Albanian Justice Sector Strengthening Project (JuST) Quarterly Report for April – June 2014

The project is part of ongoing U.S. support to the rule of law and good governance in Albania, with an emphasis on improving justice delivery and increasing public demand for accountability in the justice sector. JuST works in three strategic areas. First, it aims to increase court transparency, fairness, and efficiency through direct support to the courts in establishing systems for producing and making available verbatim records of legal proceedings. This includes implementing digital audio recording capability for the Albanian courts, which has received strong support from the Ministry of Justice, the High Council of Justice, most judges, and the public. A significant initiative of JuST is the implementation of digital audio recording capability for the Albanian courts. This initiative continues to receive strong support from the Ministry of Justice, the High Council of Justice, most judges, and the public. An important factor in the implementation of this technology has been the decision to equip all courtrooms with recording equipment, and a corollary decision not to equip judicial offices with recording equipment. As a result, there is both a growing public demand for recorded trials, and an increasing commitment to build more courtrooms. During the third quarter of the fourth year of the project, JuST continued its public awareness campaign on digital audio recording. The campaign involves a number of activities including "Open Court" days in every court where the technology has been installed. Nine open court days were held during the quarter, all of which were covered by local television media. To complement these local events, televised public service announcements were produced and broadcast a total of 720 times in six local TV markets, and 40 times on two national television channels. In addition to the digital audio recording initiative, JuST is also working to improve court management practices and reduce case backlogs. This includes ongoing assistance to trial courts to increase court room utilization and reduce the number of cases heard in judges' offices. Early in the project, JuST staff recognized the parallels between USAID objectives for court efficiency, and a trial monitoring project conducted by OSCE documenting lengthy court delay and poor case management practices. A series of collaborations between JuST and OSCE led to a joint project promoting "active case management" techniques, which have been shown to reduce delay, reduce the number of hearings, and increase court efficiency. The project has also made significant progress in strengthening civic engagement and promoting accountability from the "grass roots" level. This includes capacity development for the Union of Albanian Judges, a Justice and Good Governance CSO Grants Program, and a Justice Reporting Fellows: Training and Independent Venue for Investigative Journalists program. The project has also established a National Chamber of Mediators, which has become an established organization. Overall, the Albanian Justice Sector Strengthening Project (JuST) is making significant progress in improving the justice delivery system in Albania. The project's focus on increasing court transparency, fairness, and efficiency, strengthening civic engagement, and promoting accountability is critical to achieving the project's objectives and improving the lives of Albanian citizens.