PROMOTING RULE OF LAW IN GEORGIA (PROLoG) CA # AID-114-A-15-00004 QUARTERLY REPORT YEAR FOUR APRIL 1, 2018 – JUNE 30, 2018 1 PROMOTING RULE OF LAW IN GEORGIA ACTIVITY (PROLoG) QUARTERLY REPORT YEAR FOUR APRIL 1, 2018 – JUNE 30, 2018 Prepared under the USAID’s Promoting Rule of Law in Georgia (PROLoG) Activity, Cooperative Agreement Number AID-114-A-15-00004 Submitted to: USAID/Georgia as of July 23, 2018 Implementer East-West Management Institute, Inc. Responsible Parties: Giorgi Chkheidze, Chief of Party, Tbilisi, [email protected] Mark Dietrich, Project Director, Washington, D.C. [email protected] Disclaimer This report is made possible by the support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents of this report are the sole responsibility of East-West Management Institute, Inc. and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government 2 TABLE OF ACRONYMS ACCESS Advancing CSO Capacities and Engaging Society for Sustainability ADR Alternative Dispute Resolution CA Cooperative Agreement CEPEJ European Community for the Efficiency of Justice CIDA Civil Development Agency CRRC Caucasus Resource Research Center CLE Continuing Legal Education COE Council of Europe COP Chief of Party DCOP Deputy Chief of Party ECtHR European Court of Human Rights EHRAC European Human Rights Advocacy Centre EMC Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center EWMI East-West Management Institute Free-Uni Free University of Tbilisi GDI Georgian Democracy Imitative GBA Georgian Bar Association GIZ German Society for International Cooperation GTUC Georgian Trade Unions Confederation GYLA Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association HCOJ High Council of Justice HRC Human Rights Center HRCS Human Rights Center of the Supreme Court HSOJ High School of Justice JAG Judges Association of Georgia LAS Legal Aid Service L-N Lexis - Nexis M&E Monitoring and Evaluation MOJ Ministry of Justice NCCL National Center for Commercial Law NIHR Free Uni national Institute for Human Rights NGO Non-governmental Organization Coalition The Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary PDO Office of the Public Defender PROLoG Promoting Rule of Law in Georgia TSU Tbilisi State University TDI Tolerance and Diversity Institute TOT Training of Trainers TI Transparency International - Georgia USAID United States Agency for International Development USG U.S. Government WUSL Washburn University School of Law 3 Executive Summary Sub-Purpose 1: Strengthen Legal Framework Judicial Reform PROLoG continued supporting the so called “Fourth Wave” judicial reform process within the framework of the Parliamentary Judicial Reform Working group (PJR WG). After Chairman of the Parliament Irakli Kobakhidze took a chairing role, the PJR WG held two working meetings to discuss two topics: legislative amendments to the law on judicial discipline, including grounds of discipline, and amendments needed to reduce the backlog in courts. PROLoG’s expert Victoria Henley, former Director-Chief Counsel of the California Commission on Judicial Performance, examined a new consolidated version of the draft amendments to the law on judicial discipline and submitted a detailed set of recommendations. In addition, PROLoG engaged with USAID and other USG representatives at the Mission and assisted in the preparation of a written set of recommendations that were provided to the PJR WG on behalf of the U.S. Embassy (see Annex 1 of this report). These recommendations are based on the advice of PROLoG’s local and international experts, and concern the work of the High Council of Justice (HCOJ), reform of the grounds and procedures regarding the disciplinary responsibility of judges, and reform of the admission system at the High School of Justice (HSOJ). Notably, with this set of recommendations the USG suggested that the Government of Georgia and HCOJ impose a moratorium on the life appointment of judges until a comprehensive reform process is finalized. To facilitate the efficient functioning of the court system and improve the quality of justice, PROLoG, at HCOJ’s request and in collaboration with other international donors, started Phase One of a needs assessment study to identify the proper overall number of judges in Georgia. PROLoG contracted Dr. Jesper Wittrup, and other donors contracted local experts, to conduct a comparative quantitative analysis of the number of judges in European countries and prepare a qualitative analysis aiming to address the methodological concerns associated with a purely quantitative analysis. A final assessment of the proper overall number of judges in Georgia is anticipated at the end of Summer 2018. PROLoG supported a five-day workshop in Borjomi for judicial exam test writers to validate the tests they