STUDY VISIT WITH THE EUROPEAN UNION INSTITUTIONS

Presentation

The study visit will be organised with the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament, the European Anti-fraud Office (OLAF) and the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS). The study visit is designed to provide beneficiaries with an insight into the EU law making process and the host institution’s functioning and procedures. The role of the EDPS and OLAF will also be explained.

Requirements

To participate in study visits in EU Institutions, you need to be:

• A judge, prosecutor, court/prosecution staff or judicial trainer

Calendar

Two study visits are organised during 2023 with the EU institutions, amongst which one in the first semester:

Financial conditions

A daily allowance of 180 € will be paid to participants by EJTN during the whole period of the study visit. Transport costs will be reimbursed on a real-cost basis up to a maximum of 400 € upon receipt of original transport documents. National participants will be reimbursed on a real-cost basis. Further information can be found in the Financial conditions document.

Deadline for applications

The deadline for applications is Thursday, 15 December 2022, 18:00 Brussels time.

STUDY VISITS WITH THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS (ECtHR)

Presentation

The study visits will be organised in collaboration with the European Court of Human Rights. The aim of these visits is to provide a deeper knowledge of the Court, its functioning and its case law.

The study visits will focus on:

• Presentations on the Court’s competencies, procedures and case law
• Possibility to attend a hearing session (tbc)
• Meeting with a Judge from the Court
• Presentation of the HELP Programme of the Council of Europe

Requirements

To participate in study visits at the ECtHR, you need to be:

• A judge, prosecutor, court/ prosecution staff or judicial trainer

Calendar

Five study visits will be organised during 2023 with the ECtHR, amongst which three in the 1^st semester:

Financial conditions

A daily allowance of 190 € will be paid to participants by EJTN during the whole period of the study visit. Transport costs will be reimbursed on a real-cost basis up to a maximum of 400 € upon receipt of original transport documents. National participants will be reimbursed on a real-cost basis. Further information can be found in the Financial conditions document.

Deadline for applications

The deadline for applications is Thursday, 15 December 2022, 18:00 Brussels time.

A second call for applications for the study visits of the 2^nd semester will be issued in April 2023.

STUDY VISIT AT EUROJUST

Presentation

This visit aims at raising the participants’ awareness of the role of Eurojust and its organisation as well as increasing their understanding of the powers given to Eurojust National Members and judicial cooperation instruments in criminal matters. A visit to Europol and to the International Criminal Court will also be organised.

Requirements

To participate in the study visit at Eurojust, you need to be:

• A prosecutor or investigating judge
• Court/prosecution staff working with criminal issues

Calendar

One study visit is confirmed with Eurojust in 2023, and a second is to be confirmed in the second semester of 2023:

Financial conditions

A daily allowance of 200€ will be paid to participants by EJTN during the whole period of the study visit. Transport costs will be reimbursed on a real-cost basis up to a maximum of 400 € upon receipt of original transport documents. National participants will be reimbursed on a real-cost basis. Further information can be found in the Financial conditions document.

Deadline for applications

The deadline for application is Thursday, 15 December 2022, 18:00 Brussels time.

STUDY VISIT WITH THE EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS (FRA)

Presentation

The study visit will be organised with the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) in Vienna, Austria. It will be complemented by a visit at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The aim of the study visit is to introduce the participants to the work of the visited institutions in the judicial context. Among the topics tackled will be the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, FRA’s work in the area of Non-Discrimination, LGBTI, Access to Justice, Asylum and Migration, Hate Crime, the Rights of the Child and Data Protection.

Requirements

To participate in this study visit, you need to be:

• a judge, prosecutor, court staff/prosecution or judicial trainer

Calendar

Two study visits will be organised with FRA in 2023, amongst which one in the 1^st semester:

Financial conditions

A daily allowance of 170 € will be paid to participants by EJTN during the whole period of the study visit. Transport costs will be reimbursed on a real-cost basis up to a maximum of 400 € upon receipt of original transport documents. National participants will be reimbursed on a real-cost basis. Further information can be found in the Financial conditions document.

Deadline for applications

The deadline for application is Thursday, 15 December 2022, 18:00 Brussels time.

A second call for applications for the study visit of the 2^nd semester will be issued in April 2023.

STUDY VISITS WITH THE COURT OF JUSTICE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (CJEU)

Presentation

The study visits will be organised at the Court of Justice of the European Union. The aim of these visits is to provide a deeper knowledge on the powers, organisation and functioning of the Court.

The study visit will focus on:

• Presentations on the Court’s competencies, procedures, and case law
• Participation in a Court hearing

Requirements

To participate in study visits at the CJEU, you need to be:

• A judge, prosecutor, court/prosecution staff or judicial trainer

Calendar

Five study visits will be organised during 2023 with the CJEU, amongst which three in the 1^st semester:

Financial conditions

A daily allowance of 180 € will be paid to participants by EJTN during the whole period of the study visit. Transport costs will be reimbursed on a real-cost basis up to a maximum of 400 € upon receipt of original transport documents. National participants will be reimbursed on a real-cost basis. Further information can be found in the Financial conditions document.

In the case of a virtual study visit, no reimbursement of any expense will be paid as virtual study visits are not subject to the EJTN financial conditions.

