SCO - INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
News:
SCO Chief Justices' meet
begins, Pak attends online
What's
in the news?
●
The eighteenth meeting of the Chief
Justices of the Supreme Courts of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)
Member States was hosted in New Delhi by the Supreme Court of India.
Key
takeaways:
●
India
assumed rotational presidency of the SCO for a year in September 2022 through
the Samarkand declaration last year.
●
Pakistan was the only country which
skipped the three-day conference hosted by India. It was joined through video
conferencing.
●
The meeting of Chief Justices of the
Supreme Courts of SCO member states was hosted by India from March 10 to 12 in
New Delhi.
●
It was presided over by the Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud.
●
The member states, after the meeting,
collectively entrusted the presidency for the next meeting of Chief
Justices/Chairmans to Uzbekistan on rotation for the year 2024.
Parties:
●
Chief Justices/ Judges from the member and
observer states.
●
Members from SCO Secretariat and SCO RATS (Regional
Anti-terrorist Structure).
Key
highlights of CJI speech:
1.
Urged to strive for judicial cooperation:
●
CJI called on the SCO member states to
strive for judicial cooperation in order to make the judicial system more
approachable for the common people.
●
He stressed the need to collectively adopt
new mechanisms to make court processes simpler and accessible.
2.
Technology must be used to bridge the gap:
●
CJI Chandrachud said technology must be
used to bridge the gap between citizens and the justice system.
●
In this context, he shared the recent
initiatives taken by the Supreme Court of India. These include:
○
The launching e-version of Supreme Court
reports,
○
Artificial intelligence-based live
transcription of court proceedings
○
Translation of judgments in multiple
regional languages.
○
The approach taken by SC of India to
overcome challenges posed by COVID-19
○
CJI Chandrachud shared the challenges
faced by the judicial institution during the COVID-19 pandemic.
3.
Minimising impacts of COVID-19 on judiciary:
●
He highlighted the measures taken by their
judiciaries to minimize the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. These included:
○
Adoption of technology for virtual
hearings.
○
Live-streaming of court proceedings, and
○
e-filing undertaken by the Indian
judiciary.
Go
to the basics:
SCO:
●
It is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation of Eurasian
Nations with a secretariat in Beijing.
Parties
of SCO:
|
Member states |
Observer States |
Dialogue Partners |
|
Kazakhstan China Kyrgyzstan Russia Tajikistan Uzbekistan India Pakistan |
Afghanistan Belarus Iran Mongolia |
Azerbaijan Armenia Cambodia Nepal Turkey Sri Lanka |
Official
languages: Russian and
Chinese.
Structure:
Heads
of State Council:
●
It is the supreme SCO body that decides
its internal functioning and its interaction with other States &
international organisations.
●
It also considers contemporary
international issues.
Heads
of Government Council:
●
It approves the budget, considers and
decides upon issues related to economic spheres of interaction within SCO.
Council
of Ministers of Foreign Affairs:
●
It considers issues related to day-to-day
activities.
Regional
Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS):
●
It was established to combat terrorism,
separatism and extremism.
SCO
Secretariat:
●
It is based in Beijing.
●
It provides informational, analytical
& organisational support.