The European Union and the Council of Europe action in Kosovo is assisting local judiciary authorities to increase the efficiency and the quality of the justice system.

In May 2016, the Strengthening the Quality and Efficiency of Justice in Kosovo (KoSEJ) action was launched with the objective to improve the functioning of courts based on the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) methodology.

This methodology is widely used throughout the judicial systems and courts of the 47 member states of the Council of Europe. It develops concrete measures and tools to help policy makers and judicial practitioners analyse the functioning of judicial systems and the progress of public policies on justice.

The KoSEJ action introduced the CEPEJ methodology at both central and court levels. As a result, almost all levels of Kosovo judicial authorities are using these tools in their work.

This project was built on the needs of its main beneficiaries and partners: the Ministry of Justice, the Kosovo Judicial Council, Courts, the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council and the Kosovo Justice Academy.

As this project is the first project of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice in Kosovo, the first step was to assess the judicial system to identify priority issues.

For the first time in Kosovo, an in-depth assessment of the judicial system based on the CEPEJ methodology was conducted. This methodology is used every two years in the 47 member States to evaluate European judicial systems. The evaluation of 2014 was used as a reference year and the beneficiaries were fully engaged in the data collection process.

The second assessment exercise was launched in June 2018 to examine the evolution of the system between 2014 and 2017. The findings and recommendations are particularly relevant for the Functional Review of the Rule of Law Sector, which is led by the Ministry of Justice. The institutions are increasingly taking ownership over the CEPEJ methodology. The Ministry of Justice said that a coordinator will be designated shortly so that future assessment exercises will be led by the Ministry of Justice, with the support of the project.

Tea Blakaj, a representative of the Ministry of Justice, says that the work with KoSEJ was very positive, especially regarding the Functional Review which is a process that aims to reform the judicial system. She added that the KoSEJ project provided the most accurate data so far regarding the judiciary, and therefore the role of this project is vital for the future work of the Ministry.

Concerning the efficiency of justice, the KoSEJ action worked intensively with both the courts and the Kosovo Judicial Council. The CEPEJ indicators on court performance (such as the ‘clearance rate’: measuring whether a court is keeping up with its incoming caseload) are now being used by all courts. They regularly monitor the evolution of their performance using these indicators and incorporate graphs in their regular reports to the Judicial Council.

Sabit Shkodra, the public information officer at the Basic Court of Gjilan/Gnjilane explains that the project has contributed positively on many fronts. “KoSEJ assisted us in transforming our statistical data into graphs, and these graphs have enabled us to observe our results and the obstacles”, explains Shkodra. He highlighted that these graphs are made available for the public via social media improving the transparency of the court.

“KoSEJ has also contributed directly to the quality of my work since I had an outstanding learning experience when I attended the CEPEJ Working Group on the Quality of Justice in Latvia, where communication issues between courts and media were discussed”, said Shkodra.

The Kosovo Judicial Council also increased its use of CEPEJ tools and methodology. Besnik Ramosaj, Director of the Statistics Department at the Kosovo Judicial Council explains that the project assisted the Council by offering very valuable expertise from CEPEJ experts.

“We have approved the proposals to use some of the CEPEJ indicators that would help us in monitoring the performance of the courts”, says Ramosaj. He clarifies that Kosovo Judicial Council will continue to work with the KoSEJ project on monitoring the length of the proceedings, which remains excessive in some courts and for some categories of cases.

Taking into consideration the very high number of international partners working with the Judicial Council, the KoSEJ action implemented in October 2018 an innovative approach by requesting two other projects to join efforts in addressing the important issue of the electronic distribution of the cases to the judges. The three projects were able to agree on a proposal and presented it jointly to the Council, which was much appreciated.

The project also organised several activities to promote and encourage the use of information technology in Kosovo courts to increase efficiency. Based on the CEPEJ Cyberjustice Guidelines adopted in 2016, the project provided support to the development of the new case management information system (CMIS) by offering high level technical expertise on issues such as the electronic distribution of cases and the migration of cases from the paper registries into the new system. The project is also supporting the development of a reporting module within the CMIS that will be able to generate reliable statistics on court performance.

Besnik Ramosaj expressed readiness to work further with the KoSEJ project to ensure that the CMIS will generate judicial statistics in line with the CEPEJ methodology and to increase, on the long term, the efficiency of the courts in managing cases.

Regarding the second objective of the project, increasing the quality of justice, the project assisted three pilot courts in conducting court users’ satisfaction surveys to hear directly from their users whether they are satisfied with the services provided. Questionnaires were developed in close co-operation with court staff, based on model questionnaires of the CEPEJ, but also taking into consideration the specific needs of the courts. The surveys identified areas of court organisation and services that required improvements.

For instance, in Pristina, the users expressed dissatisfaction with the level and quality of the information provided on the court website. Therefore, the KoSEJ Action organised two court coaching projects to address this issue. The court has since added information on its website and social media on how to obtain criminal record extracts and will soon add information on how to reach the court using public transport links.

The KoSEJ action also shared knowledge and expertise with civil society organisations involved in the rule of law sector. These organisations have also started to use CEPEJ indicators of court performance in their reports. Members of five civil society organisations confirmed the importance of closely monitoring the efficiency of the judicial system using reliable indicators such as those developed by the CEPEJ, which are also being used all across Europe.

Finally, the significant efforts of the KoSEJ Action were successful since in the Kosovo 2018 Report, the European Commission recommended that judicial statistics generated by the CMIS should be “in line with the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) methodology”.

The KoSEJ programme is implemented within the framework of the Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey Programme.

*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.