Strategy of external communication of the judicial system of Latvia got high appraisal in the most prominent competition of the Baltic States in the communication sector "Mi:t&Links. Baltic Communication Awards 2017" - a gold award in the category of "Issues and Crisis Management" and a silver award in "Public Affairs".

This is a very high appraisal related to communications sector for work of the Council for the Judiciary, the Judicial Ethics Committee, the Supreme Court and work of other courts.

"The biggest challenge is to encourage judges to be more open and explain their decisions to media representatives, to become more open to the public, to learn from the positive experiences of colleagues. In turn, our explanations and prepared educational materials expands the knowledge of journalists working with legal issues, allowing them to successfully analyze events," said the Head of the Division of Communication of the Supreme Court Rasma Zvejniece.

The result of the work should be a better public understanding of what is happening in the courts. It is in the interests of whole society to reduce number of cases “adjudicated” by media, while the society also has to be aware of the circumstances which determine drawing up of individual judgments.

"We are certainly aware that we are only at the beginning of the road and there is still a lot of work to be done, but the evaluation of the communication professionals means that we are heading in the right direction", acknowledged the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Ivars Bickovics.

Strategy of the external communication is being implemented since 2015, when the Council for the Judiciary approved communication guidelines of the judicial system and communication strategy of the judicial system of Latvia. The strategy was implemented by the Council for the Judiciary, the Judicial Ethics Committee and the Supreme Court in cooperation with the public relations agency "Public ID Group". There were discussions between Judicial Ethics Committee and judges of the regions, general meeting of chairs of courts, as well as one of the annual conferences of judges was devoted to communication issues. Moreover, the Supreme Court organized the Media Day for journalists; judges-speech persons are gradually forming in the courts. There are regular meetings of communicators of the Council for the Judiciary.

Overall, 113 applications were submitted to "Mi:t& Links Baltic Communication Awards 2017" in 14 categories by public relations agencies, companies and organizations of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Projects were evaluated by an international jury.

 

Information prepared by

Rasma Zvejniece, the Head of the Division of Communication of the Supreme Court

E-mail: rasma.zvejniece@at.gov.lv, telephone: +371 67020396, +371 28652211