European Union supports future judicial training centre
Local and international experts designing curricula

The EU project “Institution Building of the Kosovo Judicial Institute” (KJI) was launched in the beginning of May 2004. It is funded through the European Agency for Reconstruction which already provided extensive financial support to KJI during 2002 and 2003. The project is scheduled to last until the end of July 2005.

Background
KJI was formally inaugurated in March 2001, though effectively it had been established by OSCE already in 1999. In December 2003 the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General established provisional arrangements for the continued functioning of KJI. Pending a specific Law expected to be passed by the Assembly before the October elections, KJI shall develop and deliver continued professional training for appointed judges and prosecutors. It is already being funded out of the Kosovo Consolidated Budget.

In addition, the European Agency for Reconstruction provided extensive financial support to KJI during 2002 and 2003 and continues to do so through the current project.

In early 2004, it was proposed to transform KJI into an autonomous, professional entity working in close cooperation with the Kosovo Judicial and Prosecutorial Council. Examinations would be organised for lawyers wishing to become a judge or prosecutor.

Project activities
While the draft Law on KJI is being debated and hopefully passed by the Assembly, the EAR consultants and local experts are working on final handover and its transformation into a Professional Judicial Centre:

· KJI’s administrative and management capacity is being strengthened
· An examination is being designed for lawyers wishing to qualify for a post as a professional judge or prosecutor
· A training programme is being designed for those who pass that examination
· The current training programme (which is aimed at already serving judges and prosecutors) is being re-designed so as to better meet their current needs
· A training programme specifically for lay judges is being developed

Extensive consultations with the local judiciary
In order to develop the elements of the above examination and the various curricula the project team is working in close co-operation with professional and lay judges, prosecutors, advocates, law professors and judicial trainers in a number of working groups composed, to a large majority, of Kosovans. The various associations of legal professionals are also involved.
The Steering Committee for the project comprises representatives of the European Agency for Reconstruction, the Kosovo Judicial and Prosecutorial Council, the OSCE Mission, the United Nations Mission as well as of the Kosovo Judicial Institute.

The final approval of the examination and curricula will lie with the Kosovo Judicial and Prosecutorial Council.

Project partners
The project is being implemented by a consortium of Kosovan and European partners: the Belgian-registered consulting company Transtec, the German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation (IRZ-Stiftung) and the Kosovo Law Centre (represented by its Director, Professor Haki Demolli).

The project office, which is located on the KJI premises, permanently comprises Mr Leif Berg, team leader, and support staff. Mr Berg, a former Finnish crime investigator, prosecutor and practising lawyer, worked in the European Commission and Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg for many years. He was also chief lawyer of the Human Rights Chamber for Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1998-99. In addition, he has been a judicial trainer in various member States of the Council of Europe, including in Kosovo in 2000.

The second long-term expert on the project, Dr. Rainer Deville, is a German judicial training expert with experience also from South-Eastern Europe. The third long-term expert, Mr Colin Ackerley, is a British specialist with a wealth experience in human resources development, including from Central and Eastern Europe. These two experts have already carried out a number of visits to Kosovo. (See the separate profiles for Dr. Deville and Mr. Ackerley.)

Project contact details
More information in advance of the media briefing is available from the project office, tel. 038 246 005 or 044 403179.

Institution Building of the Kosovo Judicial Institute An EU-funded project managed by the European Agency for Reconstruction