On 10 and 11 December 2018 the ENCJ organised a workshop on the selection and appointment of judges. The objective of the seminar was to promote access to fair and impartial courts and to further the implementation of ENCJ guidelines and standards in the fields of independence, efficiency and quality of Justice.
The ENCJ has been developing minimum judicial standards and the relevant indicators in particular fields as a tool for self-evaluation for judicial systems. It is believed that this would further the approximation and ultimately the improvement of the judicial systems in Europe and contribute to the development of independent Councils for the Judiciary and contribute to the attainment of a European judicial culture. The workshop was the first one in a series of workshops where awareness for these standards will be furthered and compliance enhanced.
The idea of the workshop, was not to compare the various systems, but to analyse to which extent each of the systems are in compliance with the standards set out, if they do not how this could be remedied, if they so how could the system be improved.
The workshop also addressed the issue which requirements for the selection of judges are taking into account, such as judges need to be open for change (2018 ENCJ Lisbon declaration), accountable to society (ENCJ Project on Independence, Accountability and Quality), resilient (2017 ENCJ Paris declaration), be digitally capable, reflect the diversity of society etc. In short, do we select the right people to ensure the best justice for the future?
The recommendations and conclusions of the workshop can be found here.
