The first two in a series of five debates on the ethics of judges: ‘Judges ethics‘ days‘, organised by the High Judicial Council (HJC) in cooperation with the HJC Board of Ethics and the Project for the judges and the courts‘ presidents in Serbia, were successfully conducted in January. The objective of these debates is to increase the awareness of judges and elaborate on numerous issues of the judges ethics, as well as on the work of the HJC Board of Ethics (BoE).
The debate titled ‘Presentation of the Board of Ethics of the High Judicial Council‘, held on 21 January, covered the issues of significance and role of the ethics of judges and the BoE, the BoE’s jurisdiction and procedure before this body and the role of the BoE confidential advisor, to name a few. The second debate titled ‘The Code of Ethics for Judges and the standards of the judges ethics‘, held on 28 January, presented the judges ethics in international documents and the comparative practice, elaborated on the important questions on the Code of Ethics for Judges and the HJC members in Serbia, and among other discussed the courage of a judge as an ethical value which proved among the most interesting topics.
The panelists were the members of the HJC, the BoE and the HJC disciplinary bodies. The debates were organised in a hybrid mode. Each debate records over 120 participants.
The High Judicial Council adopted the Rulebook on Work of the Board of Ethics of the High Judicial Council in September 2021. At the same time, the Rulebook of the High Judicial Council and the Code of Ethics for Judges have been adequately amended to comply with the said . The Project experts, together with the members of the HJC, actively participated in drafting and amending these accompanying acts. By adopting the relevant amendments, the preconditions for the establishment of the Board of Ethics of the High Judicial Council were fulfilled. The members of the Board of Ethics were appointed by the HJC, and at the first constitutive session of this body, held in October 2021, the president, deputy president and confidential advisor of the Board of Ethics were elected.