Minister of Justice, Mr. Barisa Colak Attended the Council of Europe Conference of Ministers of Justice in Istanbul



29.11.2010. - Minister of Justice, Mr. Barisa Colak attended the Council of Europe Conference of Ministers of Justice, which was held in Istanbul, on November 24-26, 2010. Bedside the Ministers, the conference was also attended by the highest officials of the Council of Europe and Turkey, as well as chairmen of committees and legal mechanisms of CoE.

The conference was committed to the modernization of justice in the third millennium, and divided into two sessions: »Transparent and efficient justice« and »Prisons in today's Europe«.

The conference focused on the modernization of justice through the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in order to improve access to justice and efficiency of courts. At the beginning of the new millennium, parliaments, governments and ministries of justice in Europe are faced with the need for better integration of judicial services in Europe and more efficient organizations. Having this in mind, the Council of Europe has issued many recommendations related to the importance of ICT, which aim to support and promote effective and efficient judiciary. Many European countries, after assessing profitability of providing electronic court services, automatic processing of cases and Internet justice system (access to justice through Internet), have developed and implemented those instruments. This method of access to justice provides electronic payment of court fees, electronic submission of requests, electronic manner of informing and communicating with attorneys and other parties and complete electronic trials. The aims of this project are the radical change of infrastructure based on paper, improving and facilitating access to justice and reducing inconveniences and costs of the judiciary.

Since ICT is now considered as the most important element for improving judicial administration, it also presents the key element for transparency and efficiency of the judiciary. Namely, transparency, i.e. absence of corruption, and equal treatment of citizens are the key elements of modern legal system. Modernization of justice may ensure transparency to the judiciary through electronic and fast access to cases and courts via Internet. Furthermore, we all know that time and knowledge of judges are the important resources that need to be used efficiently, in a manner to enable them to focus on their main task - trial, instead of arranging the huge files of cases and waiting for the information they need or carrying out tasks that can be carried out by court employees or technology.

One of the advantages of ICT judiciary is resolving the problems of foreign nationals serving their sentence in domestic prisons, which unnecessarily increases the expenditure of money allocated from the state budged.

One of potential shortcomings of this system is the issue of personal data protection in the case of providing transparent access to justice via Internet. Personal data protection is an important element at present and the Council of Europe pays great attention to that issue.