The Open Justice conference intends to contribute to the ongoing discussion about open justice in a constructive manner, by re-examining the traditional ideas of the principle of the public hearing in light of modern day challenges (especially the growing use of information technologies).
Over the two days of the Conference, the participants will explore a variety of issues pertaining to the problematics of open justice, such as: the scope and content of the right to a public hearing as enshrined in various constitutional and supra-national instruments; the organisation of public oral hearings in civil and criminal proceedings and the relevant contemporary challenges of the information society; the level of transparency in the processes of appointing and selecting judges, as well as the phenomenon of vanishing trials and the privatisation of justice in the form or arbitration and ADR mechanisms. The Conference will be closed by a roundtable discussion on the ways and the extent to which justice should be communicated to society. Among others, matters such as televising and broadcasting of judicial proceedings and the relationship between the judiciary and journalists shall be reflected on.
The Conference will bring together judges of European and national courts, academics, legal practitioners and legal journalists and provide them with a platform on which to express their understanding of the principle of open justice today, and exchange their views on how to tackle the aforementioned challenges.
