News
EU and Council of Europe supported conference in Tbilisi to discuss areas for further improvement and ongoing reform of the criminal justice legal framework in Georgia
Protection of victims’ and other vulnerable persons’ rights, the system of pre-trial measures and conduct of investigative actions are the areas which should be paid special attention to during the ongoing criminal justice reform in Georgia, underlined participants of the high-level conference...
Impact of COVID 19 on women’s access to justice: what are the next steps?
What can states do to address persistent and emerging challenges and barriers women face when accessing justice? How can the Covid-19 pandemic incentivise legal professionals in the national justice systems to rethink and reshape national approaches to access to justice and gender equality? Join...
Judicial staff, judges and prosecutors enhanced their knowledge on national and international standards on an effective remedy and the prohibition of discrimination
52 judges, prosecutors, and judicial staff have broadened their knowledge on international and national standards on non-discrimination within two online training sessions. Training sessions held on November 7’th and November 9’th, focused on the international legal framework and the case law of...
Discussion on the Opinion No. 24 (2021) of the CCJE on the evolution of the Councils for the Judiciary and their role in independent and impartial judicial systems
To highlight the competence, tasks, organisation and composition as well as resources at the disposal of the Councils for the Judiciary the Consultative Council of European Judges (CCJE) adopted landmark Opinion No. 24 in 2021. The Opinion discusses the legitimacy and accountability of the...
Study visit of Georgian courts to The Netherlands
On 25-27 October 2022, the Council of Europe European Commission for the efficiency of justice (CEPEJ) organised a three-days study visit of Georgian court managers from the Supreme Court of Georgia, Zugdidi and Rustavi Regional Courts and Tbilisi Court to the courts of Amsterdam, The Hague and...
Workshop on risk-based regulation and supervision of the virtual assets sector in Armenia
Representatives of the Central Bank of Armenia, including the Financial Monitoring Centre within the Central Bank, participated in a workshop on risk-based Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regulation and supervision in the area of virtual assets, organised in...
Republic of Moldova: banning the display of symbols used by Russia’s army in Ukraine is legitimate and proportional, says Venice Commission
In the context of the war, the ban on the display of certain symbols used by the Russian armed forces during its invasion of Ukraine adopted by the Moldovan Parliament in April 2022 respects the requirements of legality, legitimacy and proportionality, according to an opinion adopted by the...
Collecting equality data, developing policies and guidance among peers: Equality bodies across South/East Europe equipped with new tools to address hate speech
The third and the final workshop on “Addressing hate speech through improving data collection” for equality bodies from Western Balkans and the Eastern Partnership region took place on 18-19 October 2022, in Strasbourg. As the previous two events on this subject this year (June, July 2022), but...
CEPEJ visited Baku with the aim to analyse the provision of mediation services in Azberbaijan
From 17 to 19 October 2022, the European Commission for the efficiency of justice (CEPEJ) conducted a fact-finding mission in Baku with the aim to analyse the current situation and discuss how to provide support for improving mediation based on CEPEJ Guidelines and various tools dealing with...
Judiciary of the Court of Cassation of Armenia continue enhancing their knowledge and skills on the new criminal legislation of the country
Judges, experts and judicial assistants of the Court of Cassation of Armenia participated in the two-day workshop on “Selected issues of new Criminal (CC) and Criminal Procedure Codes (CPC) of Armenia” organised on 5-6 October in Yerevan. The objective of the workshop was to introduce the...
Discussion held on the review of the codes of conducts for lawyers
On 23 September an online event was organised to present the findings of the cross-country review of the codes of conducts of lawyers in Armenia, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine. The event gathered the members of the Bar Associations, judges, and other national authorities’...
Workshop on comparative solutions and good practices for Financial Intelligence Units on strategic and operational analysis
Representatives of the Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) of the beneficiary countries participated in the international workshop on “Comparative Solutions and Good Practices for Financial Intelligence Units on Strategic and Operational Analysis” organised by the Economic Crime and Cooperation...
Education and awareness responses to hate speech in Georgia
Representatives of the Public Defender’s office, Prosecutor’s office, Central election commission, education and training practitioners, various human rights, and minority civil society organisations in Georgia, participated in a roundtable that focused on the role of awareness-raising,...
Promoting non-discrimination during wartime in Ukraine
The joint project “Strengthening the access to justice through non-judiciary redress mechanisms for victims of discrimination, hate crime and hate speech in Eastern Partnership countries,” awarded two grants to civil society organisation in Ukraine in 2021. Their aim was to support victims of...
Investigators and prosecutors of Armenia enhanced their knowledge and skills on the new criminal and procedural legislation of Armenia
In co-operation with the Justice Academy in Yerevan, four two-day training seminars on “Selected issues of the new Criminal (CC) and Criminal Procedure (CPC) Codes of Armenia” were organised for investigators and prosecutors of Armenia in July and August 2022. The objective of the training...
