Photo Credit: Paul Cohn   Ms. Aferdita Hysenaj, Chief Archivist at the Durres District Court, looks forward to ridding the court of excess paper.

USAID Helps Improve Albanian Court Archives

Overflowing in a small, cramped rooms on the top floor of the Durres district courthouse are thousands of musty, yellowed pages documenting court proceedings that took place in the bygone days of Albanian Communism. 

After almost twenty years of democracy, the courts continue to struggle with developing into a modern, transparent and efficient system. In terms of records management, the Durres District Court is starting at the bottom. 

But through USAID’s Rule of Law Program, the Durres District Court is one of ten target courts testing a new set of rules and regulations to address to do away with the needless and seemingly endless documentation.

After Albania’s Ministry of Justice adopted new regulations on archives of the judicial system in April 2009, USAID began a series of trainings for archivist and court administration staff on a comprehensive records management program. 

Utilizing a newly created Records Retention and Disposition Schedule, participants in the training in Durres reviewed 70 criminal case files from 1978. Not one met the criteria for storage in the archives.

“We’re hoping that through this system the court will optimize the limited space it has and reduce the amount of lost and misplaced files” said the project director, Mr. Fred Yeager.  “Losing or misplacing files wastes time and resources and creates an image of a judicial system in disarray.  It affects public perceptions and reduces confidence in the judiciary.”

By establishing standardized procedures for reviewing and storing records, USAID is hoping to improve the efficiency and performance of the courts, as well as their accountability and transparency to the public.

“Court files are the judicial history of your country,” adds Yeager.  “Preserving files properly is preserving a record for future generations.”