On October 23, Group for Legal and Political Studies (GLPS) held a Panel Discussion on the topic: “Performance of the judicial and prosecutorial system in the perspective and assessment of citizens”, held in Prishtina. The aim of this event was to discuss the challenges and difficulties identified in the work of judges and prosecutors, as well as the overall dissatisfaction and low level trust of citizens towards the justice system in Kosovo. At the beginning of the discussion, GLPS presented the 4th Edition of the Rule of Law Performance Index (RoLPIK) which analyzes the performance trends and efficiency of the judges and prosecutors over the last five years, as well as the level of citizens’ satisfaction with the rule of law institutions in Kosovo. The indicators developed through a comprehensive methodology employed for RoLPIK show a fluctuating performance during the five year monitoring period. Although few of the courts and prosecutions such as the Basic Court, the Special Chamber, Appeals Prosecution and some of the basic prosecutions have registered a successful year in 2017, the majority on judicial and prosecutorial institutions did not manage to build a sustainable improvement of performance and efficiency. This said, some of the abovementioned facts such as failure to maintain consistency in terms of efficiency increase, as well as failure to address some of the landmark cases that have been widely discussed in the public, have directly impacted the negative perception that citizens continue to maintain in relation to the judicial institutions in Kosovo.  In addition, data stemming from this fourth edition of the RoLPIK show that the public perception towards the judiciary and prosecution continue to remain very low and concerning at the same time. Furthermore, in most cases, this perception continues to worsen, if one analyzes the trends since the first edition was presented in 2016. “Continuous improvement of performance by judges and prosecutors, as well as their integrity, are two of the main factors that would improve the overall citizens’ perception towards the justice system in Kosovo, that is why Kosovo Judicial and Prosecutorial councils should seriously commit in implementing their respective strategies on this regard” stated Mr. Maliqi, a judge at the Supreme Court in Prishtina. In addition, a proper communication with citizens is also of a very high importance, in order to keep them informed about the positive results conducted by these institutions, he concluded. On the other hand, Ms. Lefeuvre from the Council of Europe in Prishtina, said that the statistics stemming from this 4^th Edition are very concerning and we all should be realistic for the current state of affairs with regards to the efficiency of rule of law institutions, and try to collectively improve the situation. Last to address the audience was Mr. Nimoni from Çohu, who focused more on the role of KJC and KPC and their performance towards improving the overall performance of the justice institutions in Kosovo. “KJC and KPC should strongly commit toward developing a clear methodology which should be employed by the respective disciplinary commission in different judicial and prosecutorial institutions in Kosovo, in order for the performance assessment of judges and prosecutors to be fair and impartial, and as a result, increase the efficiency”, he concluded.  This Panel Discussion was organized with the support of the Democratic Society Promotion (DSP) project, financed by the Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency (SDC) and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DANIDA), managed by the Kosovo Foundation for Civil Society (KCSF).

Panelists:

Mr. Agim Maliqi – Judge at the Supreme Court in Prishtina;

Ms. Stephanié Lefeuvre – Programme Manager at the Council of Europe – Horizontal Facility Action on Ensuring Efficiency and Quality of Justice, KoSEJ;

Mr. Genc Nimoni – Programme Manager at ÇOHU

Venue: Swiss Diamond Hotel (“Mother Theresa” Square, 10000 Prishtina, Kosovo)