Month: June 2022

Building professional capacities of lawyers on the international and national legal framework for protection from domestic violence was the focus of a one-day training held in Prizren. The training was organised in cooperation with the Kosovo Bar Association (KBA) and delivered by the EUKOJUST Long Term Expert on Public Legal Education / Domestic Violence and Marginalized Groups Bardhë Krasniqi and Legal Advisor Nita Bejta. Almost 70 lawyers from the Prizren region licensed by the KBA attended the training.

“The Role of the Lawyer in representing the victims of Domestic Violence,” training also aimed at building the soft skills of lawyers to understand the dynamics of domestic violence situations – as part of the continuous legal education programme under the KBA umbrella.

The trainers discussed the need to apply human rights standards such as the Istanbul Convention, CEDAW – Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, ECHR – European Convention on Human Rights and the use of ECtHR – European Court of Human Rights case law in the Kosovo legal practice. This training raised the standard of practice for lawyers who will deal with Domestic Violence cases and will equip lawyers practicing in all areas with the necessary tools to handle Domestic violence or to screen for domestic abuse and provide appropriate legal advice when domestic violence has been identified as an issue.

The participants highly appreciated this training and benefited both from the professional point of view and from the good experience of the trainers.

The training was delivered under the EUKOJUST project’s specific objective of strengthening access to justice for all citizens in Kosovo, particularly in the field of domestic violence and disadvantaged or marginalized groups.

Members of the Kosovo Judicial Council (KJC), and heads of the Council’s Secretariat are attending the three-day intensive workshop organized by EUKOJUST to amend and further advance the regulatory framework pertaining to a better administration of the KJC and courts in Kosovo.

This includes the Case Management Information System use, administration of KJC and courts, functioning of the KJC’s Secretariat and the Judicial Inspection Unit, the status, rights, obligations, performance appraisal, disciplinary procedure, and termination of employment of professional associates as well as on non-financial assets and transfer of judges.

Besides, with the support of EUKOJUST expertise, KJC is conceptualizing the regulatory basis for the implementation of E-Payments in courts and introducing the concept on drafting a detailed strategic plan and action plan on systematization, automatization, and digitalization of judicial archives.

Chairman Albert Zogaj opened the workshop and on behalf of the Kosovo Judicial Council thanked the EUKOJUST project for its continued support to the judicial system of Kosovo, which aims to advance the judicial system and increase transparency and accountability.

Today is the third day of the Workshop organized by EUKOJUST for the inter-institutional Working Group for drafting the Law on National Centralized Criminal Record.

Moreover, EUKOJUST provided direct expertise in favour of the most accurate and clear drafting of legal provisions of this law.

Through the draft law that is being attempted to be completed in this Workshop and prepared for approval by the Government of Kosovo, the management of the centralized criminal evidence system, the role of the Ministry of Justice and the Kosovo Judicial Council in this segment will be regulated, as well as the citizens’ easy access in the criminal records certificates. The draft law will functionalize the central system of criminal records in practice and will make a step forward toward the digitalization of the justice system and facilitate access to justice for all citizens.

EUKOJUST continuously supports the Ministry of Justice and independent institutions, namely the Judicial and Prosecutorial Councils, in designing the best policies for the system with the aim to support real inter-institutional cooperation.

Kosovo Justice Academy (KJA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with several Kosovo civil society organisations (CSOs), including BIRN and Internews Kosova, Kosovo Democratic Institute, Kosovo Law Institute, Advocacy Training & Resource Center – ATRC, Qendra Kosovare për Studime Gjinore, Voice of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians, Cel Kosovo, CSGD, on Tuesday, 31 May 2022.

The Memorandum entails the use of experience and capacities of non-governmental organizations in promoting good practices for judges, prosecutors, and support staff in matters related to human rights, anti-corruption, organized crime, access to justice and accountability, under the Friends of the Academy Network. In line with the approved Kosovo Rule of Law Strategy and Action Plan, the signing of the Memorandum was preceded by intense consultations between non-governmental organizations, Kosovo Justice Academy and EUKOJUST Expert on Access to Justice, Alina Laura Matache.

Moreover, at the event KJA and civil society had the opportunity to exchange information over training curricula’s quality and adult learning in the judicial sector, while Dragomir Yordanov, EUKOJUST Expert on training and capacity building, delivered a presentation on the best practices on judicial training methodology.

In concrete terms, the Memorandum of Understanding aims at:

• An increased ability for the Kosovo Justice Academy to conduct training needs assessment; to gather and analyze useful and timely information about legal shortcomings.
• Increased ability of KJA and CSOs to work together in developing innovative, long-term approaches to enhance judicial training.
• Joint efforts towards enhancing rule of law through contribution to human rights education of high quality.
• Joint efforts in advancing the agenda of gender equality and women empowerment, through supporting platforms to ensure that the justice sector stakeholders are gender sensitized in their approach when dealing with women survivors of violence considering national legal framework and international best practices.
• Coordinated response mechanism from the state, the judiciary and legal community and other stakeholders will increase vulnerable communities’ access to justice.