Title: Strengthening Albania's Judiciary: The Role and ... - PILPG

Title:
Location:
Date & Time:
Speakers:
Strengthening Albania’s Judiciary: The Role and
Contributions of the Union of Albanian Judges
Chemonics International
Friday, November 16, 2012, 3:30 – 5:00 PM
Judge Ervin Matella, Chairman of Union of Albanian
Judges (UAJ)
Elvana Gadeshi, Deputy Chief of Party and a
component leader on USAID’s Albania Justice Sector
Strengthening project (JuST)
PILPG Author: Christin Flint
Event Summary:
Ms. Gadeshi opened the event with an explanation of the cooperation
between the Union of Albanian Judges (UAJ) and the Albania Justice Sector
Strengthening project (JuST). She explained that the UAJ is a professional
judges’ association with voluntary membership. She said that the UAJ
comes together to establish rule of law and transparency in the Albanian
judicial system. Ms. Gadeshi said that the primary focus of JuST is to
strengthen the organization and financial management of the UAJ. She said
that with JuST’s assistance in the past year, UAJ membership has increased
to 150 members and its budget has tripled. She explained that UAJ
membership includes judges from all levels of Albania’s judiciary, including
the Albanian Supreme Court.
Ms. Gadeshi said that UAJ is the newest member of the International
Association of Judges, which is comprised of organizations from 88 states.
She said that the UAJ is active in lobbying the Albanian government for
issues that are important to the judiciary. She explained that the primary
objectives of the UAJ are to strengthen the judiciary’s independence and to
increase its transparency.

Judge Matella said that the Albanian judiciary faces four major challenges:
public perception regarding corruption; judicial independence; judges’
careers and pay; and transparency in judicial proceedings. He explained that
the UAJ works on behalf of judges to address these challenges and described
the UAJ’s advocacy efforts.
Judge Matella said that Albania should establish a merit system for careers
in the judiciary, which would be based on objective criteria for a person’s
qualifications for a position. He suggested that there should be full
transparency, not only in judicial proceedings, but also through a public
monitor with an increasing level of judicial accountability. He said that
building public trust is not only the judiciary’s responsibility, but it is also
part of good governance. He believes that judges should take part in
continuing education training, which is both a right and an obligation. He
said that the UAJ works toward the decent treatment of judges and adequate
salaries and that, because judges’ beginning salaries are very low and better
pay is an important element of judicial independence, the UAJ has requested
Parliament to increase judges’ pay. He said that the UAJ is engaged in
providing comments and suggestions that contribute to the improvement of
judicial legislation in Albania.
PILPG Question & Summary of Response:
A PILPG Research Associate asked about judicial reformation efforts to
strengthen judicial specialization, such as juvenile or domestic violence
courts. Judge Matella responded that there are no specialized courts for
specialized judges, but that it was a topic of interest during a recent judicial
reformation conference. He explained that there are two primary types of
jurisdictions, criminal and civil, but that Albanian judges rotate between
cases, such as commercial, family, civil, and criminal. However, he said
that Albania does have a high crimes court, which is the closest thing to a
specialized court jurisdiction. A JuST representative who recently returned
from Albania added that there are reformation efforts to train judges in
family matters and domestic violence in order to provide better support for
those cases.
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