The EJTN Exchange Programme reacted to the pandemic by transforming its first yearly study visit into a virtual one and by conducting it online in brilliant co-operation with the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights. The study visit on 4 June was the first Exchange Programme activity to run online, bringing together judges and prosecutors from EU member states. Its initial duration of 1,5 days had been adapted to one day of training to suit the more concise format of a webinar.
40 participants from 16 EU member states gathered in the virtual seminar room to follow presentations delivered by 5 speakers on FRA’s side and with the possibility to become actively involved in a discussion after each presentation.
Thus, judges and prosecutors were able to represent and to share their experiences with the Charter of Fundamental Rights and its applicability on a national level.
In-depth information on the access to justice, rights of the child and the protection of victims of crime was delivered in shared presentations, using interactive methods to involve the participants in the best possible way.
The discussion rounds after each presentation provided for an interactive contact among the participants to share experiences and discuss the topics with their European counterparts.
Being launched as an experiment, the form of a webinar proved to be suitable to gather European judges and prosecutors for professional exchange. Valuable positive feedback from both participants and our partners at the FRA encourage us to further develop online training capacities for continued high-level judicial training in times of confinement.
