The CEELI Institute is now in its eighth year of support for the Central and East European Judicial Exchange Network, which was successfully launched in October 2012. The Network is comprised of some of the best and brightest young judges from eighteen countries in the region who have come together to share best practices on issues of judicial independence, integrity, accountability, and court management. This project has been made possible through the generous support of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) at the U.S. Department of State.

Within the program, the group of ten judges created the publication “Manual on Independence, Impartiality and Integrity of Justice: A Thematic Compilation of International Standards, Policies, and Best Practices”. The Manual represents a systematic effort to survey relevant international standards applicable to the judiciary. The main goal of the Manual is to constitute an easy-to-use reference tool to facilitate the day-to-day work of judges both in the region and worldwide. The Manual provides easily accessible, substantive legal support for issues related to the status, work, rights, and responsibilities of judges. For example, Section II.8 of the Manual assembles all relevant international standards which establish and clarify the principle of judicial independence in the administration of justice. Judges needing to justify their role in the administration can quickly access the necessary underlying legal support.

The idea for the Manual was first conceptualized by the Network Advisory Board judges in 2014. The participants then established a uniform methodological approach for their work, and carried through on their project to its completion, researching and referencing over 160 relevant international standards to use as primary resources.

The Manual represents an extraordinary commitment of time and effort by the Network judges who participated in this project. They undertook extensive independent research and editing, coming together periodically at the Institute to coordinate and collaborate on their work. We are deeply indebted to them for their commitment, skill, and insight both in the conceptualization and actualization of this project.

The last update was made in June 2020. Please if you have any suggestion of international standards which can be included in the Manual, let us know at Freda.grealy@ceeli.eu.

An easy to use, interactive table of contents is available on the downloadable version of the document.

Download the manual.