Improving quality and efficiency of courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina is at the focus of cooperation between the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HJPC BiH) and the Norwegian Courts Administration and the Council for the Judiciary of the Netherlands through the Improving Judicial Quality Project.

The strategic approach to improving judicial quality was the main topic of the Steering Board meeting.

As Halil Lagumdzija, the President of the HJPC BiH, pointed out a longstanding cooperation and joint work resulted in visible changes in the judiciary thus laying a strong foundation for future progress and restoration of public trust in the work of the institutions, which is extremely important for the BiH judicial community.

Strengthening the work of courts by improving court management, developing and introducing a mentoring system for newly appointed judges, improving the quality of court decisions, strengthening the work of the HJPC BiH by analysing independence, accountability and quality in the judiciary per the criteria of the European Network of Councils for the Judiciary are at the focus of the project, while the realisation of all activities in the last year has been positively assessed.

The meeting was attended by Halil Lagumdzija, the President of the HJPC BiH, Admir Suljagic, the Director of the HJPC BiH Secretariat, Hank Naves, the President of the Council for the Judiciary of the Netherlands, Sven Marius Urke, the Director of the Norwegian Courts Administration, the Council members and members of the HJPC BiH Project Team. They discussed the results achieved and their impact on the BiH judicial system.

As it was pointed out in the meeting, all the attendees are satisfied with the results achieved considering that the activities were realised during the COVID-19 pandemic. As emphasised, the pandemic has not significantly affected the dynamic and quality of the realisation of the project activities, while prompt adjustment of the realisation methods to the new conditions has been commended.

The activities that are yet to follow were also discussed in the meeting, as well as the option of continuing the cooperation given that 2021 saw the last realisation phase of the activities foreseen by the project.

The Improving Judicial Quality Project, which is being realised with the support of the Government of Norway and in cooperation with the Norwegian Courts Administration and the Council for the Judiciary of the Netherlands, aimed at continuously implementing activities that lead to more efficient work of the courts, is being realised since 2019.