Azerbaijan lags behind European countries in the feminization of courts and prosecutors

Baku/05.10.22/Turan: The Council of Europe European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) has published a regular report on the main trends in the judicial systems of 44 European countries and three observer states. This is the tenth evaluation report since the inception of CEPEJ in 2002.

European countries have spent on average almost 1.1 billion euros on their judicial systems, which is 79 euros per inhabitant (7 euros more than in 2018). On average, 66% of this budget is allocated to courts, 24.5% to prosecutors and 9.5% to legal aid. Switzerland and Monaco are the countries that spend the most per capita (€217 and €199), in contrast to Georgia (€8.7) and Azerbaijan (€9.6).

Eastern European countries spend proportionately more on prosecution services, while Nordic countries invest more in legal aid. The number of lawyers in Europe continues to grow, averaging 172 defense lawyers per 100,000 inhabitants. At the same time, in Azerbaijan this indicator is only 20. In this regard, Luxembourg is the leader - 485 lawyers per 100,000 people.

Member States and CoE organizations are increasingly using ICT to support judicial activities and allocate a large share of the courts' budget to computerization.

In 2020, Azerbaijan, Finland and Slovakia invested three times the European average in judicial ICT. In 2020, the Czech Republic, Malta, Monaco, Slovenia and Spain sent more than 80% of the budget of the judiciary to the courts, Albania, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Moldova spent more than 35% of the budget of the judiciary on prosecutions.

In Azerbaijan, although the costs of legal assistance have increased, this was due to an increase in the amounts of attorneys' fees appointed by the state. Azerbaijan, along with Armenia, is among the countries where women judges make up less than 40% of the judiciary.

Against the backdrop of increasing feminization of the prosecutor's office, Azerbaijan, together with Albania, Georgia, Armenia and Turkey, is among the countries where the number of female prosecutors is less than 40%. -06D-