During the official ceremony in the Main Court Room of the European Court of Human Rights
The CEPEJ: A Success Story
Created in 2002, the CEPEJ celebrated its 5th birthday at the time of its 10th plenary meeting. As usual, the UIHJ was invited in its capacity of an observer member. It was represented by its first secretary, Mathieu Chardon.
After the welcome speech by Fausto de Santis, President of the CEPEJ, Philippe Boillat, Director General of Human rights and Legal Affairs of the Council of Europe, wished every one a happy birthday and recalled the recent history of this commission. Then he pointed out the three large works of the CEPEJ: that on the evaluation of the legal services, that on the quality of justice, and that on the studies which exploit information of the 2006 evaluation report: access to justice, e-justice, enforcement of the court decisions. On this last point, Mr. Boillat indicated that the Committee of the ministers encouraged the CEPEJ “to study with a detailed attention the recommendations suggested by the writers of the study”.
At the end of the first working session, a cocktail was offered by Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe. Mr. Davis greeted the CEPEJ as a “Success story. “It is a good example of how to deliver value for money - specific and realistic objectives close to the interest and concerns of the ordinary people, effective work, tangible and measurable results” he said.
The Experience of the UIHJ
A report on the enforcement of the court decisions in Europe prepared by the Research Team on enforcement of court decisions (the University of Nancy, in France, and the Swiss Institute of comparative law) was presented by Julien Lhuillier, reporter of the project. This important study aims at analysing the efficiency of the enforcement mechanisms in Europe and is based on the empirical data that CEPEJ gathered in 2004 in the framework of its Evaluation of European Judicial Systems. The UIHJ was in particular requested within the framework of the works. In its introduction, the report does not fail to indicate that the team “compared its conclusions with the international experience of recognised practitioners, Messrs. Mathieu Chardon, Jacques Isnard and Bernard Menut (International Union of Judicial Officers)”. The study is in two parts, the first concerns questions of accessibility of enforcement, while the second examines the efficiency of enforcement. The quality of this work, greeted by all, does not fail to show that any work of scientific nature could not thrive without the co-operation of the concerned law professionals.
The UIHJ renews on this occasion its full support for the actions carried out by the CEPEJ within the framework of enforcement of court decisions and is pleased with the excellent relations which it maintains with the organisation of the “Large Europe”. It was besides question of the potential creation of a working group about enforcement of court decisions (CEPEJ-GT-EXE) for which UIHJ already indicated that it wished for its creation and stands ready to help it and place its competences at the disposal of such a working group.
The Status of Permanent Observer Member of the CEPEJ for the UIHJ
During the first day, it was decided to grant the statute of permanent observer member to the UIHJ as well as to the other organisations having the statute of observer member of the CEPEJ, namely, the Council of the bars and law societies of the European Union, the European Association of the Judges, the European Union of Rechtspfleger and Court Clerks, the European Federation of administrative judges, the MEDEL, the European Judicial Training Network, the European Network of the councils for the judiciary, and the American Bar Association.
Mathieu Chardon evoked the various actions of the UIHJ during the last six months. He also presented “One Line” the UIHJ questionnaire prepared by the Committee of the UIHJ on the occupation of judicial officers in the world, which caused the congratulations of the present delegations as well as the bureau of the CEPEJ.
Giving Pragmatic Tools to Improve Service of Justice
Then, at the end of the meeting, a ceremony was given in the main court room of the European Court of Humans Rights.
In his speech, Jean-Paul Costa, President of the Court, insisted on article 6 of European Convention on Human Rights relating to the fair trial. “The respect of the reasonable time of the lawsuits and the enforcement of the internal judgements could be much better guaranteed by the national authorities, if they had the will of it and focused on this issue ” he said.
In this respect, the role of the CEPEJ is determining because it makes it possible to offer to the States “effective solutions upstream of the trial”. Then, Fausto de Santis recalled that the purpose of the CEPEJ “lies in its capacity to answer the concrete concerns of the public decision makers and the experts of justice, in order to improve the public service of justice”. And to continue: “Our work is addressed to the judges, to the prosecutors, to the auxiliaries of justice, in order to give them pragmatic tools enabling them to improve the service of justice”. The special session continued with the speeches of Eberhard Desch, former President of the CEPEJ, Ekaterine Tkeshelashvili, Minister of Justice of Georgia, Vitalie Pirlog, Minister of Justice of Moldova, Michael Walker, District Judge (United Kingdom), Julia Laffranque, Judge at the Supreme Court of Estonia, Vice-President of the Consultative Council of European Judges, Emil Kuchar, Permanent Representative of Slovakia to the Council of Europe, Chairman of the Ministers' Deputies, Michel Hunault, Member of the Committee of Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and Luisella Pavan Woolfe, Ambassador, representing the European Commission to the Council of Europe. After the conclusions of Philippe Boillat, the discussions continued in a cordial way during the reception hosted by Emil Kuchar.
As always, the UIHJ did not fail to note the excellent organisation and preparatory work done by the secretariat of the CEPEJ, in particular that of Stéphane Leyenberger, Secretary, Muriel Decot, Co-secretary, Pim Albers, Special Advisor, without forgetting the assistance of Elisabeth Heurtebise.
