As part of its ongoing effort to support OSCE states in upholding their commitments to the rule of law, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) presented newly developed recommendations to ensure judicial independence and accountability across the region on 9 October 2023, during the Warsaw Human Dimension Conference.
ODIHR's Recommendations on Judicial Independence and Accountability address new challenges and good practices from across the OSCE region that have emerged over the past decade. They are a result of comprehensive consultation with over 250 rule of law specialists, over a period of four years. This publication follows the Kyiv Recommendations on Judicial Independence and Accountability in Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia, developed by ODIHR together with the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and Public International Law (MPI) and widely used across the OSCE region since their publication in 2010.
"All OSCE countries have recognized the crucial role that a fully independent judiciary plays in safeguarding the human rights and freedoms of every individual," said ODIHR Director Matteo Mecacci. "Unfortunately, in many places we are seeing the independence of judges undermined, the separation of state powers eroded, and an overall lack of accountability. Our new Recommendations on Judicial Independence and Accountability are an example of ODIHR's unique mandate and what it enables us to achieve."
The recommendations address some of the crucial rule of law-related issues facing OSCE countries, including the functioning and accountability of judicial councils and self-governing bodies, disciplinary proceedings against judges, the transfer of judges within and between courts, and the principles of equality, diversity and non-discrimination within the judiciary.
The recommendations are the latest tool produced by ODIHR to help assist states in upholding their commitment to ensure that the independence of the judiciary is both guaranteed in law and respected in practice.
