Montenegro

Action Plan to implement the Judicial Reform Strategy in Montenegro

«The Action Plan will represent a good base for project development, which will lead to strengthening of standard and institutional framework, as well as of administrative capacities of Montenegrin judiciary practice. I expect that the implementation of a well prepared Action Plan will help a lot in creating of efficient, effective and reliable judiciary system», Minister of Justice at the Government of Montenegro Mr. Miraš Radović said. He explained that a working group for development of the Action Plan has been formed made of representatives from the Ministry of Justice, Courts, State Prosecuting Organization and Law Practice, including active cooperation with the UNDP.

Mr. Radović also mentioned that concretization of strategic goals in the Action Plan demands responses to many questions: How many of legal practice holders should receive training on trial standards within reasonable timeframe? Which period should be predicted for the beginning of implementation of the new Law on Criminal Proceedings which will relocate investigation from courts and commit it to the state prosecutor?

According to Ms. Elisabeth Dvorak Little, UNDP Legal Consultant, the main goal of the team that works on the Action Plan is to collect data and priorities of all judiciary sectors in order to establish a realistic and sustainable plan which would represent all the voices and the needs in this sector. She also explained that «the goal of the Action Plan is to improve the eleven judiciary components defined in the Strategy: independence, efficiency and accessibility, improved public trust, education of judicial organs, international and regional cooperation, alternative dispute resolution, mechanisms for fight against organised crime, strengthening of judicial practice and prison systems, as well as judicial information system.»

 

Mr. Mirsad Bibović, UNDP Institutional and Judicial Reform Cluster Team Leader said that a precondition for independent judicial practice is an independent judge, and that legislative and executive bodies must not have competences that would oppose the principle of independence. He also emphasized that the best indicator of judicial practice independence is a degree of trust that citizens have in it.

»Current situation in Montenegro’s judicial practice is better than it was a couple of years ago. However, if we look into the public researches we come to a conclusion that a large part of the population is still dissatisfied, thinking mainly that the system is slow, inefficient and, up to a certain extent corrupted», said Mr. Bibović. He also stressed that the question - how to strengthen the citizens' trust – needs to be one of key starting points for creation of the Strategy and Action Plan. «We expect creating of a realistic plan which would not just be a wish list but a reliable and sustainable document with precisely defined reform measures, state budget impact and clear timeframe for realization of the defined measures. In this way a document will be created which preciseness will enable the institutions in charge to comprehensibly recognize priorities, and the international community to recognize the areas where assistance is really needed», Mr. Bibović concluded.

The Roundtable titled «Development of Action Plan for Implementation of Judicial Reform Strategy» was organized by the Ministry of Justice, supported by the UNDP Montenegro. The participants were the representatives from Judiciary, Prosecutor’s Office, Law Practice and State Prison.