Baku, February 3, AZERTAJ
On February 3, there was made a presentation of the project "Alternative Dispute Resolution and Additional Support for the Development of Specialized Courts" realized jointly by the EU and the Ministry of Justice.
AZERTAJ informs that, speaking at the event, Vice Minister of Justice Azar Jafarov spoke about the importance of projects in the judicial and legal field between our country and the European Union.
It was noted that, the presentation of the next project coincides with a significant period when our lands, which have been under occupation for about thirty years, were recently liberated by our brave army under the wise and invincible leadership of the President, Victorious Supreme Commander-in-Chief Mr. Ilham Aliyev. The work of the judiciary and courts in those areas must also be restored. This important issue must be taken into account during project implementation.
Emphasizing that effective cooperation between the Ministry of Justice and the European Union is based on partnership documents and action plans, the Vice Minister said that, part of the joint activity falls into the period of execution of the Decree "On deepening of reforms in the judicial-legal system" on April 3, 2019 defining the development perspectives of justice and judicial activity of the head of state. The commercial and administrative courts, which is planned to support their development, were established after very serious preparations within the framework of resolving the issues arising from this Decree. To do this, first of all, the civil procedural legislation was comprehensively analyzed by experienced judges, justice workers, lawyers, economists and other relevant experts, and local and international judicial practice was studied. These courts have been formed at the expense of judges with deeper legal knowledge and experience in the relevant field, and a sufficiently sound legislative platform has been created for them to address their expectations. They have already handled more than 18,000 cases in anticipation of pandemic restrictions. Much has been done for these courts to act successfully, independently, impartially and fairly. Undoubtedly, the support provided under the project will be very useful.
The Deputy Minister of Justice stressed that alternative dispute resolution, in addition to reducing the workload of the judiciary, increasing access to courts and other positive qualities, is an additional guarantee for the choice of remedy in protection of rights during conflicts, i.e. for use of state defense or a more adequate
solution ways. A lot of work has been done in a short time to ensure the activities of the mediation institute.
The Law on Mediation has adopted several other normative legal acts regulating this activity, including rules on expenses for mediation services, reimbursement of expenses, training of mediators, their professional ethics, as well as implementation of the mediation process and maintenance of the mediation register, Mediation Council was registered as a legal person and a supervisory board was formed to manage it. With the support of the European Union, about 30 mediator trainers have been trained, and 240 people have been involved in mediation training. 195 of them have received mediator certificates, and this process is ongoing. All this and the additional support to be provided under the new project give us reason to believe that the introduction of compulsory mediation in our country will begin in July this year.
It was noted that amendments to national legislation are currently being prepared based on the model law of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and international experience to achieve the settlement of disputes related to commercial activities through out-of-court arbitration procedures. The project includes technical support for the solution of tasks arising from the Decree on deepening of judicial and legal reforms and the Law on Mediation. The document sets important goals, such as improving the institutional framework of commercial and administrative courts, improving the professionalism of judges and court staff, assisting in the organization of mediation and cooperation with UNCITRAL as a whole.
Kestutis Jankauskas, Head of the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan, expressed confidence that the project would contribute to the development of effective cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan in the field of justice, increase of the efficiency of the judicial system and generally contribute to reforms in the judicial-legal system of Azerbaijan. He said that the main purpose of the project is to strengthen the application of mediation and arbitration mechanisms for alternative dispute resolution, as well as the awareness and technical capacity of stakeholders in this field, improving the institutional and legal framework of commercial and administrative courts in accordance with advanced international practices, and to increase the efficiency of courts’ work and professionalism of the staff.
Representatives of the European Union, international experts, as well as employees of the relevant agencies, including the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Economy, the Judicial Council, the Supreme Court, the Baku Court of Appeal, the Bar
Association, the Confederation of Entrepreneurs (Employers), the Small and Medium Business Development Agency and others institutions attended the event.
The project, consisting of four main components, is being implemented in connection with the implementation of the Decree "On deepening of reforms in the judicial-legal system" signed by the President Mr. Ilham Aliyev on April 3, 2019 and the law "On Mediation".
The participants discussed the main components of the project, including increasing the institutional capacity of specialized courts, training of judges of these courts, improving the activities of the Academy of Justice, holding of mediation trainings, its promotion, propagation of arbitration, making cooperation with UNCITRAL and other measures to be realized in this direction.
At the online event, key experts on the components of the project Dimitrie Suyeranovich, Mark Segal, Constantine-Adi Gavrila, Leonardo D'Urso, Ruslan Mirzayev and Patricia Shonessi also informed about the work to be done in this regard. It was noted that the main components of the project are improving the institutional and legal framework of specialized courts, increasing their capacity, involving judges in training, mediation training and support for the promotion and application of mediation, promotion of arbitration and cooperation with UNCITRAL.
Nadir Adilov, Advisor to the Chairman of the Board of KOBIA, and Kamala Abiyeva, Chairman of the Commercial Board of the Supreme Court, expressed confidence that the project will contribute to the effective organization of justice and thanked the project participants.
