Month: July 2022

The 7^th Steering Committee meeting of the European Union / Kosovo Justice Sector Programme EUKOJUST, was held on Wednesday, July 27, 2022 in Pristina.

The meeting was chaired by the Head of the Legal Office of the Prime Minister’s Office Mr. Mentor Borovci, and it was attended by the Kosovo Minister of Justice, Ms. Albulena Haxhiu the Chair of the Kosovo Judicial Council, Mr. Albert Zogaj, Mr. Jetish Maloku – Chair of the Prosecutorial Council, Mr. Enver Peci – President of the Supreme Court, Mr. Besim Kelmendi – Acting Chief State Prosecutor, Director of the Kosovo Justice Academy Mr. Enver Fejzullahu, Director of the EUKOJUST Project from IRZ, Ms. Teresa Thalhammer and Mr. Nicola Scaramuzzo from the EU Office in Kosovo.

The representatives of the key judicial institutions in Kosovo have actively contributed to the discussion of the activities and achievements of the Project presented in the 6th quarterly report covering the period April – June 2022 and presented their views on the way forward. Following the discussion, the Steering Committee voting right members, agreed on the date of next Steering Committee meeting and its chair.

On 26.07.2022, the Workshop for coordinating the upcoming steps related to the Administrative Justice reform was organized with the support of EUKOJUST.

The Deputy Minister of Justice, Mr. Blerim Sallahu, the Chair of the Kosovo Judicial Council (KJC), Mr. Albert Zogaj, and the representative of the EU Office in Kosovo, Mr. Nicola Scaramuzzo, addressed the participants.

In an open discussion, the participants discussed in general the reform of the legal and institutional framework for administrative justice and the coordination of this initiative with the currently ongoing initiatives in interrelated fields.

The event of today is a continuation of coordinated efforts in the frame of the Statement of Commitment signed jointly by the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Justice and the Kosovo Judicial Council for reforms in three main areas, namely the Draft Civil Procedure Code, Administrative Justice Reform and restructuring of the Special Chamber of the Supreme Court on privatization related matters.

EUKOJUST continues to support Kosovo’s rule of law institutions in strengthening their capacities, policies and practices. Since 2021, EUKOJUST is supporting Ministry of Justice in finalizing the Report on ex-post evaluation of the Law on Bar.

On 21 July 2022, work continued by sharing this Report with representatives of Kosovo Bar Association, Ministry of Justice, Enforcement Chamber, in a roundtable which provided an ideal platform for sharing the report and receiving final round of input of those institutions.

Report on ex-post evaluation of the Law on Bar will be utilized to address the needs for further intervention at the policy or practical level.

The Kosovo Judicial Council (KJC) and EUKOJUST organized the certificate distribution ceremony for over 100 certified judicial translators, on Thursday, July 14, 2022.

EUKOJUST Team Leader, Volkmar Theobald, congratulated the KJC for organizing this first time ever competition, very much needed, for the certification of Kosovo translators, and expressed the willingness to support the Council in the future in improving the quality of translations, including official languages of non-majority communities.

“The correct use of the official languages in judicial and prosecutorial systems in Kosovo is of outmost importance to guarantee international fair trial standards and access to justice for all. The role of a translator is an important key role in Access to Justice,” said Theobald.

The chairman of KJC, Albert Zogaj, said the certification of translators is very important for the judicial system. “Certification of translators is vital to a proper legal system. Without clear communication between judges, lawyers and parties, justice may not be served,” said Zogaj.

“The importance of this certification guarantees the quality of service in the judicial system. With this certification we also pave the way for new translators who will increase the quality of translation and interpretation in different languages. Now we will have a new, updated list of court interpreters that all courts will be equipped with” – he said.

The Commissioner for Languages, Slavisa Mladenovic, said that some positive steps have been taken in the provision of translation services in the courts, where translators have been equipped with the most advanced electronic equipment for translation, the number of translators has increased and training for translators has been provided. Therefore, he believes that even this certification of translators will further increase public confidence, offering citizens more correct access to translated judicial processes.

There are 78 candidates who have been certified as court interpreters for the Albanian-Serbian language, while there are 104 candidates who have been certified for Albanian-English language.

EUKOJUST Expert on Access to Justice, Alina Matache and EUKOJUST Legal Advisor Nita Bejta organized an Info Session on Access to Justice for female inmates at the Female Correctional Centre on 6 of July, in partnership with the Kosovo Free Legal Aid Agency and the Ombudsperson Institution. The goal was to inform the female inmates about their rights, access to free legal aid, the process of conditional release, the different referral mechanism and complaint mechanisms and possibilities for rehabilitation and reintegration post release.

The Head of Free Legal Aid Agency, Anita Alaj Kalanderi and Flutura Berbati Zena, Head of the Department for Legal Services introduced the Agency’s services to the female inmates and discussed challenges and solutions into obtaining free legal aid in prisons.  Fidane Zekaj, Legal Adviser at the National Preventive Mechanism at the Ombudsperson Institution discussed the support of the Ombudsperson to the inmates whenever they face challenges while in prison.

The Kosovo Judicial Council (KJC), supported by the European Union / Kosovo Justice Sector Programme – EUKOJUST, is drafting a Manual for translators and interpreters in courts.

A workshop on this Manual with Kosovo Judicial Council, KJC Translation Office, the Normative Committee and interpreters and translators from Courts was organized in Prizren on Wednesday, 29 June 2022. It was moderated by the EUKOJUST Expert on Access to Justice, Alina Matache and supported by the EUKOJUST Expert on Management of translation services in courts and prosecution offices, Filloreta Hoxha.

The workshop is a follow-up of the 25 EUKOJUST Recommendations for coping with the translation backlog at Kosovo Courts and improve the management of translation services in the judiciary.

The Manual sets the standards and norms for interpreters and translators in the judicial sector, starting from establishing the number of daily pages to be translated, the number of hours to be spent in one hearing by one interpreter and the efficient use of human resources. Improving quality of translations, including non-majority official language is one of the main activities of Objective 4 of the EUKOJUST project dedicated to Access to Justice. Legal interpreting and legal translation in a bilingual context are of fundamental importance in helping to protect the rights of those who do not speak or understand the language of the proceedings and are also essential to safeguard the fairness of the proceedings.

The Kosovo Prosecutorial Council (KPC) is keeping pace with the modern tools in case management by implementing the Case Management Information System (CMIS) in the Kosovo prosecution system. EUKOJUST Project is supporting this effort as part of the activity to improve the quality of prosecution services. EUKOJUST Long-term Expert (LTE), Arben Isufi has been providing a significant support in drafting the CMIS Regulation, and now together with EUKOJUST LTE, Cristian Nicoara are supporting KPC to implement the newly adopted CMIS regulation. To this end, all administrators, CMIS trainers and KPC IT staff were gathered in an EUKOJUST organized workshop in Peja, where all questions and challenges were raised, and the best ways to proceed were identified.

The workshop was double-fold: to ensure that the critical factors in the prosecution offices are aware of the functional content of the CMIS system and its implementation on one side, and the managerial processes required to ensure that CMIS implementation in their working locations is embraced as part of the standard working patterns by the prosecutorial staff on the other side.

In this way, EUKOJUST long-term experts are providing constant support to KPC to enhance the capabilities of the administration at the central and local levels to use the CMIS system in their daily work. Being a relatively new tool with little systemic impact until now, the CMIS will massively interfere with the established working patterns in prosecution offices.