On Tuesday, October 9, the Regional conference on the Graz Recommendations on Access to Justice and National Minorities opened its sessions. The event took place on October 9 – 10, 2018, in Chisinau, and aimed to explore the current situation of national minorities in the Republic of Moldova from the perspective of their access to justice. The conference also served as a framework for the launch in our country of the Graz Recommendations on Access to Justice and National Minorities.
Organized by the National Institute of Justice and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the meeting brought together representatives of the national judicial system, OSCE and ODIHR experts, as well as representatives of judicial training institutions from five Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine) and Romania.
The conference was opened by Diana Scobioala, the Director of the National Institute of Justice. "I would like to note that it is already the second time that representatives of seven judicial training institutions meet in Chisinau and I hope that these meetings will become a tradition. We also intentionally chose the same format this time in order to encourage the exchange of experiences and best practices between the judicial training institutions from the Eastern Partnership states, which will help to better prepare professionals of the justice sector in terms of their initial and continuous training”, has mentioned Diana Scobioala in her speech.
During the event were discussed the main challenges, solutions and good practices for ensuring effective access to justice for national minorities. Also, the agenda of the conference included discussion panels on current needs in the training of judges, prosecutors and other professionals of the justice sector, in the field of national minority rights and hate crimes, as well as the dissemination of the Graz Recommendations on Access to Justice and National Minorities as a practical tool for use in the activity of the justice sector professionals to improve access to justice for national minorities.
The Graz Recommendations on Access to Justice and National Minorities, launched on 14 November 2017 at the University of Graz (Austria) under the Austrian OSCE Chairmanship, provide both legal and practical approach to access to justice for national minorities and include principles that underpin equal access to justice for all, including national minorities.
