The Judicial Academy of the Republic of Serbia participated in the International Training Program on Contemporary Human Rights Issues (International training program on contemporary issues in human rights law) held from May 23 to 26 in Antalya. The training program is another joint activity of the Judicial Academy of Turkey and the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (YOUCA).

The seminar brought together representatives of the judiciary, beneficiaries of the initial training program and representatives of judicial academies and judicial centers from Serbia, North Macedonia, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Turkey, Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo. The Judicial Academy of the Republic of Serbia was represented by members of the National Network of Judges and Prosecutors for the Implementation of the Standards of the European Court of Human Rights in the Republic of Serbia: Biljana Lepotić, judge of the High Court in Novi Sad and Dušan Dakić, judge of the Basic Court in Novi Sad, then deputy public prosecutor in the First Basic Public Vanja Ćulibrk, certified lecturer of the Council of Europe for Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, Ljuba Slijepčević, head of the office in Novi Sad, and Andrea Delibašić, advisor for research and improvement of education at the Judicial Academy.

At the opening ceremony, the president of the Judicial Academy of Turkey, Mr. Muhitin Ozdemir, emphasized the importance of such gatherings and cooperation in the function of exchanging knowledge and experiences of different countries, with the aim of strengthening the efficiency of the judiciary at the international level.

During the first day of the seminar, a presentation of the Judicial Academy of Turkey was held with a brief overview of the activities and current training programs.

The training program was divided into two program units. The first included lectures on the historical development of human rights, the organization and way of working of the European Court of Human Rights, as well as current practical issues regarding the protection of human rights such as the right to a fair trial, freedom of expression, safety and security, respect for private and family life through the prism of the practice of the European Court of Human Rights. The second part included presentations by representatives of the participating countries on selected current legal issues from the perspective of the practice of the European Court of Human Rights.

Judges Biljana Lepotić and Dušan Dakić decided for a comprehensive approach, and Serbia's presentation included legal views from civil and criminal matters by processing judgments of the European Court of Human Rights and analyzing relevant issues in the field of environmental law and ne bis in idem in criminal proceedings. Representatives of the Judicial Academy were praised for the originality and topicality of the selected legal issues, as well as for the quality of the presentation.

The seminar was an opportunity to reach an agreement on signing the Memorandum of Cooperation between the Judicial Academy of the Republic of Serbia and the Judicial Academy Turkey in the areas of exchange of holders of judicial functions and users of initial training, training in the field of human rights.

The signing of the cooperation is planned for September. On that occasion, the Judicial Academy of Serbia will host a delegation from the Turkish Judicial Academy.