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Judicial Reform Programme |
Coordination Structure:The Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) provides that BiH shall be a democratic state operating under the Rule of Law. It also obliges the state and entity governments to ensure the highest level of internationally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms. These goals cannot be attained without an independent and efficient judicial system. The Office of the High Representative has been formally instructed to promote judicial reforms and to co-ordinate the international support to this effort within a comprehensive strategy. The Judicial Reform Unit within the OHR Human Rights and Rule of Law Department performs this work. Although the term "Judicial Reform" has a distinctively legal connotation, this is as much a political and institutional enterprise. It is often the case that the problems which need to be addressed to move the process ahead are not legal per se, rather of an administrative or economic nature. The tools must be chosen accordingly. Judicial reform is also a matter of changing entrenched perceptions and attitudes, both "internally" within the judiciary and "externally" among political policy-makers and the general public. Without a political constituency for a fair and effective judiciary in BiH, and public confidence in the integrity and professionalism of the courts, many reforms will be in vain. A serious attempt at judicial reform further requires an empirical warrant to ensure that the problems discussed really do exist and whether the proposed remedies will actually help to solve them. This fundamental fact points to maintaining day-to-day access to the judiciary, trial monitors, and people working with related institutions, e.g. human rights institutions and the police. The "political" dimension of the judicial reform work pursued by OHR consists of two sides: building a political constituency for judicial reform; and facilitating the use of the legal system as a means for political change. The latter includes conveying to the general public - the "users" of the system - that they through legal means can challenge political decisions and promote various socially desirable goals. This important aspect of judicial reform is not discussed as a distinct point below, but is inherent in the others (for example, the development of laws providing sanctions for non-enforcement gives the general public opportunity to challenge the political establishment with legal means and to have obstructionist officials removed).
Structural Reforms:The involvement of OHR in structural reforms within the judicial area essentially aims at changing the principles by which the judiciary is organized and governed. The primary means to achieve this is the drafting and promotion of new legislation, typically laws on courts (and in some cases constitutional provisions regulating the judiciary). It should be noted with regard to the structure of the BiH judiciary that great achievements have been made in the recent year, notably the establishment of first-instance jurisdiction within the Supreme Court, the creation of Codes of Ethics and the successful promotion of judicial service laws regulating inter alia the appointment and dismissal of judges and prosecutors. The focus is therefore shifting to structures and norms on lower level, e.g. books of rules and other instructions regulating internal court organization and enforcement issues. Specifically, OHR will:
Institution Building:Institutional reform within the judicial area essentially means providing the courts, prosecution and enforcement agencies with the tools and resources they need to adequately perform their functions. Although this work focuses on judiciary, it has relatively little to do with drafting legislation. OHRıs role in this process is rather to identify areas of the judiciary and prosecution where capacity-building efforts are needed and to help donor agencies to provide support in an effective and timely manner. This means that donor agencies, both bi-.and multilateral, play a crucial role as sponsors and implementing agencies. The following activities have been identified as particularly important:
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