On September 16th, 2021, the seventh and last meeting was held within the framework of the “Joint Commitment for Better Achievements in the Judiciary”, a project financed by the European Union and co-financed by the British Embassy in Skopje.
During the duration of the project, the advisory working group had as its goal the monitoring of the changes to the laws of the legal framework in accordance with the Strategy for Justice Reforms 2017-2022.
This discussion was attended by representatives from the Association of Judges of RNM, the Association of Judicial Administration of RNM, the Center for Legal Research and Analysis, the Institute for Human Rights, the Coalition for a Fair Trial, the Institute for European Politics, the Macedonian Association of Young Lawyers, the Center on Change Management and the Association for Criminal Law and Criminology.
The event included a brief overview of the results achieved during this project (February 2019- September 2021). Namely, for the duration of the project, several meetings were held, and several documents were also prepared. After the opening of the event, which was followed by a huge commitment, an Advisory Working Group was formed, and meetings of the Advisory Working Group were held to monitor changes in legislation and their impact on the judiciary. For this purpose, a Methodology was prepared for monitoring changes in the legislation and their impact on the judiciary.
An integral and key part of this project were the workshops held with judges and court administration. These meetings were held on 5 occasions, namely for each appeal area individually, and due to the size of the Skopje appeal area, two meetings were held.
In parallel with these meetings, a survey was conducted on judicial administration – perception, challenges and needs, the document “Joint Protocol for Unified Implementation and Efficiency in the Justice Sector” was also prepared, and a policy document was prepared with an action-oriented recommendation for transparent, accountable and effective judiciary.
Within the framework of this project, three videos have been prepared that refer to the work of the judicial administration in the courts of the Republic of North Macedonia, and which can help the citizens to get a clearer picture of the operation of the courts.
Due to the interest of the stakeholders, the donor approved the extension of the project for a duration of three months, and for this period it was planned to prepare a document for the judiciary’s actions in conditions of emergency – managing human resources and time, as well as maintaining an online academy for judges and court administration.
The focus of the project was the operation of the judicial administration in the courts, and through the foreseen activities, the involved parties advocated for the promotion of the necessity for a high degree of functionality of the judicial service.
The bearers of the project “Joint Commitment for Better Achievements in the Judiciary” are the Institute for Human Rights (IHR) and the Center for Legal Research and Analysis (CLRA) together with partners the Association of Judges of the RNM and the Association of Judicial Administration of the RNM.
This project is financed by the European Union and co-financed by the British Embassy in Skopje.