The conference entitled “Judicial Reforms and Access to Justice” organised within the EU-funded project “Consolidation of the Justice System in Armenia” in partnership with the European Business Association (EBA) took place in Yerevan on July 21.
Head of EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Andrea Wiktorin and Deputy Justice Minister of Armenia Yeranuhi Tumanyants, made opening remarks at the conference.
“We need to continue our joint efforts and make sure that justice system in Armenia serves its citizens and businesses. It is equally important that we continue to create the best climate possible for growth and jobs in the Armenian economy,” mentioned the Head of EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Andrea Wiktorin.
In the opening speech of the forum, Deputy Minister of Justice Yeranuhi Tumanyantz thanked the project team leader Peter Gjortler for the effective cooperation within the project and highlighted the support provided by the experts within the project in the direction of the reforms implemented in the field of mediation and the assessment of the needs of establishing an arbitration center in Armenia.
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During the conference, the results of the public opinion survey on Judiciary and Prosecution in Armenia have been presented. According to the survey, 65% of the population of Armenia consider that courts are characterized by professionalism and 66% attribute professionalism to the Prosecutor’s office.
70 percent of respondents think that judges in Armenia are professional, and 74 percent consider judges to be polite.
The public opinion survey has been conducted within the framework of the “Consolidation of the Justice System in Armenia” Project by the R Insights research company among 3,000 citizens during the months of April and May 2022.
According to the research, 52% of the population trusts the judicial system of Armenia for various reasons, 40% still do not trust the judicial system, and 8% of the respondents found it difficult to assess their level of trust in the judicial system. The average confidence in the judicial system is 2.55 on a scale of 1-4.
Despite growing confidence in the judicial system, people’s perceptions of finding justice in the courts remain a concern.
According to 61% of Armenian citizens, people do not go to court because they have no hope of finding justice there, and according to 60%, the side that is financially more secure wins in court.
According to the results of the same survey, 56% of the Armenian population trusts the prosecutor’s office for various reasons, 32% of the respondents do not trust it, and 12% of the respondents found it difficult to assess their level of trust in the prosecutor’s office.
According to Expertise France representative Aurelia Schaf, one of the partners of the consortium implementing the project, the creation of stable evaluation tools for the courts will contribute to the increase of trust in the courts. “Evaluating the work of the courts will contribute to increasing public confidence in the justice system,” Mrs. Shaf noted.
Diana Sarumova, President of the European Business Association, referring to the reforms of the legal system and the correlation between economic investments, noted that an efficient legal system is one of the main priorities of foreign investors and the steps to be taken in the foreseeable future towards its further improvement are very important.
Teresa Thalhammer, director of the “Consolidation of the Justice System in Armenia” project, also highly appreciated the joint efforts of the Armenian judicial system partners, noting that “the achievements of this project are the results of the joint efforts of the project team and judicial institutions. We have had a very
The “Consolidation of the Justice System in Armenia“ Project is implemented by the German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation (#IRZ) in partnership with Expertise France and the Court Administration of Latvia. The Project is funded by the European Union.
CONSOLIDATION OF THE JUSTICE SYSTEM IN ARMENIA