On 2 May 2024, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) held a meeting for EU lawyers to discuss the right of judges to independence, as established by the jurisprudence of the Inter-American system.
Carlos Ayala, ICJ Commissioner and Vice-President and former member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, shared his expertise regarding the Inter-American Court case-law, which offers valuable insights for EU lawyers.
Next to the objective dimension of the need for independence of the judges, in order to ensure access to justice, the Inter-American court has also established a subjective right of judges themselves to be independent.
“It became a standard in the Inter-American System that the right of independence of judges entails, not only the right of each individual to be tried before an independent tribunal, but also the right of a judge not to be dismissed,” explained Carlos Ayala.
The discussion focused on the situation in some countries in Latin America, including Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru, and the complexity of the Courts system in the region, as well as implementation of decisions in the Inter-American human rights system and the need for further dialogue among various human rights courts.
“The jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court can serve as valuable inspiration to the lawyers in the EU in their strategic litigation concerning judicial independence and the protection of the rule of law more broadly,” said Karolína Babická, ICJ Senior Legal Adviser.
Podcast episode: YouTube & Spotify
Listen to the podcast episode with this discussion on YouTube or Spotify
Background
As part of the ROLL (Rule of Law for Lawyers) project, this meeting brought together practitioners and experts, following previous workshops in Brussels, Malta and Prague.
For more information please contact: Karolína Babická, Senior Legal Adviser at [email protected]