The Rule of Law Platform for Western Balkans provides comprehensive insight into the rule of law and protection of individual rights in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.
Rule of Law Forum: A Decade of Progress
Over the past decade, the Rule of Law Forum for South East Europe, established in 2014, has grown into a crucial platform for promoting the European Convention on Human Rights, encouraging regional judicial cooperation, and supporting the process of EU integration.
The Rule of Law Forum has continued to evolve, adapting to the ever-changing landscape of human rights and the rule of law. From deliberating the protections of judicial independence and impartiality, to timely discussions on safeguarding human rights in times of emergency, the Forum consistently address critical issues at the core of the judiciary, making it one of the most important events of the year that gathers members of the judiciary, lawyers, legal practitioners, and NGOs in the region.
Rule of Law Forum
The annual Regional Rule of Law Forum, established in 2014 by the AIRE Centre, London, and Civil Rights Defenders, is one of the most important events of the year for members of the judiciary, lawyers and members of NGOs in the Western Balkans. The Forum aims to promote the national implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights, to encourage regional cooperation and to assist the process of EU integration in the region. Each year, the representatives of the supreme courts and constitutional courts from the region, presidents of judicial councils, directors of judicial training academies and institutions, government agents before the Strasbourg Court, representatives of NGOs, and prominent legal experts to discuss some of the crucial issues Balkan countries face when it comes to the protection of human rights.
Rule of Law Platform for the Western Balkans
The Rule of Law Platform for Western Balkans has emerged from Rule of Law Forum, as AIRE Centre, London, and Civil Rights Defenders, recognised from the need for a regional online platform that would provide information on rule-of-law developments, practices, and experiences in the Western Balkans. The platform provides comprehensive insight into the rule of law and protection of individual rights in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia and relies on a pool of legal experts and practitioners. The platform has three key goals: to improve the implementation of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) and other key international instruments in the domestic courts throughout the region; strengthen domestic capacities to meet the rule-of-law requirements necessary for the membership of the European Union and to promote cooperation and exchange of best practice amongst domestic legal institutions across the region.
About the Rule of Law Forum 2023
Balancing Data Protection with Transparent Justice: The European Legal Framework
The Tenth Annual Regional Rule of Law Forum for South East Europe, hosted by the AIRE Centre and Civil Rights Defenders, will take place in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on 10 and 11 November 2023. The event is supported by Sida and the UK Government.
The Regional Rule of Law Forum is one of the most important events of the year for members of the judiciary, lawyers, law practitioners and NGOs in the Western Balkans. The forum aims to promote the national implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights, to encourage regional cooperation, and to assist in the process of EU integration in the region.
This year’s Forum will focus on the topic of “Balancing Data Protection with Transparent Justice: The European Legal Framework”. Discussions will centre around the protection of Article 8, the right to respect for private and family life, in the context of judicial proceedings, taking account of the safeguards required under Article 6, the right to a fair trial. This includes balancing the requirement for judicial transparency with the requirement to protect the right to private life of parties to proceedings, considering when it is appropriate or necessary to anonymise judgments and if and when it is permissible to admit and/or rely upon intercepted, electronic communications evidence. These issues are topical across Europe as ever-evolving technology continues to transform how we investigate and prosecute crimes and how we conduct judicial proceedings.
About Civil Rights Defenders
Civil Rights Defenders is an independent expert organization that works for people whose civil and political rights are being violated, or run the risk of being violated in countries where respect for human rights is almost non-existent. They consider a world where people’s freedom and rights are respected to be a safer world. The vision Civil Rights Defenders strives to achieve through their work is a peaceful and secure world with freedom and justice for all. In order to achieve this, they work to provide people with access to the civil and political rights that the world’s States are obliged to provide.
It is work that they carry out alone and in collaboration with local human rights defenders, who are close to the people whose rights are being violated. Civil Rights Defenders strives to strengthen human rights defenders in dictatorships, in countries that used to have authoritarian regimes, or that have been affected by war.
They believe that all countries need a strong civil society that scrutinizes those in power in order to continue to develop in a positive direction. That is why they combine their human rights work with the empowerment of their partners.
Read moreAbout the AIRE Centre
The AIRE Centre is a non-governmental organisation that promotes awareness of European law rights and provides support for victims of human rights violations. A team of international lawyers provides information, support and advice on European Union and Council of Europe legal standards. It has particular experience in litigation before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and has participated in over 150 cases. Over the last 20 years the AIRE Centre has conducted and participated in a number of seminars in Central and Eastern Europe for the benefit of lawyers, judges, government officials and non-governmental organisations.
The AIRE Centre has been focusing on the countries of the Western Balkans, where it has been for over decade and a half conducting a series of long-term rule of law programmes in partnership with domestic institutions and courts. Our aim throughout these programmes has been to promote the national implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights, assist the process of European integration by strengthening the rule of law and the full recognition of human rights, and encourage regional cooperation amongst judges and legal professionals.
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