CELEBRATION OF THE 15^th ANNIVERSARY OF CEPEJ (EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR THE EFFICIENCY OF JUSTICE) AND 30^th PLENARY MEETING

On behalf of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors of Türkiye (CJP), Mr. Zeki Uysal, Rapporteur Judge at Foreign Relations and Project Bureau, participated in the 15^th Anniversary Celebration and 30^th Plenary Meeting of CEPEJ, which was established  in 2002 within the Council of Europe to develop concrete measures and tools aimed at policy makers and judicial practitioners in order to analyse the functioning of judicial systems and orientate public policies of justice, to have a better knowledge of judicial timeframes and optimize judicial time management, to promote the quality of the public service of justice, to facilitate the implementation of European standarts in the field of justice and to support member states in their reforms on court organizations, that took place on 27-29^th June 2018 in Strasbourg.

Taking into consideration the jurisdiction and duty of CJP, as a result of the idea that the participation of a representative from our Council to CEPEJ Plenary Meetings with the Ministry of Justice, Directorate for Strategy Development, which is a regular participator, would serve the realisation of abovementioned founding purposes of CEPEJ; a representative from CJP participated in the CEPEJ Plenary Meeting and 15^th Anniversary Celebration that coincided with the meeting for the first time.

In the morning session of 27^th June 2018, Mrs Gabriella-Battaini Dragoni, the Deputy Secretary General of Council of Europe and Mr Georg Stawa, the President of CEPEJ, gave opening speeches within the context of the 15^th Anniversary Celebration Ceremony. Then, experts (academicians and judges) from various countries gave presentations under the title of “Artificial Intelligence (IA) and Judicial Systems”. After the presentations a detailed discussion on the issue took place.

In the meeting where Kazakhstan and Guatemala took place as “Observer”, along with the representatives of Council of Europe member countries, the representatives of international organisations such as European Association of Magistrates (EAM), International Union of Judicial Officers (UIHJ), Consultative Council of European Judges (CCJE), Association of European Administrative Judges (AEAJ), Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) also took place.

Within framework of the official agenda of the Plenary Meeting, Working Group on the Quality of Justice (CEPEJ-GT-QUAL), Working Group on the Evaluation of Judicial Systems (CEPEJ-GT-EVAL), Working Group on the Judicial Time Management (SATURN Centre), Working Group on Mediation (CEPEJ-GT-MED) informed the participants with presentations about their on-going work.

Within this framework, a detailed session was held on the content of report of 2018 prepared with data of 2016 and presented by (CEPEJ-GT-EVAL) that publishes reports on “Report on European judicial systems – Efficiency and quality of justice – Edition 2018” (CEPEJ(2018)5)” every two years. After designation of schedule for objections to the report and their evaluations, it is instructed by the Secretariat to organise the appropriate publication and dissemination of the report, inclusing through its website, as from 4^th October 2018.

Besides, in the session where recent developments in the judiciary of member countries were discussed, representative of CJP took the floor in the name of CJP and made statements about the actions taken by CJP after 15^th July treacherous coup attempt, on-going domestic law enforcements about these actions and inadmissibility decisions taken by European Court of Human Rights on the issue. Moreover, the appeal system put into operation in Türkiye and its application and code of ethics that is planned to put into force were also explained.  

The decision to organise the second meeting of the year which is 31^st Plenary Meeting to be organised in Strasbourg/France on 3-4^th December 2018 was taken.

After discussion of all articles on the agenda, 30^th Plenary Meeting of CEPEJ was finalised with the closing speech of President Mr Georg Stawa.