Implementation of Measures related to the Judiciary
The “Report on the Implementation of the Action Plan for Chapter 23 – Implementation of Measures related to the Judiciary” includes the monitoring of the implementation of those measures contained within the Action Plan that relate to constitutional changes, budget competencies of judicial councils, the disciplinary and ethical responsibility of judges and public prosecutors, and the automatic allocation of cases. This report is the result of the project “Towards Stronger Judiciary through Citizens’ Monitoring”, supported by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Belgrade and the Balkan Trust for Democracy.
The Action Plan for Chapter 23 foresees that Serbia will continue to work on improving the legal and normative framework for the protection and promotion of basic human rights, in accordance with the acquis and European and international standards. The report on the implementation of measures relating to the judiciary in the Action Plan for Chapter 23 is the result of activities carried out as a part of the project of the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights YUCOM entitled “Towards Stronger Judiciary through Citizens’ Monitoring”. The objective of this project was to identify the current situation and assess the progress that Serbia has achieved in the areas of judicial reform, basic human rights and other reforms envisioned in the Action Plan for Chapters 23 and 35.
In April 2016, the Republic of Serbia adopted the Action Plan for Chapter 23, which contains clear objectives and deadlines, the necessary institutional framework, as well as cost and financial allocation in the fields of justice, anti-corruption and fundamental rights. This document represents the most important guideline for progressing in the process of accession to the European Union. There isn’t any comprehensive reporting by the civil society sector in addition to the quarterly government report on the implementation of the Action Plan for Chapter 23, which significantly complicates reporting on the implementation of measures that do not have a public character.
During our reporting, YUCOM’s team has firstly selected concrete measures in order to present obstacles in the implementation of the Action Plan, in line with existing capacities. Taking into account the time period, the focus was on measures that have been partially implemented, those that are unimplemented or those that are being implemented in continuity. The 2/18 Report on the Implementation of the Action Plan for Chapter 23 was used as a starting point. Following our research, the team decided to track unimplemented measures relating to the judiciary in the following areas: constitutional changes and activities related to the budget competencies of judicial councils, the disciplinary and ethical responsibility of judges and public prosecutors, as well as the automatic allocation of cases.
See the entire report here.
