Pakistan participates in Expert Group Meeting on development of judicial ethics training in Vienna

Vienna, August 2017- The development of judicial ethics training is part of the Global Programme for the implementation of the Doha Declaration, which was adopted by the Thirteenth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in 2015. The Declaration reaffirms Member States' commitment to counter corruption by enhancing transparency in public administration and promoting integrity of criminal justice systems.

Under the Global Programme, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) provides bilateral and regional technical assistance to support judiciaries in the development and implementation of strategies, measures and systems to strengthen integrity and accountability in the justice system.

One of the UNODC's key activities is the development of judicial ethics training tools for newly appointed and serving members of the judiciary. UNODC is seeking to work closely with judges, educational experts and judicial organizations to develop and implement these tools.  

As part of the process, UNODC organised an Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on the development of judicial ethics training which was held at the Vienna International Centre in Austria 28-29 August 2017. Pakistan was one the participating countries in this meeting, which brought together international key experts to provide insights and make recommendations on how to develop training tools. 

Based on this initial meeting, UNODC is piloting the training in Pakistan and is working closely with jurisdictions including the judicial academies that have expressed their interest in new tools. In this effect, a small group of representatives from pilot counties attended a follow-up meeting on 30 August to ensure that timelines and communication methods are agreed, any concerns held by the pilot site representatives are addressed, and the needs of individual sites are met.

Pakistan was engaged in the exchange of ideas and discussions to plan the implementation of the tools in their respective jurisdictions. The timelines for the proposed activities are finalized to start in September 2017 and end in December 2017. The activities include the development of an eLearning course and a workshop manual translated in several languages. Global and regional level training sessions will be held for the pilot countries after the development of the manual, which will be replicated in their host countries. 

The official launch of Global Judicial Integrity Network will be held in April 2018 at UNODC, HQ Vienna.