Promoting equality and non-discrimination in the Republic of Moldova
The joint project "Strengthening the access to justice through non-judiciary redress mechanisms for victims of discrimination, hate crime and hate speech in Eastern Partnership countries" awarded two grants to civil society organisations in the Republic of Moldova, aimed at increasing access to...
Georgia: Draft surveillance law adopted hastily, needs further elaboration, finds Venice Commission opinion
The draft law amending Georgia’s procedure for the use of covert investigative measures was adopted in a hasty procedure and requires both impact assessment and more detailed justification, according to an urgent opinion from the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission of legal and constitutional...
Staff of the Representative of the Republic of Armenia before the European Court of Human Right enhanced their knowledge and skills on the new criminal legislation of Armenia
During the two-day training seminar on “Selected issues of new Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes of Armenia,” 16 participants had the opportunity to acquire new skills on judicial review, peculiarities of conducting certain types of proceedings, judicial safeguards of pre-trial proceedings,...
Promoting equality in Armenia through cooperation with civil society organisations
The joint project "Strengthening the access to justice through non-judiciary redress mechanisms for victims of discrimination, hate crime and hate speech in Eastern Partnership countries," awarded two grants to Armenian NGOs in 2021, related specifically to support victims of discrimination in...
The integrity of Moldovan self-administrative bodies of judges and prosecutors supported through enhanced open-source investigation
Responding to a country-specific request from the pre-vetting Secretariat of the Republic of Moldova, the joint European Union, and Council of Europe regional project “Strengthening measures to prevent and combat economic crime” offered a training on open-source investigation and web crawling to...
Summer School on Arbitration
Students from various universities of Armenia had the opportunity to get first-hand insights into the world of arbitration during the 4-day Summer School on Arbitration co-organised by the Council of Europe and Arbitrators’ Association of Armenia. Taught by the leading arbitration practitioners...
The CEPEJ organised a training on judicial statistics in Georgia
On 9-10 July 2022, the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) organised a training for court managers and courts staff in order to enhance their skills to collect and analyse judicial data and to use performance indicators for courts. The collection, processing and analysis of...
Steps forward in combating inequality and hatred using human rights approach
The second of four modules on “Addressing hate speech through improving data collection”, enabled continuation of co-operation among equality bodies/Ombudsperson institutions from the Western Balkans and the Eastern Partnership regions on the topic of data collection in combating hate speech and...
Roundtable presentation of a gap analysis of policy and legislation on violence against women in Azerbaijan
On 4 July 2022, the project “Raising awareness of the Istanbul Convention and other gender equality standards in Azerbaijan” presented a gap analysis of Azerbaijani legislative and policy frameworks in line with Council of Europe and other international standards in the field of violence against...
Model rules of conduct for all Armenian public servants adopted - implementation by institutions to follow
The Council of Europe and the Corruption Prevention Commission of the Republic of Armenia jointly organised a “High-level Conference on the Model Code of Conduct for Public Servants in Armenia” on 4th July in Yerevann, Armenia. The conference concludes and complements the process of development...
Guides on the new Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes of Armenia ready for the national legal professionals as the new legislation enters into force
The Council of Europe has been working closely with the Armenian authorities on the criminal justice reform through legislative, methodological, and capacity-building support since 2015. Based on the legal expertise of the Council of Europe, conceptually new Criminal Code and Code of Criminal...
Training for Ukrainian judges on seizure and confiscation ready to be rolled-out throughout the country
In co-operation with the National School of Judges of Ukraine (NSJU), a training on seizure and confiscation for Ukrainian criminal judges, both from district and appellate courts, took place online on June 29 with over 85 participants. This training built on previous activities delivered jointly...
The Insurance Sector and financial intelligence unit in Georgia advance cooperation for effective compliance against economic crime
In cooperation with the Insurance State Supervision Service of Georgia, a two-day training on “Anti-money laundering/countering financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) compliance” was organised specifically designed for the insurance sector. The training was part of a series of activities to support the...
Promoting equality in Azerbaijan
A workshop on combating discrimination and promoting equality by enhancing the knowledge and practical competencies of the Ombudsman office staff, representatives of regional and local authorities and civil society organisation active in the field, was organised on 22-23 June 2022 in Lankaran....
Ombudsman staff and civil society organisation representatives enhance their skills to provide support on anti-discrimination work in Azerbaijan
Office staff of the Ombudsman and representatives of civil society organisations successfully completed the Training of Trainers on combating discrimination held from November 2021 to June 2022. Through these trainings, participants enhanced their knowledge and practical competences on key...