Month: September 2022

The initiative of improving the status of civil servants in the judicial system, which started a year ago, got a new and important momentum this week. Representatives of justice, trade unions and relevant associations, assisted by EUKOJUST experts, addressed the remaining issues during a two-day workshop held in Peja.

The status of the civil servants in the judiciary is a critical element of judicial independence and requires a clear, stable, predictable and legal basis. In this sense, the Constitutional Court of Kosovo decided almost two years ago that the support staff in the judiciary have to have their status regulated independently from the general civil servants in the public administration.

EUKOJUST is therefore supporting the Ministry of Justice, the Kosovo Judicial Council and the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council to find common ground for a legal and legislative solution. Extensive negotiations and discussions took place with all stakeholders involved, and research and documentation were performed by all institutions involved in the process.

After an initial workshop in March 2022, EUKOJUST provided during this workshop a platform for all parties involved in the process to discuss the concept document and to discuss and debate all options identified thoroughly. The goal was for all parties to agree on the way forward, that all concerns and questions are addressed and that all institutions, trade unions, and professional associations are lined up behind a single approach that can be advanced into a draft law for the status of civil servants in the Kosovo judiciary.

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 Gjilan. Almost 70 lawyers from the Gjilan region licensed by the Kosovo Bar Association (KBA) attended the training, delivered by the EUKOJUST Long Term Expert on Public Legal Education/Domestic Violence and Marginalized Groups Bardhë Krasniqi.

“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 program under the KBA umbrella.

The trainers discussed the need to apply human rights standards such as the Istanbul Convention, Convention on the Elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, European Convention on Human Rights and the use of the 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.

Two intensive training days on access to justice for vulnerable groups were organized by EUKOJUST Access to Justice Expert, Alina Matache, which involved around 35 judges, prosecutors, and professional associates in criminal and civil matters.

The delivered training curriculum has been designed to provide guidance for justice professionals on how to improve access to justice for Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptians, people with disabilities, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people and, as well to provide a tool for national training institutions responsible for the training of judges, prosecutors, and lawyers in implementing the initial and in-service curriculum. This guidance is based on existing international, regional, and national standards.

The training was organized in close cooperation with the Kosovo Justice Academy to ensure consistency with the training modules and include two judges’ trainers.

Experts involved in drafting and delivering the training were Edona Ahmetaj, Ina Xhepa, Fjolla Hoxha, and Marije Vuksani.

The support on drafting the Concept Document for realizing civil rights in Kosovo, including the right to fair trial within a reasonable time and effective legal remedies, provided by EUKOJUST is progressing. EUKOJUST Expert on Access to Justice, Alina Matache, in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice, European Integration Department, organized a two days’ workshop with a variety of stakeholders including judges, legal experts, civil servants and representative of the Ombudsperson.

The focus of the workshop was to discuss the first draft of the Concept Document, prepared by Ms. Bardha Maxhuni and Mr. Avni Puka. The Concept Document, an activity foreseen by Kosovo Rule of Law Strategy, outlined the main challenges in realizing the civil rights in Kosovo. Although these rights are guaranteed by the Constitution and the national legislation, Kosovo still suffers from a lack of effective legal remedies in criminal, civil and administrative matters. Several options on how to overcome this challenge were discussed and presented to the Working Group. Moreover, a presentation on the international best practices was also delivered by the EUKOJUST Legislative Framework Expert, Idlir Peci.

The Concept Document will integrate the comments of the Working Group members and it will be open for public consultation in due time.

In cooperation with Prime minister’s Legal Office, EUKOJUST organized on Tuesday, 13 September 2022, a workshop about the Constitutional Analysis on ‘Legal Cleaning’.

“Legal Cleaning” means the removal of any existing or persisting ambiguities with regard to the applicable law in Kosovo.

The relatively frequent and drastic changes of authority over the past decades in Kosovo have resulted in different sets of applicable legislation, in turn creating confusion and incoherent application of laws by courts and other public institutions.

The end result of this activity is a comprehensive constitutional analysis on the applicable legislation in force in Kosovo according to the Constitution of Kosovo and UNMIK Regulation 1999/24. The first draft of the analysis was discussed today with relevant stakeholders. All the today’s presented inputs will be reflected in the final version of the draft. The event also served as an awareness raising event, where the issues identified by the report will be discussed with relevant stakeholders, such as judges, legal advisors from the AoK and Constitutional Court and legal officers from the LO-OPM and the Ministry of Justice.

It should be noted that despite the fundamental change being created with the adoption and entry into force of the Constitution of Kosovo in June 2008 and its law-making provisions—including on the continuity of international agreements and applicable legislation—there has nonetheless been no subsequent legal act that would formally repeal or replace UNMIK Regulation No. 1999/24 on the Law Applicable in Kosovo.

After the adoption of Kosovo’s Constitution in 2008, an entirely new order was established, including the types of sources and hierarchy of norms. Among others, it contained a transitional provision, providing for the continued application of legislation that was applicable on the date of the entry into force of the Constitution to the extent this legislation is in conformity with the Constitution “until repealed, superseded or amended”.

In any event, although the Constitution does not provide any more for the promulgation of UNMIK Regulations as such, it obviously does not automatically repeal them or invalidate their continuity, at least not until they are repealed, superseded or amended by acts recognized in the Constitution.

EUKOJUST experts took note of the comments, suggestions and proposals for addressing the issues discussed during the Workshop and will reflect them into the final Constitutional Analysis on Applicable Law in Kosovo, which will be shared with all the relevant stakeholders.

A roundtable on norms and standards from EU Member States on Victims Support Services was organised on Wednesday, 31 August 2022, by EUKOJUST Access to Justice Expert Alina Matache as part of the activities related to strengthening access to justice for vulnerable people, together with 11 Victims’ Advocates.

A Comparative Analysis on Victims Support Services across Europe was presented by the EUKOJUST Expert on Strengthening the Victims Protection and Assistance Office (VPAO), Sandra Buzlieva at the roundtable.

The Analysis focused on the minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime and the available support and legal assistance by the state and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).  Examples from several EU member states were provided such as Sweden, Finland, France, Italy, Croatia, and Slovakia.

The event was also attended by Victims Support Europe (VSE), an umbrella network of 40 national organisations that provide support to more than two million people affected by crime each year in 26 countries across Europe.

Deputy Director Aleksandra Ivankovic presented the activities of VSE and the best-case studies in establishing a national framework for Victim Support Services. Victims’ Advocates shared their concerns with regard to provision of services to victims in Kosovo and discussion on how to improve and strengthen the national system as to provide improved and tailored services to victims based on EU standards, ensued.