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It is a great honor for me to participate at Conference of Chief of Justice of the World in Lucknow, India. I am coming as a Chief of Justice of the Supreme Court of the Serbia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a country which currently is facing constitutional and reform challenges.

In Yugoslavia, the years of isolation and political turmoil have adversely affected the operations of key institutions of government. Democratic governance institutions providing for effective rule of law and the respect for human rights, judicial independence and effectiveness, operational checks and balances and oversight mechanisms, have been crippled by a corrupt and incompetent regime. The judiciary has been particularly perturbed. The imposition of sanctions and harsh economic conditions led many individuals to take the law into their own hands. The state was complicit in that it often failed to enforce laws or enforced them arbitrarily or improperly. Corruption became a prevalent feature of the system.

Government policies on Federal and Serbian levels have dramatically changed after the overthrow of the previous regime through democratic elections in October and December 2000 respectively. The new leadership seeks to establish a democratic decentralized state and a market economy based on the rule of law and is devising policies to that effect. Government has realized that a modern judiciary is prerequisite to restore investor confidence, for which Yugoslavia is in dire need to rebuild its economy.

However, progress on the reform agenda is a necessary but not sufficient condition for recovery and growth. The new leadership has inherited from the previous regimes an apparatus, which lacks the capacity to implement new policies. While this applies to all branches of government, weaknesses in the judiciary involve an inadequate legal framework, dysfunctional human resources management, an inefficient court system and a lack of appropriate facilities.

Since a country and judiciary as such being in a position of beneficiary of international support I highly appreciate possibility, that before my distinguish colleagues, of stressing importance of implementation of international standards.
In conclude I would like to express my thanks and gratitude to all participants in this conference to debate noble cause intend to build world judiciary and increase respect towards international law.

Finally I thank the organizers of the conference and especially to Mr. Gandhi for their initiatives in bring about this Conference.

Hon’ble Madam Justice Leposava Karamarkovic
President of the Supreme Court of Serbia