A working visit of the Kazakh delegation, led by the Chairman of the Supreme Court A. Mergaliev and the Assistant to the President on Legal Affairs Y.Zhienbayev, took place at the Headquarters of the Council of Europe (CoE), DKNews.kz reports.
During the visit, Kazakh specialists participated in a three-day seminar on technical cooperation between the CoE and Kazakhstan. They discussed cooperation with the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ), the Department for Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption, the Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO), the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission), the Department of Health, Prison Management and Drug Addiction (POMPIDOU group), as well as the Committee on Artificial Intelligence.
Special attention was paid to a detailed study of the procedures for acceding to a number of CoE treaties and their provisions, including the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention), the Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote Convention), the Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention), the Convention against Trafficking in Human Beings, and the Convention on Counterfeiting Medical Products and Similar Crimes involving threats to Public Health (MEDICRIME).
The Kazakh delegation showed significant interest in the procedures for examining applications and delivering judgments by judges of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
In turn, the Kazakh delegation extensively acquainted their European colleagues with the multifaceted steps taken by our country to strengthen the rule of law, implement extensive democratic and political reforms, and initiatives in the field of human rights protection.
Special attention was paid to the fact that these reforms are part of the comprehensive transformation of the country towards a Just Kazakhstan, making a significant contribution to the global human rights landscape.
European colleagues expressed great interest in exchanging experiences, including the introduction of IT technologies in courts, the use of artificial intelligence to predict the outcome of civil cases, and the implementation of robotics for the preparation of drafts of individual judicial acts.
The adherence to gender equality at all levels of judicial power in our country, ensuring optimal, balanced representation of women in judicial bodies, was also highly appreciated.
As of January 1, 2024, the judiciary of the country consists of 2364 judges, of whom 1268 are women judges, which is more than half (53.6%). During the meeting with the Director of Programme Coordination of the Council of Europe, the parties discussed the prospects of bilateral cooperation, including the new "Neighbourhood Co-operation Priorities with Kazakhstan 2024-2027," developed in close partnership with Kazakh authorities and ratified by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in the autumn of 2023.
