Publish more accessible and transparent information on Ministry of Justice website (AL0071)

What is the public problem that the commitment will address? Access to justice not only includes providing citizens with legal resources, but also ensuring that the legal system is fair and equal. Justice reform is one of the key priorities of the Albanian government; however, citizen perceptions regarding the implementation of these reforms present a significant challenge. According to the “Trust in Governance 2019” opinion poll of 2500 randomly selected Albanians, while over half of citizens (52.7%) believe justice reforms will have a positive impact, only 31.5% believe the reforms are being implemented properly (48.5% believe they are not and 20% do not know). Improving the transparency of the Ministry of Justice and its subordinate institutions enables these institutions to be accountable to citizens and carry responsibility of the fulfillment of their designated duties, responsibilities and commitments in both their daily work and in executing justice reforms. In turn, the transparency and accountability of justice institutions are necessary preconditions for building public trust. Access to information necessitates that the relevant information is easily attainable and understandable by citizens. Albanian citizens have lacked timely and sufficient access to all the necessary documents and information in order to hold the Ministry of Justice and its subordinate institutions accountable. Additionally, documents that are available online, while a step in the right direction, may be too long or technical to be easily understood by citizens. Thus, in order to enable accountability through transparency the Ministry of Justice’s website requires substantial improvements through a coordinated and collaborative strategy that prioritizes on-going updating and improvement with emphasis on ensuring accessibility and relevance to citizens’ needs.

What is the commitment? This commitment uses a three part strategy to improve transparency and accountability of the Ministry of Justice and is subordinate institutions through an official website that citizens can rely on the timely and efficient update of documents of interest to citizens in formats that are easily understood by citizens and an improved internal reporting framework. Through a collaborative working group that includes the Ministry of Justice and subordinate institutions, NAIS and civil society organizations the commitment will develop a fully functional and citizen accessible Ministry of Justice website. This will include increasing not only the quantity of strategies, monitoring reports, and reports on the implementation of institution activities published, but also the accessibility of these publications through accompanying audiovisual communication, as well as published summaries of various reports in simplified language. In conjunction, a framework for increased cooperation and coordination of the activities and Commitments | Access, Transparency and Accountability in Justice | Commitment 7 responsibilities of the Ministry of Justice and its subordinate institutions will establish intra-institutional transparency and formalized mechanisms for accountability regarding these activities. Objective: To develop the necessary systems & mechanisms to ensure transparency and consequently promote accountability within the Ministry of Justice and its subordinate institutions through a fully functional website that publishes in real-time all information relevant to citizens in a clear and easily understood format and an intra-institutional operations and reporting framework. Expected results: Increased transparency and use of access to public information: • Fully operational Ministry of Justice website; • Information published on the website in real time and is relevant to citizens when requesting services; Improved accountability within the Ministry of Justice & subordinate institutions: • Working group ensures transparency is maintained; • Strengthened cooperation and coordination between relevant activities and responsibilities of the MoJ and its subordinate institutions.

How will the commitment contribute to solving the public problem? This commitment focuses on not only increasing transparency through the online publication of Ministry of Justice documents, but also on ensuring that the information is published in an easily understood format. Establishing a dedicated working group the Ministry of Justice (milestone 1) will take a structured and collaborative approach to improve the not only the quality and quantity of information available online, but also the accessibility of the content for non-technical citizens. An assessment report drafted by the working group and made available for public comment will identify where access to information can and should be improved to reflect the wants and needs of citizens (milestone 2). Fostering improved technical and professional capacity and the development of updating mechanisms and protocols will seek to ensure the sustainability of these improvements and maintain regular updating of the website (milestone 3). As public trust is being developed it is necessary to not only publish information, but to reach out to citizens through a variety of channels. Justice related strategies, action plans and their accompanying implementation and monitoring reports will not only be published and made public (milestone 4), but their conclusions will also be disseminated through audio-visual communication via TV appearances of the Minister, awareness campaigns, awareness activities, etc. (milestone 5). Accountability frameworks will be developed in coordination with relevant institutions in order to develop clear and transparent procedures and regulations (milestone 6) and reporting systems (milestone 7) for the Ministry of Justice and its subordinate institutions to help ensure duties are carried out efficiently, effectively and with integrity. OGP challenge affected by this measures Improve public services Increase efficient management of public resources Increase public integrity Increase corporat e accountability Create a safer community for citizens & civil society ☒ ☒ ☒ ☒ ☒

Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values? Transparency & Access to Information • Does the ide a disclose more information to the public? • Does the ide a improve the quality of information disclosed to the public? • Does the ide a improve accessibility of information to the public? • Does the ide a e nable the right to information? ☒Y es ☐N o • Increa sing the capacity to hav e a fully functional website will enable citizens greater access to resources & relev ant in formation; • Real-t ime information for citizen s in ca ses where they will request serv ices; • The drafting of the final report based on the current state of the internet will hav e a direct impact on improv ing the information requested by the public. Public Accountability • Does the ide a cre ate or improve rules, regulations, and mechanisms to publicly hold government officials answerable to the ir actions? • Does the ide a make the government accountable to the public and not solely to inte rnal syste ms? ☒Y es ☐N o • Monitoring reports, including those from civ il society will be published; • Establishment of working gr oups and cooperation tables with CSOs pr omotes external accountability ; • Reporting sy stem will be established and implemented ba sed on criteria for reporting sy stem selected with feedback from external experts / consultations. Public & Civic Participation • Does the ide a cre ate or improve opportunities, or capabilities for the public to inform or influe nce de cisions? • Does the ide a cre ate or improve the e nabling e nvironme nt for civil socie ty? ☒Y es ☐N o • Cooperation and coordination of activ ities will share the respectiv e responsibilities between the in stitutions; • Establishment of working gr oups and cooperation tables with CSOs en sures transparency efforts reflect the needs of citizens; • Citizen s able to prov ide feedback and contribute to the monitoring of the implementation of action plan activ ities Technology & Innovation • Will te chnological innovation be used in with one of the other three OGP values to advance participation, transpare ncy or accountability? ☒Y es ☐N o • Im prov ement & maintenance of MoJ website central to increasing the accessibility of in formation to citizens in order for them to contribute & hold public institutions accountable; • Use of audiov isual communication will increase accessibility of in formation to citizen s.

