The 6th Judicial Winter School 2023, which ran from January 22-26, 2023, has come to an end. The School enhanced the theoretical knowledge and practical skills of twenty participants, consisting of judicial assistants, representatives of court analytical units, judicial interns, and graduating law school students. 

The Judicial School was held under the auspices of the High School of Justice, co-organized by the USAID Rule of Law Program, Council of Europe (CoE), and the South Caucasus presence of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN OHCHR). 

The topics covered by the eleven invited experts included the latest practices of the Constitutional Court of Georgia and the European Court of Human Rights, children's rights, national and international standards related to the prohibition of discrimination, freedom of expression, personal and family life immunity, current business law issues, legal writing, and decision-making. 

USAID Rule of Law Program Deputy Chief of Party Neil Weinstein in his welcome notes stated that “one of the goals of the Program is to build the capacity of individual judges and court personnel. The Winter School, which USAID has supported since 2018, is part of that effort. Our support for the Winter School is in recognition of the important role judicial assistants and other court personnel play in Georgia’s judicial system and the importance of professional and independent judges and court staff in Georgia.”

“Judicial School of Justice, which has been supported by the CoE from the day of its creation, is a unique platform that enables judicial professionals to further their professional development, thereby improving their knowledge and skills. It also creates the opportunity for judicial professionals to network with their peers from other courts, share best practices, and exchange experiences.” – said Senior Project Officer, EU/CoE co-funded project “Support to the Judicial Reform in Georgia,” Ushangi Bakhtadze.

“OHCHR is mandated to promote and protect the enjoyment and full realization by all people of their human rights in the spirit of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 75th anniversary of which we are celebrating this year. Capacity building of the judiciary was and will remain one of the priorities of the OHCHR. We are happy to continue to support this initiative and hope that the Winter School enables participants to acquire not only theoretical knowledge, but also practical tools for acting in the spirit of the principles of fair trial,” - emphasized UN OHCHR Human Rights Projects Manager, Sopho Benashvili. 

At the end of the Winter School the participants were given tests, based on which the first- and second-place winners will be identified. The first-place winner will join a study tour to the U.S. together with ten civil and administrative Georgian judges. The runner-up will visit the European Court of Human Rights and Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France to study mechanisms of human rights protection in Europe.