History
HISTORY AND INFORMATION ON THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF JUDGES
remember the past
Since 1953
The International Association of Judges was founded in Salzburg (Austria) in 1953. It is a professional, non-political, international organization, bringing together national associations of judges, not individual judges, approved by the Central Council for admission to the Association.
The main aim of the Association is to safeguard the independence of the judiciary, which is an essential requirement of the judicial function, guaranteeing human rights and freedom.
The organization currently encompasses 92 such national associations or representative groups, from five continents.
The Central Council of the IAJ is its executive body. Each member association has two representatives in the Council. The Central Council meets annually, preferably in a different country every year.
At the Taipei Central Council meeting, which took place during the month of September 2023, Mr. Duro Sessa, judge from Croatia, was elected President of the IAJ for the following two years. Mr. Giacomo Oberto, judge of the Civil Court in Turin, was confirmed Secretary-General for a sixth mandate.
The Association has consultative status with the United Nations (with specific reference to the International Labour Office and the U.N. Economic and Social Council) and with the Council of Europe.
Our Work for Justice
Study Commissions
The Association has four Study Commissions, dealing respectively with judicial administration and status of the judiciary, civil law and procedure, criminal law and procedure, public and social law. These commissions are composed of delegates from national associations. They meet annually in the same location as the Central Council. Based on the national reports received, the members of the commissions study and discuss problems of common interest, pertaining to the justice process, on a comparative and transnational basis.
Regional Groups
The Association has four Regional Groups:
- The European Association of Judges (44 Countries);
- The African Group (20 Countries);
- The Iberoamerican Group (19 Countries);
- The Asian, North American and Oceanian Group (15 Countries).
International Congress
Periodically, the Association organizes an International Congress:
List of the places where the 66 IAJ annual meetings took place
At the last meeting in Cape Town (South Africa), in October 2024,
the Study Commissions discussed the following subjects:
The following subjects will be discussed by the Study Commissions in 2025:
1st Study Commission:
Judicial Resources and the Impact on Judicial Independence.
2nd Study Commission:
The increased presence of self-represented litigants in civil matters and its impact on the administration of justice: What have we learned in the last decade?
3rd Study Commission:
(i) therapeutic justice, including drug treatment courts, sentencing circles, and restorative justice; (ii) the balance between expanded police investigative powers and privacy interests and constitutional rights.
4th Study Commission:
The Impact of Non-Competition and Loyalty/Confidentiality Rules in a Global Economy: How are noncompetition and loyalty/confidentiality rules applied when an employee changes firms? What is the legality of contractual dispositions limiting competition, whether territorial, length of time, or scope of work? What is the practicality of these agreements and restrictions in a global economy?
The next meeting (the 67th) of the Central Council,
of the four Regional Groups and of the Study Commissions will be hosted in Baku by the Azerbaijan Union of Judges, from 12 to 16 October 2025.
Landmarks
DOCUMENTS
REFERRING TO THE FOUNDATION OF THE IAJ IN 1953
- The Foundation of the IAJ in 1953 (H. Broell)
- See the place in Salzburg where the statutes were signed
- Vers une association internationale de magistrats (document in French)
- Naissance d’une Association Internationale de Magistrats (document in French)
- Message de M. Auriol, Président de la République Française en 1953 (document in French)
- The first Statute (Italian)
- The first minutes (Italian)
- Oesterreichische Nachrichtenblatt – 1953 (document in German)
THE FIRST 25 YEARS
- Chronologie de l’UIM (E. Meriggiola)
- Souvenir de M. P. Pascalino, Premier Secretaire Général (G.E. Longo)
- Le juge dans la nouvelle société (A. De Mattia)
- La réunion de Rio de Janeiro et Brasilia (1971)
- La Charte de Brasilia (1971)
International Association of Judges
Union Internationale des Magistrats
Palazzo di Giustizia
Piazza Cavour – 00193 – Roma, Italy
tel. +39 06 6883 2213 – fax. +39 06 687 1195