Fifth Conference of Ministers of Justice in BiH and Presidents of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH and Judicial Commission of Brcko District of BiH Held



23.12.2010. - Fifth Conference of Ministers of Justice in BiH and Presidents of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH and Judicial Commission of Brcko District of BiH was held yesterday in Sarajevo.  

The Conference aiming at coordinated monitoring of key reforms implementation in BiH justice sector has been attended by 13 representatives ministries of justice at the state, entity and cantonal level and Presidents of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH and Judicial Commission of Brcko District of BiH.

The Conference has considered and adopted reports on BiH Justice Sector Reform Strategy implementation for 2010, provided recommendations for overcoming the identified problems and risks in the implementation of planned reform measures, adopted the Second revised Action Plan, Revised Financial Plan for BiH Justice Sector Reform Strategy implementation and List of priorities for donor funding in 2011.

Most of the activities related to the budget of courts and prosecutors' offices, as precondition for the development of an independent judiciary, have been implemented. Position regarding the possibility of harmonizing the procedure for selecting BiH Constitutional Court judges with the existing procedures for selecting judges for the entity Constitutional Courts has been agreed. Significant number of activities aimed at reducing the number of backlog cases in BiH courts has been completed. Material-technical equipping of courts and prosecutors' offices and their computerization has been carried out. Plans have been developed and trainings have been carried out in BiH justice sector institutions. Changes of the systematized number of judges have been adopted and analysis of the number of prosecutors has been made. Preparations for harmonizing the laws on bar exam in BiH have been made. Analysis of the need to introduce alternative measures to detention in BiH has been made.

Amendments to the entity laws on the execution of criminal sanctions have been prepared and Coordination body for harmonization of regulations pertaining to the execution of criminal sanctions has been established. Following analyses have been made: necessary measures for the establishment of prisons as organizational units within entity prison administrations, categorisation of prisons in the entities, application and effect of the conditional release. Amendments to the by-law acts for ensuring the implementation of recommendations on greater use of other forms of alternative sentencing have been made. Activities related to the development of Main design for State prison construction have been continued and funds for the reconstruction or expansion of prisons have been provided. Construction works at the Institute for Forensic Psychiatry Sokolac is ongoing. Activity of improving the health protection of prisoners and detainees has been initiated. Proposal of the Plan of Work of an independent prison inspection has been developed. Prison staff trainings have been carried out.

Judges who will work on providing international legal assistance have been identified and their training, as well as prosecutors' training, is continuously carried out. Framework Law on Free Legal Assistance was drafted, but it has not been adopted. Public Relations Strategy of the courts and prosecutors' offices has been developed and implemented in 97% of the courts. There is a regular cooperation with civil society organizations in BiH, which monitor the work of justice sector institutions.

A number of activities related to the introduction of mediation, as extra-judicial dispute resolution, have been implemented. Beside that, a number of activities related to BiH land administration reform have been implemented. Strategic programmes and activities for expediting the settlement of commercial disputes in BiH have been developed.

Coordination mechanisms for the implementation of BiH Justice Sector Reform Strategy and National Strategy for War Crimes Processing have been established. Capacities for strategic planning, aid coordination and European integrations of BiH justice sector institutions have been strengthened. BiH Transitional Justice Strategy is under preparation.

The conference participants have firmly committed to proceed with the reforms already started and to additionally intensify the engagement of justice sector institutions in the implementation of agreed activities to achieve planned goals.