OSCE Mission to Skopje helps further judiciary reform

To help the country move closer to international and European Union standards, the OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje is supporting judicial reform efforts by: 

• helping to equip courts with case distribution software, 
• providing training opportunities for judicial staff and officials, 
• working to improve the country's legislative framework, and 
• enhancing its capacity to combat serious and organized crimes.

The need for reform

"In recent years, the country's judiciary system has been criticized for its lack of transparency," says Judge Lazar Nanev, President of Kavadarci Basic Court and Head of the Council for Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency, a non-governmental organization.

"Until now, the national courts have failed to disclose adequate information on their work and the performance of judges, which lowers public trust in the judiciary." One reason for this is the general perception that many court presidents and administrators manipulate the allocation of cases to "appropriate" judges.

With OSCE support, the presidents of the country's three appellate courts and the Council for Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency helped create new computer software that automatically assigns court cases to judges.

"This will help to build greater public trust in a more transparent and unbiased judicial system," says Veli Vedat, President of the Skopje Appellate Court. Distribution of the new software began in October 2006.

The Mission also organizes training workshops for judges and prosecutors on topics such as international humanitarian law, serious and complex crimes, witness protection, ethics and the European Convention on Human Rights.

The reform strategy

The driving force behind these initiatives is the national strategy on judicial reform, which calls for a series of measures to create a new procedural and legal framework with improved organizational, managerial, material and human resources. It sets out specific tasks for the Government, parliament, judiciary and Office of the Public Prosecutor.

"We determined our goals, and the short-term and medium-term tasks needed to achieve these ambitious goals," says Justice Minister Mihajlo Manevski. He explains that changes to the judiciary - which have included substantive law, litigation law and structural issues - are part of larger well-coordinated efforts covering the reform of the executive government, public administration and local self-government.

"Judicial reform also means institutional stability, de-politicization of the judiciary and increased capacity of our state to perform its roles - from regulatory to supervisory. This will help economic development and increase public control over the Government," says the Minister.

The national strategy currently focuses on issues such as reforming judicial training structures, appointment processes and disciplinary proceedings. Many newly adopted laws apply to these areas, such as:

• the Law on Academy for Training of Judges and Prosecutors, 
• the Law on Enforcement of Civil Judgments, 
• the Law on Courts, 
• the Law on Civil Procedure, and 
• the Law on the Judicial Council.

New legislation also aims to ensure equitable representation of all ethnic communities in the newly-created judicial bodies, while maintaining high professional standards. "The OSCE Mission has provided expert advice on the drafting of new laws as well as training support to promote their implementation," says Victor Ullom, Head of the Mission's Rule of Law Unit.

Combating serious and organized crimes

An important aim of judicial reform is to increase the effectiveness of the judiciary in combating serious and organized crime. In January 2006, the new Unit to Combat Organized Crime started its work within the Office of the Public Prosecutor.

Since then, the OSCE Mission, in co-operation with the United States Department of Justice, has helped train the Unit's prosecutors on all aspects of complex and serious crimes. Specialized serious crimes departments, called for in the new Law on Courts, will also begin to function in five courts on 1 April 2007.

"The Mission's assistance is very timely. It helps us a lot to learn about best practices on meeting international standards," says Gordana Geshkovska, Head of the Public Prosecutors Association and member of the Unit to Combat Organized Crime. "Serious crimes are very complex - difficult to investigate, prosecute and adjudicate. Often the cases are politically sensitive and generate much public attention."

"The real challenge now," adds the OSCE's Ullom, "is the proper implementation of new legislation by the institutions and each citizen's respect for the rule of law. This will determine if reforms succeed or fail."