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A workshop for presentation of the Draft Regulation on the internal organization and functioning of the State Prosecutor, is held

Prishtina, 25 November 2021 – KPC, supported by the European Union Kosovo Justice Sector Programme- EUKOJUST, has organized a three-day workshop, which is attended by the Chair Jetish Maloku, Chief Prosecutors, Prosecutors from the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor, EUKOJUST representatives, members of the Committee on Normative Affairs, members of the drafting group and heads of units from the administration of the Kosovo prosecutorial system.The purpose of this workshop is to introduce and discuss the internal organization and functioning of the State Prosecutor, including discussing the draft organizational charts of the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor, the Appellate Prosecution, the Special Prosecution of the Republic of Kosovo and the basic prosecutor offices.In the framework of the presentations and discussions of the general draft of this regulation, a special emphasis is placed on the structure and responsibilities, organization of work, organization of the administration and the essential working conditions of the state prosecutor.At the end of this workshop, it was concluded that this draft contains important elements for the best functioning of the work in the State Prosecutors Institution, the approval and implementation of which will, in the future, contribute to strengthening and better management of the work of the State Prosecutors office.

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Strengthening Legal Department of the MoJ

On November 11, EUKOJUST organized a roundtable on „Strengthening the Legal Department of the Ministry of Justice “. After the presentation of the preliminary findings, by the German expert, all stakeholders were invited to discuss among others the issue of restructuring of the Legal Department, specialization of the staff and cooperation with other departments within the Ministry. The Roundtable was an opportunity to reflect on the competences, roles and responsibilities of the Legal Department followed by an open discussion and consultation on how EUKOJUST Project can contribute to strengthen the Legal Department and the Ministry, in the future.

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Roundtable on International Legal Cooperation – Kosovo has made remarkable progress

International legal cooperation both in criminal and in civil matters is crucial for Kosovo’s regional and global standing. Such cooperation is one segment of a country’s external relations. A roundtable dedicated to the Department for International Legal Cooperation in the Ministry of Justice, took place on November 9. EUKOJUST Short term expert, Christian Johnson, conducted an analysis of the internal organization of the Department (divisions, workflow, statistics, staff, premises and IT environment, translation) as well as Kosovo’s current legal basis for international cooperation (national laws, bilateral agreements). Based on this comprehensive assessment, participants that included not only staff from the Department at stake, but judges and public prosecutors from various courts and public prosecutions offices throughout the country who rely on the functioning of international cooperation for their cases, engaged in a lively and fruitful discussion on several important aspects to further improve this cooperation. Special focus was laid on the field of extradition – which is already functioning very well – and the issue of translation, which is technical and often enough underestimated, but crucial.

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Workshop on Finalization of the Draft Administrative Instruction on Standards of Drafting of Legal Acts

From 3 to 5 November, EUKOJUST in cooperation with the Legal Office of the Prime Minister and the Official Gazette, organized a workshop to finalize the Draft Administrative Instruction on Standards of Drafting of Legal Acts. This workshop was a follow up of a workshop organized this year in September.The Draft Administrative Instruction drafted by EUKOJUST served as a basis for the discussions and drafting of the new Draft Administrative Instruction. The final Draft Administrative Instruction introduces several novelties in relation to the Administrative Instruction in force. This draft contains the normative part where the main rules and principles of standards of drafting of legal acts are included. These rules and principles are further elaborated in a detailed manual for drafting of legal acts where concrete examples and explanations are provided. For the first time, the Draft Administrative Instruction introduces rules on techniques of amending legislation and authorization for sub-legal acts. The normative part of the Draft Administrative Instruction was finalized during this workshop. EUKOJUST, the Legal Office of the OPM and the Official Gazette are planning to organize other workshops in the coming months in order to finalize the Manual on Legal Drafting which will be an integral part of this Administrative Instruction.

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Workshop on the Presentation of the EU Acquis on Criminal Procedure and Kick Off of the Pre-screening thematic approach

On 29 October EUKJUST, in cooperation with the Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Justice, organized a Workshop on the presentation of the EU Acquis on Criminal Procedure. The workshop marked the kick-off of the pre-screening thematic approach to legal approximation. At the same time, the workshop served as an awareness raising for various stakeholders and practitioners dealing with criminal procedure in their professional daily activities. The Deputy Minister of Justice, Dr. Nita Shala held a welcoming speech, where she expressed the support of the Ministry of Justice and the Government of Kosovo regarding the change of approach in the approximation of the legislation with the EU Acquis. The focus of the workshop was the presentation of the Report on Six EU Directives on Criminal Procedure prepared by EUKOJUST Short Term Expert, Dr. Tony Marguery. The Report describes the EU acquis on Criminal Procedure with a focus on bottlenecks for transposing authorities as well as the interpretation of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. The workshop was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Justice, Office of the Prime Minister, judges and prosecutors, police officers, defense lawyers and Correctional Service. All participants engaged into lively and fruitful discussions. EUKOJUST Short Term Expert Dr. Marguery and EUKOJUST Long Term Expert Dr. Idlir Peci steered the discussion and gave an overview of the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights on all the topics discussed. This was the first workshop in a series of workshops that EUKOJUST is planning to organize on EU Acquis and legal approximation.

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EUKOJUST supports KPC in Strategic Planning process

On 2 – 5 November 2021, the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council (KPC) organized a workshop in Tirana, to set up the fundamental directions and foundation for the Strategic Plan 2022 – 2025.

EUKOJUST Long-Term Expert Cristian Nicoara and Short-Term Expert Paul Beasley were invited to support the process and present international and European perspectives on strategic planning mechanisms and processes. Following the presentation delivered at the very beginning of the workshop, which established the line of work and institutional mechanisms to be followed while thinking strategic planning, the two EUKOJUST experts supported the discussions that followed on focusing the decision-making process towards establishing the strategic and operational lines of the Plan.

The activity will continue during the coming weeks with the work at the KPC to establish the content of the plan as designed, while during early December a final workshop will be organized, with the support of EUKOJUST, to finalize the Strategic Plan draft in order to present it to the KPC for approval.

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The Role of the Lawyer in representing the victims of Domestic Violence

EUKOJUST project, in cooperation with the Kosovo Chamber of Advocates (KCA), organized a one-day training with the topic “The Role of the Lawyer in representing the victims of Domestic Violence”. The training was delivered by the EUKOJUST Long Term Expert on Public Legal Education / Domestic Violence and Marginalized Groups Bardhë Krasniqi and Legal Advisor Nita Bejta to 18 lawyers licensed by the KCA. The focus of the training was building professional capacities of lawyers on protection from domestic violence, national legal framework including the latest trends in international law and jurisprudence, as part of the continuous legal education programme under the KCA umbrella, as well as building the soft skills of lawyers to understand the dynamics of domestic violence situations.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 on strengthening access to justice for all citizens in Kosovo, particularly in the field of domestic violence and disadvantaged or marginalized groups.

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EUKOJUST supports KJA senior staff with project management training.

On 18th, 21st and 27th October, EUKOJUST LTEs Cristian Nicoara and Dragomir Yordanov delivered a course on “Fundamentals of Project Management” for the senior management staff of the Kosovo Justice Academy. In preparation for the upcoming projects, the major one being the movement of the Academy’s operations from the present location to the new one, the course focused on the major directions the project manager has to look towards to ensure successful implementation of the projects. The project lifecycle stages were presented, discussed and detailed, while exemplified with relevant activities from the KJA portfolio.

This phase of the course will be followed by a practical exercise scheduled for November 2021, where KJA senior management staff will work on significant real-life projects, thus bringing to fruition the knowledge presented and their professional expertise.