Deadline for application

The deadline for application is Thursday, 15 December 2022, 18:00 Brussels time.

A second call for applications for the study visits of the 2^nd semester will be issued in April 2023.

STUDY VISIT AT MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY “Addressing Cultural and Religious Diversity in the Courtroom”

Presentation

The study visit will be organised at the Department ‘Law & Anthropology’ at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. The Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, located in the city of Halle in Eastern Germany, is a leading centre for research in socio-cultural anthropology. The Department ‘Law & Anthropology’ aims to offer a stimulating interdisciplinary forum where both anthropologists and lawyers can engage constructively and conduct cutting-edge, policy-relevant research linked to intensified interactions within and between societies, communities, and cultures in contemporary Europe and beyond. These interactions call for an in-depth assessment of the ways in which different normative orders and systems of morality coexist at various levels of decision-making. The Department strives to systematically involve legal practitioners in researching and theorizing concepts of justice and the accommodation of diversity in rapidly changing contemporary pluralistic European societies. To this end, the Department organizes an annual one-week study visit for up to 12 judges, prosecutors and court staff in collaboration with the European Judicial Training Network (EJTN).

The aim of the study visit is to provide deeper knowledge and comparative perspectives on how to adequately address cultural and religious diversity in the courtroom, with specific reference to family/kinship relationships and identities across borders (see below).

Through a mixture of presentations, collaborative team-work exercises with Department researchers, self-study and joint discussion sessions, participants are offered the opportunity to develop in-depth contextual understanding of diversity dimensions that are of direct relevance to their judicial practice. The visit is structured around a core exercise, called Rethinking Judgments. Each participant is required to submit a case from their home jurisdiction and relevant to discuss the study visit’s theme two weeks before the start of the visit. During the week in Halle, participants will be invited to rethink – and, if they wish, to rewrite parts of – the decision of the case they submitted, in light of the exposure to Law and Anthropology they have had. On the last day of the visit, participants will be invited to present the findings of their Rethinking Judgments exercise to the rest of the group. This last session will be made accessible by a wider audience of colleagues as part of an EJTN-MPI advanced webinar. Academic materials in preparation for the Rethinking Judgments exercise will be shared with participants before the visit starts.

For the year 2023, the following study theme will be offered for participants:

“Relationships and Identities across Borders: Normative Conflicts around the Recognition of Personal Status”

The ways in which family relationships and personal identities are created, perceived and negotiated in present societies are increasingly plural. One of the main drivers underlying this plurality is migration. The increased mobility of people across borders has not only led to a growing number of transnational families – i.e., families that are physically spread over two or more countries – but also to a widespread circulation of norms, practices and legal institutions from outside and within Europe. If, on the one hand, it is no longer possible to say that Europe today is homogeneous in terms of kinship relations and personal identities, on the other hand, legal frameworks and bureaucratic practices of status inscription remain mostly anchored in conventional and monolithic understandings of ‘the family’, child- and parenthood, personal identity and religious belonging as well. This disconnection has resulted in an increasing pressure on the judiciary to take the responsibility to fill the (legal) gaps and to accommodate present-day diversities in their practice.

The study visit will delve into some of the ensuing challenges, and provide participants with conceptual and practical tools to manage cultural and religious diversity, drawing from anthropological insights and perspectives. The focus will be placed on a range set of issues pertaining to: personal status and vertical family relationships (e.g., adoption, kafala, surrogacy and assisted reproduction), personal status and horizontal family relationships (e.g., marriage and divorce) and personal status and documentary practices of status recognition and inscription (e.g., identity documents, age, gender, name). In a migration context, these personal and family status issues are intertwined with family reunification.

Requirements

Judges, prosecutors and court/prosecution staff with a keen interest in questions of sociocultural and religious diversity in judicial practice (especially in relation to the visit’s theme) as well as a strong motivation to building bridges between legal practice and academia. One of the primary aims of the Judicial Study Visit Program is to enable judges to jointly explore some of the questions they are confronted with in their home jurisdictions. Participants are therefore expected to actively contribute to in-class debates, in line with an understanding of learning as a collective endeavour. Prospective applicants are asked to submit a short letter of motivation in which they indicate how and why the theme of the study visit is relevant to their own judicial practice and experience, including – if possible – references to cases which could be suitable for the Rethinking Judgment exercise.  Good working knowledge of English is required as the selected participants will be expected to actively contribute throughout the study visit, including but not limited to, presenting case materials from their own jurisdiction, comparative background information on their home jurisdictions and the findings of their Rethinking exercise on the last day of the visit.

Calendar

One study visit will be organised at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in 2023:

Financial conditions

A daily allowance of 160€ will be paid to participants by EJTN during the whole period of the study visit. Transport costs will be reimbursed on a real-cost basis up to a maximum of 400 € upon receipt of original transport documents. National participants will be reimbursed on a real-cost basis. Further information can be found in the Financial conditions document.

In the case of a virtual study visit, no reimbursement of any expense will be paid as virtual study visits are not subject to the EJTN financial conditions.

Deadline for applications

The deadline for application is Thursday, 15 December 2022, 18:00 Brussels time