manager at CLRA emphasized the necessity of cooperation and the need for its improvement between the court administration and the judges. His presentation covered topics related to the functionality of the judiciary according to international instruments and results of domestic research.
One of the members of the Judicial Council of the RNM, Sashko Georgiev, gave an address in which he referred to the past activities of the Judicial Council of the RNM in relation to the legal amendments, the activities undertaken and the challenges that the SSRSM is actively working on in terms of improving transparency, accountability and effectiveness of the judiciary as a whole.
The president of the Association of Court Administration Sasho Temelkoski spoke on the basis of the current developments with the situation in the court administration and expressed gratitude and readiness for further cooperation in order to increase efficiency, transparency and accountability. The project “Joint Commitment for Better Achievements in the Judiciary” is a unique project that focuses on the judicial administration and the improvements of the conditions in it. Several points were presented that referred to the need for increased efficiency and cooperation between the judicial administration, the judicial budget council, the Judicial Council of the RNM and other stakeholders.
After the presentation of the speakers, a session for questions and comments was opened, and the experiences of the practices of the representatives from the courts and law firms were presented. Subjects that need to be corrected in order for efficient, transparent and accountable work were pointed out, and they were pointed out as common by the court administration, judges, professional associates and lawyers. The comments referred to e-delivery, the opportunities and challenges for its implementation, the development of ICT technology and its results, interoperability of institutions, etc.
The lecturers for this workshop were Dr. Natasha Gaber-Damjanovska, director of the Academy of Judges and Public Prosecutors, Lazar Nanev, judge from Kavadarci District Court, prof. Dr. Gordana Lažetić from the Faculty of Law “Justinian the First” – Skopje and Lidija Tanevska – Jadrovska, head of the office of the President of the Supreme Court and a representative from the Association of Court Administration.
The topics on which the lecturers had their presentations included the status of judges according to domestic and international legal frameworks, the disciplinary versus ethical responsibility of judges, resources in the judiciary and the interoperability of case management, the AKMIS system, stress management as well as effective internal and external communication of the employees in the judicial instances.
This workshop is carried out as part of the project “Joint Commitment for Better Achievements in the Judiciary” which is implemented jointly by the Institute for Human Rights and the Center for Legal Research and Analysis, and it is carried out in cooperation with the Association of Judges and the Association of Judicial administration.
The goal of the project is to increase the influence of citizens’ associations and professional associations in judicial reforms through their joint involvement in the evaluation of the judiciary’s operation through effective cooperation with all stakeholders in the judiciary.
The project is financed by the European Union through the Department for Central Financing and Contracting and co-financed by the British Embassy in Skopje.