OSCE Mission to Serbia helps ethnic minorities to pursue careers in the judiciary
One of the most important and demanding steps for aspiring professionals in the legal field - in any country - is completion of the bar examination. And for ethnic minorities, who may have to take the exam in a language that is not their mother tongue, it can be especially tough.
To help Serbia's ethnic minorities prepare for the bar exam, the OSCE Mission and the Projuris Organization for Legal Education, a Belgrade-based non-governmental organization, have put together a two-month training programme.
"One of the programme's primary goals is to increase the number of ethnic minority candidates for positions within the judiciary," says Ruth van Rhijn, Head of the Rule of Law Department at the OSCE Mission.
"We believe that this will facilitate the integration of ethnic minorities into Serbia's judicial institutions."
Faton Mehmeti is an ethnic Albanian lawyer from south Serbia who has just completed the training programme in Bujanovac and is now ready to take the bar exam. Like many others, he faced the additional challenge of not being a native speaker of Serbian.
Beating the language barrier
"Without this training, it would have been very difficult to imagine myself working in the judiciary," Faton says. "But the programme helped me to overcome the language barrier and I feel very well prepared for the exam.
"Working as a prosecutor or judge in south Serbia is now something I can aspire to with a certain degree of confidence," he adds.
Candidates for the training, which - thanks to the efforts of the OSCE and Projuris - is free of charge, are selected through an open competition. Forty-three applicants were chosen to take part in the most recent programme in Bujanovac.
Experienced lecturers from the judiciary and law faculties ran courses in the ten subjects covered in the bar exam. Each participant received course materials, practice examinations and a set of ten publications, one for each subject.
Successful training
The OSCE has previously implemented two such programmes, in Sandzak and south Serbia, successfully training a total of 125 candidates for the bar exam. Out of the 69 candidates from south Serbia who took part, 22 successfully completed the exam.
One alumnus of this initiative is Judge Ismete Arifi of the Misdemeanour Court in Presevo. After completing the OSCE-Projuris programme, Judge Arifi, an ethnic Albanian, passed the exam and now serves her community.
"The training was very engaging, which made taking the exam a much more enjoyable experience," says Judge Arifi, a mother of two.
"By facilitating the process of integrating minorities into our judicial institutions, we can focus our attention on other issues facing the region, and for this, the OSCE and Projuris are to be commended."
Multi-ethnic approach
Although the training is open to anyone who wants to obtain a position in the judiciary, it maintains a multi-ethnic focus in order to foster more collaboration among the various participating groups. Of the 43 who took part in the latest programme in Bujanovac, there were 20 Serbian and 23 Albanian candidates.
"Our multi-ethnic approach is represented well by our candidates," says Mile Vukobradovic, Executive Director of Projuris. "We are seeing collaboration between the various communities of south Serbia and multi-ethnic representation in court should soon be more commonplace."
On 4 April, the Bujanovac participants had the opportunity to visit the Special War Crimes Court in Belgrade. They also visited the OSCE Mission for a presentation on its role and mandate, with particular emphasis on the Rule of Law Department.
"It's important these candidates witness the activities of the courts first hand," says the Mission's van Rhijn. "When they complete the bar exam and take up active roles within the judiciary, these individuals will be responsible for strengthening the rule of law and the protection of rights for all in Serbia."