Milestone Activities Milestones Indicators Responsible Institution / s New or Continued Idea Timeframe Measurable and verifiable achievements to accomplish this meas ure Result Indicators Output Indicators Lead Responsible Institution Supporting / Coordinating Agencies / Institutions New or continued from 2018- 2020 OGP AP Start Date End Dat e Priority Measure 1: Increase of technical and professional capacities of the Ministry of Justice in order to have a fully operational website, so the information is published on real time and the information is useful for citizens when seeking services Milestone 1: Establishment of a Working grou p established at the Ministry of Justice; National Agency for All su bordinate institutions; civil society ☐N o ☐Y es Jul. 2020 Dec. 2020 working gr oup at the Min istry of Justice (MoJ) in order to identify documents and pr ocesses that sh ould be published and how to make these more accessible (n on -technical language, diagrams, simplified concepts). MoJ. Working grou p inclu des members from civil society organizations. Information Society (NAIS) organizations participating in the working grou p Milestone 2: Analy sis and drafting of report on the current state of the web in which will highlight the in formation n eeded to improv e access to in formation to the public Drafted analysis report. Report published and made pu blically available with opportunity for civil society organizations to provide feedback. Ministry of Justice; National Agency for Information Society (NAIS) All su bordinate institutions; civil society organizations participating in the working grou p ☐N o ☐Y es Jul. 2020 Dec. 2020 Milestone 3: Website of MoJ and su bordinate in stitutions fully functional and accessible with detailed and complete published information. Website fully updated. Mechanisms established to ensure regular updating. Ministry of Justice; National Agency for Information Society (NAIS) All su bordinate institutions ☐N o ☐Y es Jan. 2021 Dec. 2021 Priority Measure 2: Increase transparency and use of access to public information Milestone 4: Increa sed transparency in making public the reporting of the strategies and the implementation of their action plans, as well a s the comprehensiv e activ ities of the in stitution. Publication of strategies, monitoring reports, implementation reports on the MoJ website. Publication of summaries of various reports in simplified language in order to be more accessible. Ministry of Ju stice All su bordinate institutions ☐N o ☐Y es Jan. 2020 Dec. 2022 Milestone 5: Audiov isual communication of the activ ity of the in stitution as a means of increased transparency (TV appearances of the Min ister, awareness campaigns, awareness Audiovisual communication integrated into communication procedures. Ministry of Ju stice All su bordinate institutions ☐N o ☐Y es Jan. 2020 Dec. 2022 activ ities, etc.) Priority Measure 3: Strengthen cooperation and coordination of relevant activities and responsibilities of the Ministry of Justice and its subordinate institutions, which will have a positive impact on transparency and accountability, including but not limited to, inspections conducted by the Ministry of Justice for institutions of dependence Milestone 6: Appr oval of manuals, in struction s, relevant internal rules for the most efficient functioning of the in stitution. In order for the in stitution to be a s efficient a s possible in its field of activ ity and policy -making, all internal regulations of the basic structures will be rev iewed. Manuals, instructions, relevant internal rules approved. All internal regulations of the basic structures reviewed. Ministry of Ju stice All su bordinate institutions ☐N o ☐Y es Jan. 2021 Jun. 2021 Milestone 7: Adopt an efficient reporting sy stem of the duties and respon sibilities of each in stitution in compliance with transparency and accountability . Ba sed on the rev ised regulation, the manner of reporting will be determined in order to meet transparency and accountability . Criteria for reporting system selected with feedback from external experts / consultations. Reporting system approved, adopted and integrated into the Ministry of Justice and all su bordinate institutions’ procedures. Ministry of Ju stice All su bordinate institutions ☐N o ☐Y es Jan. 2021 Jun. 2021

Action Plan Review

Commitment #7: Fully functional Ministry of Justice website

●      Verifiable: Yes

●      Does it have an open government lens? Yes

●      Potential for results: Modest

Results Report

Commitment 7. Fully functional Ministry of Justice website

• Verifiable: Yes

• Does it have an open government lens? Yes

• Potential for results: Modest

• Completion: Limited

• Did it open government? Marginal

This commitment aimed to revamp the website of the Ministry of Justice to increase access to information on its activities and strengthen cooperation among its subordinate institutions.

The government self-assessment report claims that all seven milestones were completed but offers no supporting evidence. [80] An MOJ official confirmed that the regulation for the organization and functioning of the MOJ was approved by the Prime Minister on 30 March 2022 (milestone 6). [81] Upon comparing the MOJ website from 2023 and before the action plan cycle in 2019, the only difference is a new ‘Legislation’ menu item. [82]

The MOJ provided the IRM with a list of changes undertaken for its website to create opportunities for public participation and interested parties in the public consultation process. [83] Some of these changes did not represent any shift from ongoing practices that predate the action plan, while others showed evidence of new information being published during the cycle—which indicate a marginal improvement in regard to public access to information.