Tomorrow, on 14 June, in the premises of PR Centre (Josipa Broza Tita Street 23/A), starting at 10:00h, Human Rights Action will organize the presentation of the report “Judicial Council of Montenegro Operation Analysis 2008-2013”.

Speakers at the presentation will include Ms Vesna Medenica, President of the Supreme Court of Montenegro and President of the Judicial Council, Mr Alberto Cammarata, Head of the Political, European Integration and Trade Sections of EU Delegation to Montenegro, Ms Tea Gorjanc Prelević, Human Rights Action Executive Director, Mr Veselin Radulović, lawyer, and Ms Ana Šoć, Coordinator of legal aid at Human Rights Action, associate in the project of “Monitoring of Judicial Council operation”.

Human Rights Action since 2007 advocates for changes to the Constitution, laws and by-laws in order to enhance the guarantees of independence and accountability of judges. In July 2007, we published a Proposal of the reform of the appointment of judges, and in February 2009 the “Assessment of the Reform of Appointment of Judges in Montenegro 2007-2008” with 109 recommendations for improving the system of appointment of judges and identification of accountability of judges in order to improve its objectivity and transparency. Since then we have repeated the most important recommendations that have not yet been met – to amend the Constitution and the appointment of the President of the Supreme Court and the Judicial Council, as well as the composition and appointment of members of the Judicial Council in order to prevent the dominant political influence in the appointment of judges; to adopt criteria (indicators) for the assessment of judicial candidates and  the results of work of judges, to improve the method of assessing the quality of work of judges (the so-called norm) and to introduce regular assessment of work of judges, and thus ensure that the most professional and the most conscientious advance in the judiciary, and that those who act unlawfully bear the consequences. The reform of all these elements is essential for the independence and quality of work of judges, for the strengthening of public confidence in the judiciary, and for eliminating the risk of an autocratic management of courts.

In our report, we particularly urge the Judicial Council to fulfil the aims and objectives of its Action Plan on “improving the mechanism for assessing the work of judges” and “improving the procedure of appointment of judges”, which should have been done by October 2010. In the recommendations we suggested how this should be done based on international recommendations and comparative practice.

The project was made possible with the support of the East West Management Institute, funded by the USAID and the Open Society Foundations.

The report is available at: /?p=1569.

We invite you to come and attend the presentation and the discussion about the report.