Judicial Cooperation among SCO members

• The Chief Justice of India (CJI) recently addressed the 18th meeting of the Chief Justices/Chairpersons of the Supreme Courts of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states.
• The CJI highlighted the need for judicial cooperation and adoption of new mechanisms to simplify and make the court processes more smart and accessible to the common people.
• The CJI also stressed the importance of technology in bridging the gap between citizens and the justice system.
• The CJI shared recent endeavours made by the Supreme Court of India, such as launching an e-version of Supreme Court reports, artificial intelligence-based live transcription of court proceedings, and translation of judgments in multiple regional languages, among others.
• Also, various issues such as the overly populated prisons, access to quality legal representation, modern public judicial services, court work overload, limited judicial resources, high pendency of cases, and the need for adequate infrastructure facilities were highlighted.

About SCO

• The SCO is a regional intergovernmental organisation that promotes cooperation between its member states in the areas of security, economy, and culture.
• Prior to the creation of SCO in 2001, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan were members of the Shanghai Five.
• Following the accession of Uzbekistan to the organisation in 2001, the Shanghai Five was renamed the SCO.
• India and Pakistan became members in 2017. Iran will become full member in 2023 under India’s chairmanship.
• Structure:
  • Heads of State Council: The Supreme SCO body which decides its internal functioning and its interaction with other States & international organisations, and considers international issues.
  • Heads of Government Council: Approves the budget, considers and decides upon issues related to economic spheres of interaction within SCO.
  • Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs: Considers issues related to day-to-day activities.
  • Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS): Established to combat terrorism, separatism and extremism.
  • The official working language of the SCO Secretariat is Russian and Chinese.