Supreme Court of Georgia

Meeting of HCoJ Members with Representatives of Donor Organizations

Published: 02/01/2018

On February 1, 2018 a meeting was held with members of HCoJ and donor organizations like, European Council, European Union, EU4 Justice and EU funded project “Strengthening Judicial Training though Twinning”, U.S. Embassy, Promoting Rule of Law in Georgia (PROLoG), GIZ,  UNHCR, UNICEF. The meeting was led by the Chairperson of the Supreme Court of Georgia and HCoJ. In her speech she focused on main challenges to be settled with involvement of donor organizations, in particular, enhancing independence of HCoJ and implementing reforms concerning accountability of judges and improvement of ethics. The representatives of the donor organizations discussed activities planned in the judicial system in 2018. They mentioned the measures to be taken towards facilitation of independence and impartiality of judges, system of their assessment and professional development, improvement of procedures for appointing judges for life, improving and supporting the institute of an Independent Inspector. They ensured further assistance in the direction of sharing European and American experience and implementing educational programs including improving criminal law legislation, expanding jury institution, facilitating professional development through study visits for judges to the United States and inviting American judges to Georgia, strengthening the High School of Justice and improving educational process, reducing case load and implementing electronic distribution of cases in the system of common courts, as well as eradicating existing drawbacks in the functioning judicial system. The members of HCoJ gave positive feedback upon initiatives and projects proposed by the donor organizations and expressed their willingness to be regularly involved in this type of meetings.