Open Judiciary

About the Project

Building public trust in the judiciary remains one of the key challenges for the justice system in the Republic of North Macedonia. Research consistently shows that the judiciary ranks among the country’s least trusted institutions, while international reports continue to identify challenges related to transparency, accountability, and communication with the public. Despite significant progress in implementing judicial reforms and advancing digitalization, access to information about the work of the courts remains limited, and communication with citizens and the media is often insufficiently developed.

In this context, the Center for Legal Research and Analysis (CLRA) is implementing the “Open Judiciary” project, with the aim of contributing to a more open, transparent, and accountable judiciary. The project is being implemented within the framework of the Open Judiciary Council, in partnership with the Supreme Court, the Judicial Council, the Ministry of Justice, and the Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors. The project activities are directly aligned with the measures outlined in the national Open Government Partnership (OGP) Action Plan, ensuring institutional support and the long-term sustainability of the project’s results.

The project’s overall objective is to strengthen transparency, accountability, and public trust in the judiciary by establishing sustainable standards for open data, improving communication with the public, and promoting the strategic management of judicial openness. The project also directly contributes to the implementation of the priorities under Chapter 23 – Judiciary and Fundamental Rights, as part of North Macedonia’s European Union accession process.

Specific Objectives of the project:

• Establish a unified model for the standardized publication of open data on the websites of all courts.
• Improve communication between the judiciary, the public, and the media through the development of a methodology and a handbook for proactive communication.
• Institutionalize judicial openness through the development and adoption of a Five-Year Judicial Openness Strategy (2026–2030).

The “Open Judiciary” project is supported by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).