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Home Events Human Dimension Seminar "Promoting effective and integral justice systems: how to ensure the independence and quality of the judiciary"
Events

Human Dimension Seminar "Promoting effective and integral justice systems: how to ensure the independence and quality of the judiciary"

When

21 November 2016 (All day) - 23 November 2016 (All day)

Where

Warsaw, Sofitel-Victoria Hotel

Organized by

OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
Ensuring the independence, integrity and quality of the judiciary is an ongoing challenge for all OSCE participating States, regardless of their history or the type of justice system in place. In the absence of such, a judiciary may be subject to complaints of corporatism, elitism or lack of accountability. This can undermine its credibility and position within a democratic system of checks and balances. On the other hand, accountability measures which are too intrusive risk exposing a judiciary to undue influence by external actors and an overall lack of internal and/or external independence. This potentially curtails the ability of judges to adjudicate independently, which raises concerns for access to justice and fair trial rights. States across the OSCE region continue to work towards addressing these challenges in a number of ways.

Respect for the principle of judicial independence is a key OSCE human dimension commitment. In the Charter for European Security, participating States agreed to promote the development of independent judicial systems (Istanbul 1999). This principle is further stressed in other OSCE commitments that call upon participating States to respect judges’ freedom of expression and association, guaranteed tenure and appropriate conditions of service, and discipline, suspension, and removal of judges according to law (Moscow 1991). Other key commitments include the recognition of the importance of impartiality, integrity, and propriety for the proper discharge of the duties of a judge (Brussels 2006) as well as the prohibition against improper influence on judges and non-discrimination in the selection of judges (Moscow 1991). 

Although reference to judicial accountability is less explicit in the OSCE commitments, participating States have agreed to strengthen the accountability of state institutions and officials (Helsinki 2008) while ensuring transparency in government and public affairs, prioritize the elimination of all forms of corruption, implement effective anti-corruption strategies, and effectively manage public resources (Maastricht 2003). The Kyiv Recommendations on Judicial Independence in Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia of 2010 (OSCE/ODIHR) explicitly link the accountability of judges with judicial independence in adjudication, noting the need for transparency in disciplinary proceedings, professional evaluations of judges, and public court hearings and decisions.

In accordance with these commitments, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) will organize the Human Dimension Seminar (HDS) for 2016 on the topic: Promoting effective and integral justice systems: how to ensure the independence and quality of the judiciary. The meeting will take place from 21 – 23 November in Warsaw.

The objectives of the meeting are to:

  • Assess and share current challenges facing participating States in the implementation of OSCE commitments in the area of rule of law, particularly judicial independence and the right to a fair trial;
  • Exchange good practices aimed at promoting effective justice systems, ensuring independence and accountability of the judiciary, safeguarding access to justice and fair trial rights, preventing judicial corruption, strengthening judicial self-administration, promoting diversity in the judiciary, and enhancing the role of civil society as a watchdog for judicial independence and accountability; and
  • Facilitate dialogue and mutual understanding on issues and concepts related to judicial independence and accountability between all relevant stakeholders, including State institutions, government authorities, the judiciary, legal professionals, civil society, and justice system end-users.

More details on the topic together with the questions for discussion will be made available shortly.

The seminar’s agenda and the annotated agenda are available in the attachments.

The HDS will focus on the following areas for discussion, subject to final approval: judicial reform in light of judicial independence principles; selection, promotion, and training of judges – the impact on judicial accountability and the integrity of the justice system; and   the role of civil society in observing judicial independence and accountability.

Participants

Representatives of OSCE participating States, OSCE institutions, and OSCE executive structures, representatives of inter-governmental organizations, legal professionals, representatives of civil society and researchers from 57 participating States that have an interest in the topic are invited to participate in the HDS. The Partners for Co-operation are invited to attend and contribute with respect to their co-operation and links with the OSCE in the field.

Participation in the seminar is free of charge, although all travel and accommodation costs should be borne by participants. Participants are kindly requested to make their own travel and hotel arrangements. You can find a list of a selection of hotels in Warsaw in the attachment.

Civil Society organizations can find more information in the document Information for Civil Society.

Registration

On-line registration for all participants is available at http://meetings.odihr.pl . Participants wishing to attend the meeting are requested to register online at http://meetings.odihr.pl latest by the deadline of Wednesday, 16 November 2016. Important note: registration after this date will be closed and registration on-site will not be available. Due to limited space, only up to five representatives per civil society and media entities will be allowed to attend. 

Modalities & Logistics

Interpretation will be provided into the six official OSCE languages: English, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish.

More information on organization of the sessions, seating, guidelines for debate, display and distribution of documents, logistics, etc. is available in the document General Information.

Side events

Side events (SE) may be held over the course of HDS. To book a side event, please register first in the ODIHR Registration System and then proceed to side event booking. The booking system will be open on Monday, 7 November, at 12.00 (CET) and will be closed by Sunday, 13 November, 23:59 (CET). Detailed information on side event booking is available in the Side Events Information document.

In case of any questions, you may contact:

Overall co-ordination of meeting: Kamila Czerwinska at Kamila.Czerwinska@odihr.pl or +48 22 5200 657

Programmatic matters: Michelle Brady at Michelle.Brady@odihr.pl, Tel: +48 22 5200 703

Coordination of side events: Ireneusz Stepinski at Ireneusz.Stepinski@odihr.pl  or +48 22 5200 658

Registration of participants: Anna Sierant at hdmeetings@odihr.pl or +48 22 5200 627

Agenda

Click the image below to access the high resolution version of the visual.