developed for admission to the High School of Justice. The workshop was assisted and facilitated by the National Assessment and Examination Center (NAEC). Also, PROLoG hired a company to update existing exam software in compliance with new regulations, and enhance its security and safety. To enable the Georgian judiciary, as well as the Government and wider donor community, to see the weaknesses in and opportunities for the judiciary’s IT infrastructure, software and network, and to plan how to effectively invest in new e-justice tools, including creation of a searchable legal database, PROLoG, together with the other partner donor organizations, signed a contract with ICT Business Council to provide an assessment of the IT infrastructure and software asset management within Georgian judiciary. Human Rights Legislation and Policy Development During this quarter, PROLoG grantees monitoring implementation of the Human Rights Action Plan 2016-2017 and developed final reports on three categories of issues: 1) criminal justice, right to fair trial, the Prosecutor’s Office, protection of human rights in the penitentiary system, and fight against torture and other forms of inhuman and degrading 4 treatment; 2) freedom of expression and assembly, freedom of religion, and LGBTI rights; and 3) rights of a child, gender equality and women’s rights, and rights of persons with disabilities. The findings of the reports were presented to the Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee at the Parliament after representatives of Government of Georgia presented their report on the Implementation of the Government Action Plan on Human Rights (2016-2017). During the reporting period ALFG finalized the project “Strengthening the Due Process Rights and the Role of Lawyer in Justice System.” The primary goal of the project was to promote the equality of arms in criminal proceedings through advocacy in support of the parties’ equal rights to collection and introduction of evidence. On April 24, ALFG held a presentation of its research on Equality of Arms and Adversarial Proceeding in the Process of Evidence Collection Introduction and Examination. Civil Society Engagement in Judicial Reform and Legislative Development Process This quarter PROLoG continued its support for the Coalition’s advocacy activities aimed at the reform of the justice system. The highlights of this quarter were the Coalition’s legislative proposals submitted to the Parliament to address a number of institutional problems of the Georgian court system. The Coalition submitted legislative initiatives to the Parliament as a part of the “Fourth Wave” judicial reform process. The proposals aim to increase institutional independence of the HSOJ, restrict the court chairs’ powers and change their appointment procedure, define norms governing the work of the High Council of Justice mainly with an aim to increase transparency of the Council’s work and ensure substantiation of its decisions, and to streamline the process of appointment of Supreme Court and lower instance court judges. The initiatives were presented at press conferences. The Coalition also engaged with the PJR WG to push for the adoption of these recommendations and participated in the discussions concerning other stakeholders’ proposals. Commercial Law Reform PROLoG, in cooperation with the MoJ and GIZ, supported a presentation of the main principles of the draft Law on Entrepreneurs (LoE) and the Regulatory Impact Assessment results. The draft law received very good feedback from the MOJ. It is expected that the draft law will be presented to the Parliament for approval in the near future. Sub-Purpose 2: Improve Management of Justice System Institutions Legal Aid Service PROLoG assistance to the state-funded Legal Aid Service (LAS) focused on support for the training of LAS lawyers. PROLoG supported the second round of training on effective communication and conflict resolution, and the training of LAS lawyers from East Georgia on involuntary psychiatric assistance. PROLoG continued to work with the newly elected LAS Council to plan its retreat so that the Council could better understand its role and learn more about the challenges and achievements of the LAS. Civil Society Capacity to Raise Awareness, Monitor and Provide Justice System Oversight On June 28, Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) and Transparency International Georgia (TI-G) presented their sixth joint report on monitoring the High Council of Justice, which covered 2017. The report highlighted the persistent problems of transparency and accountability of the HCOJ’s work, including regarding judicial appointment, promotion and 5 discipline. The two watchdogs also maintain that the judicial system continues to be