OSCE/ODIHR promotes strengthening of Armenia’s judiciary

Strengthening the independence, accountability and professionalism of judges was the focus of a two-day roundtable organized by the OSCE Office in Yerevan, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Council of Europe on 11 and 12 April 2013 in the Armenian capital.

Representatives of the government, judiciary, parliament, civil society and the media exchanged views and offered input on how best to implement on-going judicial reforms in Armenia in line with international rule of law standards.

“With this event, the OSCE seeks to contribute to the justice reform in Armenia to help ensure in law and in practice respect for the independence of judges,” said Andrey Sorokin, the Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan.

Benjamin Moreau, Chief of ODIHR’s Rule of Law Unit, underscored that, “the independence and accountability of judges is essential in a democratic society to ensure an effective separation of powers and enable proper checks and balances between the executive, judiciary and legislative branches”.

Hrair Tovmasyan, Armenia’s Justice Minister said: “An important goal of the Republic’s 2012-2016 Strategic Programme for Legal and Judicial Reforms is to ensure a fair, effective and publicly accountable judiciary, by addressing existing challenges to its independence.”

The Ministry presented to participants government plans on reforming the roles of judicial administration bodies and of court presidents, on amending the criteria and procedures for evaluating the performance of judges, and on establishing a new Justice Academy.

The discussion followed a meeting held in June 2011, where participants discussed the relevance of the Kyiv Recommendations on Judicial Independence in Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia for justice reform in Armenia. The conclusions from the meeting inspired a number of measures included in the Strategic Programme.