ICTY President Carmel Agius yesterday participated in a high-level workshop on “The efficiency of the international criminal justice system” organised by the French National School for the Judiciary (ENM) in Paris. The workshop brought together the Presidents of the ICTY, International Criminal Court (ICC), Special Tribunal for Lebanon, and Kosovo Specialist Chambers, among other judges and experts, to discuss ways in which to enhance the efficiency of international criminal courts and tribunals.
Following welcoming remarks by ENM Director Mr Olivier Leurent and former ICC Judge Mr Bruno Cotte, those present took part in three roundtable discussions on various aspects of legal proceedings and case management. Participants shared views and experiences on how best to ensure efficiency, expediency, and predictability at international criminal courts and tribunals, whilst also respecting fundamental fair trial rights, and identified working practices designed to optimise and reduce the length of cases. Such measures include the managerial role of presiding judges, effective pre-trial procedures, the development of work plans, admission of written rather than oral testimony, recourse to oral rather than written decisions, the use of comparative data and performance indicators, and staff motivation.
ENM is a prestigious post-graduate school supervised by the French Ministry of Justice, which has the exclusive responsibility of educating and training members of the French judiciary.
