FIRST CANADIAN MISSION TO CROATIA - by Myriam De Blois

In my capacity as Director of the Canadian Section's Croatia project, I set off alone in early February for Zagreb with two objectives in mind: to strengthen the working relationship between those of us who will be working together on the project over the next two years, and to obtain as much information as time allowed on the Croatian judiciary. Justice Michèle Rivet was instrumental in establishing the program of activities for this first Croatian mission, through the long hours she worked with me prior to my trip and through the conference call she organized with members of the ICJ executive, a call that helped to narrow the focus of my visit so that I might accomplish as much as possible in a relatively short time.

In terms of establishing a good working relationship with our Croatian partners, the mission was an unqualified success. The people I with whom I will be working most closely are Mr. Goran Zekovic and Mr. Bojan. Muhjlh of the Canadian Helsinki Committee and Ms. Natasa Dovovic of the Croatian Law Centre, and my meetings with them were both informative and promising.

In terms of my goal to obtain the maximum amount of information on the Croatian judiciary, the mission was also a success, despite the difficulty of finding legal or judicial documents in English, Goran Zekovic was extremely resourceful in gathering the documentation I requested, and I returned to Canada with a sheaf of documents, which are listed below. Copies can be obtained through the Canadian Section office in Ottawa.

In general, I found the Croatians I met to be initially polite, serious, and formal, but by the end of my stay, much of this reserve had been replaced by obvious enthusiasm for our two-year partnership. It was not difficult for me to understand their initial attitude. In the world's view, Croatia has seldom been differentiated from the Balkan countries (Croatia is properly a part of the region of South East Europe), and the people are justly sensitive to issues of language and geography. In addition, for more than eight years, Croatia has been governed by an extremely authoritarian regime, and in their move toward greater democracy, the people I encountered were understandably wary of any approach that seemed too dogmatic or prescriptive.

In the wake of President Tudjman's death in January and the second round of heavily monitored presidential elections, a new coalition government has been formed in Croatia. Among both the Croatians with whom I met and Canadians working in Croatia, there is a spirit of cautious optimism about the changes that the coalition government will be able to implement. We are hopeful that our project will be one of several that will aid in the difficult transition from an authoritarian state to a democracy. I was very pleased with the encouragement of the Canadian Ambassador to Croatia, Don Smith, and Canadian Consul Habib Massoud. Both felt that the post-election climate in Croatia was very favourable for implementing a project focused on judicial reform, and they suggested that the Croatian Ministries of Justice and Foreign Affairs be involved as early as possible.

In the course of my seven-day visit, I also met with Canadian representatives from other NGOs, including the National Democratic Institute and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. In addition, I was able to attend court sessions in the Court of Minor Offenses and the Municipal Court, to meet with a judge of the Municipal Court, and to visit the Faculty of Law at Zagreb University.

CIDA, the funding agency for the Croatia project, has encouraged us to include in our project the development of networks in the South Eastern region of Europe (Albania, Macedonia, Slovenia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina). Before I left Canada, I had established contacts with NGOs in these countries. During my trip, I spent one day in Slovenia, meeting with representatives of the Slovenia Helskinki located in Ljublijana, who expressed enthusiasm for a visit from the second Canadian delegation in April.

That delegation will be comprised of the Hon Michèle Rivet, Canadian Section President and the President of the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal, the Hon. F.B. William Kelly of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, the Hon. Melvin Rothman of the Quebec Court of Appeal, who will represent the group of Montreal judges most intimately involved in the training phase of the project, and I. The mission will take place between April 8 and April 16, and its purpose will be to launch the project in Croatia, to meet with officials, chief justices, and deans of law faculties, and to finalize the pre-selection of the 15 Croatian judges who will come to Canada for two weeks in the fall.

The first visit of Croatians to Canada will occur from May 20 to May 27 when, four high-ranking representatives of the Croatian Helsinki Committee and the Croatian Law Centre will visit Montreal and Ottawa. The purpose of this visit will be to allow our Croatian partners to acquire theoretical and practical knowledge about the Canadian judicial system. A third Canadian mission to Croatia will take place in early June.

In the meantime, I am working closely with Justice Rivet to finalize the agenda for the meeting of the Consultative Committee, which will take place in Montreal at the end of March. The Committee is comprised of a group of Montreal judges and members of the Executive and Council of the Canadian Section and will plan, oversee, and implement the judicial training seminars that will take place in the fall.

