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Facilitating Implementation of Reforms in the Judiciary (FAIR)

Country: Georgia
Funder: European Union
Dates: May 2018 - April 2020
Project objective: From May 1 2018, the Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC), together with partner organizations - Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) and the Caucasus Research Resource Center (CRRC) has been implementing the project “Facilitating Implementation of Reforms in the Judiciary (FAIR)”.

The objective of the EU funded project is to support real reforms of the judicial system through monitoring, evidence-based advocacy, strengthening of individual judges and promotion of dialogue with them. The project also aims to increase the involvement of community groups in the reforms process of the judiciary through awareness raising and mobilization.
Research design: Within the framework of the project, the following activities are planned:
  • Monitoring of the implementation of the new electronic system of case allocation and the operation of Independent Inspector’s office and preparation of periodic monitoring reports;
  • Monitoring of the implementation of judicial strategy and action plan, and other related policy documents and preparation of shadow reports;
  • Qualitative research on the role of a judge with the participation of professional groups, including judges;
  • Public opinion survey on the judicial reforms, achievements, and challenges;
  • Monitoring the media coverage of major events in the judiciary;
  • Working meetings with judges with the participation of international and local experts;
  • Workshop on the ways of overcoming gender barriers in the courts system;
  • Announcement of the scholarship programs for academia, activists and lawyers to prepare thematic blogs, articles and essays;
  • Publication of the online journals on the justice system and its presentation in Tbilisi and the regions;
  • Workshop for students, activists and interested groups on the following issues: drug policy, public protests, urban issues, equality issues and the role of the justice system.
CRRC-Georgia is responsible for conducting the baseline public opinion survey, four waves of phone surveys, monitoring of media coverage and qualitative research on the role of a judge with the participation of professional groups.
Output:
The first wave of the telephone survey was connected with the announcement of court decision on the Khorava Street case and was held in June 2018.
The second wave of the telephone survey was connected with the selection of the Supreme Court judges to the Parliament and was held in January-February 2019.
The third wave of the telephone survey was connected with the selection of the Supreme Court judges and was held in September 2019.
The fourth wave of the telephone survey was connected with the appointment of Supreme Court Justices and was held in January-February 2020.

The baseline public opinion survey was held in September 2018. Executive summary in English and full report in Georgian as well as the press release from the December 5 presentation are available. The survey dataset is ready for online analysis on CRRC's Online Data analysis tool for the survey.

Qualitative study on the role of judges in criminal justice system: Executive summary (English). Full report is available in Georgian.

The public opinion survey on access to courts was held in February-March 2020. Executive summary in English and full report in Georgian are available. The dataset is available for download and online analysis at CRRC's Online Data Analysis website.