Since March 2019, the Council of Europe and the authorities of Azerbaijan have been working together to improve the efficiency and quality of the judicial system. The ongoing project is implemented in the framework of the European Union/Council of Europe joint programme Partnership for Good Governance phase II (PGG II) and aims to provide better access to justice for citizens as well as a legal and institutional modernisation of the court system.

“Following the successful implementation of the project under the first phase of the Partnership for Good Governance that supported the introduction of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) tools and methodology in pilot courts of Azerbaijan, we continue our fruitful co-operation with the Council of Europe and the European Union within the second implementation phase with the view of spreading these good practices throughout the country.

In this regard, the roadmap for dissemination of CEPEJ efficiency and quality measurement tools developed this year is particularly important in terms of promotion and implementation of selected CEPEJ tools at the level of all national courts of Azerbaijan. Moreover, the seminars organised within the project contributed to increasing the knowledge and skills of judges and court staff on CEPEJ tools and indicators on data collection, monitoring and analysis for court performance reporting and consequently, to the application of a standard methodology in the preparation of such reports by the courts in the country.

We believe that the activities carried out in the framework of co-operation with the CEPEJ play a significant role in improving the efficiency of courts and quality of judicial services, as well as increasing the public trust in the judicial system of Azerbaijan”.