EJAM introduced at Mongolia’s All Judges Forum

On Friday, October 10, 2025, EJAM was invited to address Mongolia’s All Judges Forum, a rare opportunity to speak to judges from across the country in one room. For EJAM’s partners, it was an important early moment in the project’s life: a chance to share, directly with the judiciary, what this five-year partnership is trying to achieve and how it intends to work.

Speaking on behalf of the Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs (FJA), Oleg Shakov, Director of International Programmes, presented EJAM as a long-term Canada–Mongolia cooperation project focused on three practical outcomes: a more people-centred and gender-responsive judiciary, greater transparency and public trust, and improved access to justice, especially for women and vulnerable groups. He emphasized that these goals reinforce each other. When courts are more understandable and more responsive to real barriers people face, trust grows. And when trust grows, the judiciary’s legitimacy as a distinct branch of government is strengthened.

A clear theme throughout the address was partnership and national ownership. EJAM, he noted, is not about Canada prescribing solutions, but about peer-to-peer cooperation that supports Mongolia’s own priorities and long-term direction. The invitation to speak was received with genuine appreciation by EJAM’s partners, as a chance to engage such a distinguished audience at the outset and to signal the kind of professional, collaborative culture the project aims to reinforce during implementation and beyond.