Global Judicial Integrity Network Updates Special Edition 'Views' Review | Page 40

VIEWS
The ENCJ also recommends conducting
educational programmes for schools, as citizens
should understand what their rights are and
how to enforce them from a young age. ENCJ
members are developing a variety of educational
programmes targeted at students and children,
aiming at transmitting information about
the functioning of the judicial system, the
national procedural rules and the different
legal institutions. These programmes can be
based on providing information, or directly
involving children with the functioning of the
judicial system, for instance as court reporters
or during mock trials. Judiciaries can set up
different programmes, adapted to their various
functions, but the education and involvement
of children, students and young adults should
be a focus for all judiciaries in their public
outreach strategies; an investment in the youth
is undoubtedly an investment in the future.
Judiciaries can develop the public outreach
activities they consider best adapted to the
needs of their citizens; building trust within
the judicial system must be a priority, and
judiciaries should make constant, daily efforts
towards this goal. As these efforts can take
various forms, public outreach strategies
should include regular events, as part of a long-
term, coherent programme. Judiciaries should
also develop comprehensive communication
strategies around a core message, which would
require a sustained public outreach programme.
When public trust in the judiciary is fragile, a
public outreach programme should be a part of
continuous efforts to rebuild this trust.
As low trust in the judiciary provides a basis
for bad judicial reforms and challenges to
judicial independence, public outreach must
be a core element in strengthening trust in
the judiciary, by extending constant efforts in
informing citizens and building their trust in
the judiciary. It is important for the judiciaries
to stay in contact with the public through
various activities in order to have a platform to
explain to citizens that the judiciary is a vital,
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and independent, part of any democracy.