The 5th Annual Symposium organised by the Procedural Law Unit of the University of Nicosia will take place from 10 to 12 December 2025 at the UNESCO Amphitheatre of the University of Nicosia.
This year’s symposium is held in collaboration with the International Association of Judicial Independence and World Peace (JIWP) and will focus on the theme “Judicial Independence and Liberal Democracy Under Threat: The Challenge of Implementing the ELI Mt Scopus Standards on Judicial Independence”.
The event will address global challenges to judicial independence and liberal democracy, the role of courts in contemporary legal systems, and the promotion of independence, ethics and accountability within the judiciary. It will also explore issues relating to the selection, promotion and evaluation of judges, as well as the interaction between legal reforms and democratic principles.
The conference programme will begin at 09:00 with an Opening Session featuring welcome speeches by Dr Nicolas Kyriakides, Director of the Procedural Law Unit, as well as by representatives of the Ministry of Justice of Greece, the Ministry of Justice and Public Order of Cyprus, the Cyprus judiciary, the House of Representatives, the Cyprus Bar Association, the University of Nicosia, the European Law Institute, and the European Commission. The session will also include remarks by Professor Shimon Shetreet, President of JIWP and Co-Reporter of the ELI Mt Scopus Standards. The conference will then continue with thematic sessions on universal challenges to judicial independence, the role of courts in the modern era, and the selection and evaluation of judges. Speakers include Marieta Safta, Graham Zellick, Mikhail Antonov, Alexander Trunk, Daniela Piana, Matthias E. Storme, Achilleas Demetriades, Valentina Pavlicic, Dragana Kolaric, Amnon Reichman, Gralf-Peter Calliess, Christos Clerides, Takis Tridimas, Giuseppe Franco Ferrari, Fryderyk Zoll, Sophie Turenne, Caroline Expert-Foulquier, Serhii Kravtsov and Stephanie Laulhé Shaelou. Sessions on judicial ethics and accountability, as well as judicial independence in democratic governance, will feature contributions from Natasa Plavsic, Philippe Jougleux, George Kontis, Andrea Danuser, Ruti Teitel, Martin Sabelli, Haim Sandberg and Hiram Chodosh, with concluding comments by Maimon Schwarzschild and Elina Asimakopoulou.
To register for the event, please click the following link: https://www.unic.ac.cy/event/procedural-law-unit-5th-annual-symposium/
To follow the event online, you may watch the YouTube livestream here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKQ8sRIRQZs
