Kosovo Judicial Assessment Mission Report

KOSOVO JUDICIAL ASSESSMENT MISSION REPORT April 2000 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Executive Summary . .1 Introduction Summary of findings Summary of Recommendations Methodology II. Background . .3 Kosovo: An overview of recent events Developments relevant to the judicial system III. Urgent Challenges to the Judicial System . .8 Urgent problems in the current system Training needs Court Personnel Judicial Salaries Material needs Court Security Problems with Related Institutions IV. Longer-term concerns . .18 Additional human rights concerns: Legal training Building strong institutions Other demands on the legal system: civil law challenges Information distribution issues V. Recommendations . .26 Immediate Short term Medium and longer term VI. Endnotes . .30 Appendices . .31 A. Detailed description of the current situation in each court . 31 B. Physical infrastructure, courthouse by courthouse . 47 C. Relevant UNMIK regulations . 100 D. List of Courts and Court Personnel . 120 I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Introduction with these appointments, in most areas the court system is still in its infancy. NMIK and KFOR have made significant strides in Ureducing violence and improving security across Kosovo • Uncertainty about the applicable law makes substantive in the ten months since the end of NATO’s air campaign. legal decision-making difficult for the newly appointed However, much remains to be done. Ethnic and political judges. To date, no thorough effort has been made to violence continue to plague the region, and ethnically determine whether the potentially applicable law is motivated intimidation makes daily life almost impossible for consistent with internationally recognized human rights Kosovo’s remaining Serbs and other minorities. Theft, standards, and crucial jurisdictional issues remain assault, and extortion are common. In many regions, unresolved. While OSCE has provided a compilation of organized crime has reportedly begun to fill the vacuum major criminal laws to all judges and prosecutors, many created by the absence of an effective civil administration. judges still lack copies of the other applicable laws and regulations. In healthy societies, a fair and effective judicial system plays a crucial role in preventing and remedying human rights • Most judges currently appointed have received little or no abuses. An independent and efficient judiciary deters would- training in the applicable law or in international human be criminals, ensures accountability for the perpetrators of rights standards. Since virtually none of the newly- abuses, and helps establish a predictable and transparent legal appointed judges have worked as judges for the past ten regime. But without an effective judicial system, a climate of years, and some have never served as judges at all, the lack impunity and lawlessness will prevail, and ordinary people of training is a serious handicap. will have no redress when their rights are violated. In such an atmosphere, political stability and economic progress are • Judges must work in unacceptably poor conditions. Many close to impossible. courthouse buildings are damaged and require immediate repairs. Almost all courthouses lack heat, electricity, Kosovo is a case in point. UNMIK and the international telephone service, water, furniture, and the most basic community thus far have not yet established an effective and equipment, from typewriters and law books to pens and fair judiciary in Kosovo, and this has had a ripple effect on paper. A number of courthouses are currently occupied by other critical institutions such as the police. Without a international organizations, making it impossible for functioning judicial system, police arrest criminal suspects, judges to begin their work. only to see them released in many cases because the courts lack the capacity to conduct investigations and hold trials. • The lack of reporting on trial monitoring and assessment Property disputes cannot be settled, making economic minimizes accountability and makes objective evaluation transactions difficult. Even traffic laws go largely unenforced, of crucial due process and human rights issues almost making road accidents an increasingly common cause of impossible. injury and death. • The lack of adequate security at courthouses places judges As the international community’s inability to uphold the rule and other court staff in danger and makes true judicial of law continues, faith in the international community’s independence difficult in a society so permeated by ethnic commitment to justice in Kosovo inevitably wavers. If we do and political conflict. not act quickly, it is not only the citizens of Kosovo who will suffer. The credibility of the United Nations, NATO, the • Judicial salaries are low, increasing the risk of corruption OSCE, the EU, and the entire international community is at and the risk that talented people will leave the judicial stake. system for better-paying jobs elsewhere. Summary of Findings • A lack of coordination between police and judges impacts the ability of both to function effectively. In addition, the lthough hundreds of crimes occur every day in Kosovo, weakness of the confinement system further diminishes Aonly a small portion of those crimes ever reach the the ability of police and courts to investigate and try cases. judicial system. Until a few weeks ago, only five of Kosovo’s courts functioned, and fewer than forty judges had been Summary of Immediate-term Recommendations appointed. Starting on December 29, 1999, UNMIK appointed more than 240 judges and prosecutors, who were • Applicable law: UNMIK should clarify and disseminate sworn in in January and February, 2000. However, even the applicable substantive law as a matter of urgent 1 priority. Provisions inconsistent with internationally Methodology recognized human rights standards should be identified and revised, and UNMIK should act immediately to his report is the result of a U.S. interagency assessment clarify the courts’ subject matter and geographic Tmission. The assessment team was led by representatives jurisdiction. of the State Department’s Bureau of Human Rights, Democracy, and Labor, and included representatives from • Training: The OSCE should provide all judges with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Overseas urgently needed practical and interactive refresher training Prosecutorial Training and Development and the U.S. in the applicable law, human rights standards, basic Agency for International Development. In addition, the team procedures and case management. Training should included a U.S. federal judge and a U.S. state judge, both encourage judicial initiative and independence. If possible, with substantial expertise in judicial administration, and a judges should be trained together with police, prosecutors, civil engineer with expertise in reconstruction and and defense attorneys. development. • Facilities and supplies: Urgent repairs to court buildings The team’s primary focus was on the judiciary, and in should commence immediately to ensure that there is particular criminal justice issues, since it is widely agreed that adequate heat, water, and electricity. Working with the the establishment of public order and the safeguarding of the international community courts should immediately be rights of criminal defendants is the highest priority for provided with basic equipment, books and supplies. Kosovo’s fledgling judicial system. To a lesser extent, the International organizations, including KFOR, are assessment team also sought to identify longer-term non- currently occupying court buildings and should criminal law issues facing Kosovo’s judicial system. Although immediately vacate the buildings or find acceptable the policing and confinement systems were not formally part alternative venues for courts. We estimate that all courts of the assessment team’s brief, the team found it impossible could be fully repaired at a cost of $3.5 million. to assess the needs of the judicial system without looking also, although to a much lesser extent, at police and • Trial monitoring and assessment: The OSCE should detention issues. immediately take steps to substantially improve its trial monitoring program. To ensure accountability, statistics The assessment team conducted interviews and site visits in should be kept on case dispositions in order to aid Kosovo between February 6 and February 22, 2000, visiting determinations of whether patterns of abuse or virtually every court in all of Kosovo’s judicial districts. The discrimination exist, and the information should be shared team supplemented the information gathered first-hand with with all relevant players in the judicial field. NGOs information provided by UNMIK, the OSCE, KFOR, prior should also be encouraged to monitor trials. UNMIK US government assessments, NGOs, and other should act promptly to remove judges or other judicial organizations. personnel who abuse their positions. The authors of this report wish to thank all who have made a • Court Security: All courts should be provided with contribution to both the assessment mission and drafting adequate security to ensure the safety of sensitive files and and compiling this report. In particular, we wish to thank the personal safety of judges and other court staff. At a UNMIK’s legal and judicial affairs sections and the OSCE minimum, one armed guard should be assigned to each Mission in Kosovo’s Rule of Law Department for their court during business hours. logistical help and advice on the assessement

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