DOCUMENTS ON THE CROATIAN LEGAL AND JUDICIAL SYSTEMS
(in English and available on request from the Ottawa office)

• Constitution of the Republic of Croatia
• The Judiciary Act
• Statute of the Croatian Justices' Association
• Code of Attorneys' Ethics
• Law on the Ombudsman
• 1999 Statistical Yearbook
• Article on the Croatian Legislation concerning the International Criminal Tribunal
• Judicial Appointment Procedure and Criteria
• Article on the Independence of the Judiciary during the Transition
• Article on Problems and Prospects within the Croatian Judiciary
• The Principal State Acts: includes the Constitutional Act for the Implementation of the Croatian Constitution, the Charter on the Rights of Serbs and Other Nationalities in the Repbulic of Croatia
• The Legal Profession Act
• The Law on the State Judiciary Council
• Draft Code of Ethics for Judges: not enforceable

ICJ TRIENNIAL MEETING IN CANADA

Plans are currently being made to hold the next Triennial Meeting of the International Commission of Jurists in Canada in 2001. Although no definite time or place has been established, the meeting will likely take place during the last half of August in either Montreal or Ottawa.

The Triennial Meeting, which brings together national sections and affiliated organizations from around the world, is usually held in conjunction with an international conference. The last Triennial Meeting was held in Cape Town, South Africa. The Hon. Madam Justice Claire L'Heureux-Dubé of the Supreme Court of Canada is currently the International President of the Geneva-based organization.

ANNUAL MEETING HALIFAX

The 2000 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Section of the International Commission of Jurists will be held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Monday, August 21, from 2:30 to 5:00 p.m., in the Regency Room of the Prince George Hotel. The Canadian Section meeting is held in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Bar Association.

This year's ICJ meeting will include, in addition to the regular business meeting and Council meeting, a special program on AHuman Rights in the Balkans, Year II.@ The Honourable Walter S. Tarnopolsky Human Rights Award will also be presented to this year's recipient. Please see the back page of this newsletter for more information about the Tarnopolsky Award.

MEMBERSHIP

The Canadian Section is currently comprised of 528 judges and lawyers from across Canada. This respectable number does not mean, however, that we can relax our efforts to recruit more members. With the generous help of Gordon Fairweather and the Hon. G.V. La Forest, we are just launching a major membership drive in the province of New Brunswick, and plans for membership drives in other regions are being discussed.

The membership fees and donations of its members are our only source of revenue for the ongoing operation and activities of the Canadian Section. Therefore, we call your attention to the membership renewal form included with this newsletter and ask that you renew your membership at your earliest convenience. Donations made to the Canadian Section are tax-deductible, and a tax receipt will be issued for a donation of any amount.

NEWS OF OUR MEMBERS

Marcia Kran, an adjunct professor of law at the University of British Columbia, and a member of the Canadian Section, participated in a mission to East Timor, organized by the World Bank, in October and November, 1999. In the months prior to the mission, 75% of the population had been displaced, and 70% of the infrastructure destroyed or rendered inoperable by post-ballot violence in the territory. The purpose of the multi-sectoral mission was to assess the requirements for transition to independence and development of a viable nation, given the massive amount of destruction. On behalf of the UN Development Programme, Ms. Kran focused on the judicial sector and recommended priority activities to re-establish a functioning justice system, including training the few remaining judges and lawyers. The departure of judges, prosecutors and court clerks, most of whom were Indonesian, left an extremely limited number of legally trained professionals in the territory. According to Ms. Kran, this lack of human capacity must be addressed as a matter of priority if the rule of law is to be entrenched in an independent East Timor.

Professor William A. Schabas has been appointed to the Chair in Human Rights Law at the National University of Ireland, Galway, where he will also serve as Director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights. The Centre will be involved in teaching, research and advocacy in international human rights law but also with respect to human rights within Ireland. William Schabas leaves the University of Quebec at Montreal, where he has taught international human rights law since 1991. He has also served as a member of the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal. Professor Schabas has published widely in the area of international human rights and is a frequent participant in human rights observer missions to various parts of the world.

ICJ QUARTERLY DIGEST

Included with this newsletter is a photocopy of the ICJ/CIJL Quarterly Digest. Although the cost of having the Digest sent directly to Canadian Section members is prohibitive, we have received permission from Geneva to photocopy this excellent and informative publication for Canadian Section members who would like to receive it. The Digest is a compendium of press releases and news of ICJ activities and related events, and is currently available only in English.

If you would like to receive photocopies of the Quarterly Digest, please contact Pat Whiting in Ottawa, at (613) 237-2925, or by e-mail at patw@cba.org.

PUBLICATIONS

Press Releases

• 30 November 1999 ICJ Reports on Human Rights and Judicial Independence in Indonesia
• 5 January 2000 ICJ Applauds Ukraine's Decision to Declare Death Penalty Unconstitutional
• 27 January 2000 ICJ/CIJL Condemn Military Government's Gross Interference in Judiciary in Pakistan
• 2 February 2000 ICJ Regrets Decision Not to Extradite Pinochet But Hails Advance Made Against Impunity
• 24 March 2000 ICJ Urges Chile's Newly Elected President to Ensure that Crimes Against Humanity Do not Remain Unpunished
• 15 March 2000 Jurists Adopt Plan Against Corruption

Publications

• Ruler's Law: The Report of the International Commission of Jurists' Mission to Indonesia

Copies of press releases may be obtained from the Ottawa office. Publications may be borrowed.