Kosovo: EUKOJUST Kosovo Justice Sector Programme

Details

Published: April 5, 2022

EU Grant Project

EUKOJUST Kosovo Justice Sector Programme, Kosovo
October 2020 – January 2024
IRZ Lead
Budget: 7 Mio. Euro
Team Leader: Volkmar THEOBALD
Person responsible at IRZ: Teresa Thalhammer, Trime Ahmeti, Anastasia Schmieder

Website: https://eukojust.eu/en/project-2/

Since October 2020, the IRZ has been spearheading the implementation of the large-scale EU-funded grant project "European Programme/ Kosovo Justice Reform (EUKOJUST)" in an international consortium with Dutch partners CILC and the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration of the Republic of Croatia (MoJPA).

EUKOJUST has a volume of €7 million and a term of 40 months, and supports Kosovo's institutions to implement judicial reform and the Rule of Law Strategy, which emerged from a previous comprehensive review of the judicial sector in Kosovo.

EUKOJUST aims to bring Kosovo's judicial system in line with European and international standards and to strengthen the trust of the population in the judicial system. It also builds on the results from previous projects and implements consolidated and needs-oriented reform initiatives for the entire judicial sector under one umbrella organisation.

The beneficiaries of the project include the Ministry of Justice, the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council, the Kosovo Judicial Council, the Kosovo Judicial Academy, the legal department offices of the Prime Minister’s office, the staff of courts and public prosecution offices and independent legal professions, as well as judges, public prosecutors and also civil society organisations in the judicial sector.

The EUKOJUST project team consists of a 19-member international team, numerous international and national experts on site managed by the team leader, and implements a range of scheduled activities. It aims to strengthen capacity and inter-institutional coordination in the judicial sector, promote the independence and transparency of the judiciary, consolidate and align the legal and institutional framework, and to improve access to justice, in particular for women and marginalised or disadvantaged groups.

A project steering committee comprises representatives of the EU Delegation in Kosovo, the individual Kosovar ministries and the consortium members of the IRZ, CILC and the Croatian Ministry of Justice. The committee meets at regular intervals and steers and monitors the progress of the project.

12th EUKOJUST Steering Committee: to be continued?