The Council of Europe and judicial stakeholders of Azerbaijan held a conference on the results and best practices achieved by the national pilot courts and other major actors of the justice sector in the implementation of the methodology and tools developed by the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) in view of improving the efficiency and quality of courts and of the judiciary.

The conference was held in Baku, on 4 April 2017, in the framework of the Project "Support to increased efficiency of courts, improved training of judges and judicial self-governance in Azerbaijan”, implemented under the CoE/EU Eastern Partnership Programmatic Co-operation Framework 2015-2017. It brought together representatives of national courts, the Ministry of Justice, the Judicial Legal Council, the Justice Academy, of Embassies and civil society organisations, and offered a unique forum to discuss the ways of improving the judicial system and the results achieved following the application of CEPEJ tools in the work of 5 pilot courts and of the Academy of Justice of Azerbaijan. Ms Hanne Juncher, Head of the Justice and Legal Co-operation Department of the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe, noted that “the judiciary is the mechanism by which a society manages dispute or conflict, fairly and lawfully. The reason we pay so much attention to this is that independent and efficient judicial systems that are accessible to all and provide quality decisions within a reasonable time, are a precondition for the effective enjoyment of all other fundamental rights and freedoms, and for the implementation in practice of the rule of law”. Ms Juncher thanked the Azerbaijani judicial authorities and all the partners for their cooperation and commitment to project’s objectives.

A team of CEPEJ experts representing the Netherlands, Switzerland, Slovenia and Estonia presented a detailed report on the results of the court coaching programme, including an assessment of the pilot court’s achievements, and a set of recommendations in view of dissemination of CEPEJ tools in all courts of Azerbaijan. Representatives from the pilot courts reported on their experience from the cooperation with CEPEJ and the progress they’ve seen through improving the self-evaluation of the courts’ performance, time management, communication with the court users etc. The management of the Justice Academy emphasised the benefits of the cooperation with the Council of Europe and the European Union for the institutional development of the Academy, as well as its potential as a growing judicial training institution.

The day following the conference, 5 April 2017,  the Project’s Steering Group held its final meeting. The participants, including representatives from the Delegation of the European Union to Azerbaijan, national central authorities, pilot courts and other partners from Azerbaijan, as well as CEPEJ experts and representatives of the Council of Europe, discussed the large array of activities implemented as part of the Project and the level of achievement of its objectives. In conclusion, based on the results of the completed project, the participants to the conference discussed the perspectives for further cooperation and support by the Council of Europe and the European Union for strengthening the court system of Azerbaijan.

The final events of the Project were reported in the press and by national partners:

1. Avropa Şurası ilə hüquqi sahədə layihələr təşviq olunur
2. Project for support to increased efficiency of courts in Azerbaijan over
3. CoE interested in joint work with Azerbaijan’s state structures
4. Завершился пилотный проект Совета Европы и Евросоюза по повышению эффективности деятельности судов Азербайджана.