29/12/2020
The twinning between the Turkish and Spanish Ministries of Justice boosts the efficiency of the enforcement agencies during the pandemic through remote working
The twinning to improve the capacity of the civil enforcement agencies in Turkey, which is financed by the European Union and managed by FIIAPP, maintains its activity on-line with the aim of increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of these agencies.
Judicial decisions must be enforced in order to guarantee the rights of citizens to access justice, as recognised in Article 6 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Failure to comply with said decisions requires legal and institutional mechanisms that encourage and facilitate compliance with these provisions. This is the work performed by specialised enforcement agencies.
These enforcement agencies must have adequate human and material resources to enforce compliance. In recent years, Turkey has made great efforts to upgrade its judicial structure and has undertaken difficult reforms by implementing a new enforcement agencies model that responds more quickly and effectively to citizens’ needs, shortening waiting times and facilitating access to the courts for its citizens.
Enforcement system improvements are a priority in the Strategic Plan from the Turkish Ministry of Justice (2014-2019) which sets the goal of reducing the overall workload and the total duration for the completion of court proceedings. This twinning project is part of a broader reform leading to increased efficiency and confidence in the judiciary as a whole.
The situation caused by COVID-19 and the new needs it has created have highlighted the importance of telecommuting in these agencies. Therefore, within the framework of the project, a remote working activity has been carried out with the participation of specialists from the Spanish Ministry of Justice who have accompanied the Turkish Ministry of Justice in analysing the main characteristics and elements relating to remote working for application in the enforcement agencies. In this activity, the current telecommuting situation and solutions applied by other EU Member States have been reviewed.
After all this work, they have developed a Telecommuting Guide adapted to the specific needs of the enforcement agencies in Turkey, which will make it easier for them to adapt to the new needs.
