As part of its Job Shadowing initiative, the UIHJ is delighted that an Estonian delegation was welcomed in Brussels on 13 October 2026. This visit is a concrete illustration of the aim of the programme: to allow judicial officers to discover, from the inside, how the profession is practised in another country.
The morning took place at the Belgian National Chamber of Judicial Officers. Pascal Bodart, Rapporteur of the Chamber, and Patrick Gielen, Secretary General of the UIHJ, presented its missions and the way it operates. This first session gave the delegation an overview of the institutional framework in which Belgian judicial officers work.
In the afternoon, the delegation was received at the Aecetia office. There, Peter Coene presented the daily work of a judicial officer and explained how an office runs in practice. After the institutional framework of the morning, the participants were thus able to discover the everyday practice of the profession.
Patrick Gielen closed the day with an overview of the progress made by the UIHJ and the UEHJ in civil judicial cooperation. He also presented their ongoing collaborations, in particular with the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) of the Council of Europe and with the European Commission. The day thus ended on the European and international dimension of the profession.
Job Shadowing allows judicial officers to be hosted for a few days in an office abroad and to observe how the profession is practised in another country. The visiting colleague discovers the procedures, the organisation of the office, the technological tools in use and the relations with the courts and the parties. He or she also becomes familiar with the legal and cultural features of the local system.
Beyond discovering other practices, the initiative aims to strengthen solidarity between colleagues, encourage dialogue between legal systems and build a common culture of enforcement. It is fully in line with the mission of the UIHJ, which is to promote the harmonisation of standards and the sharing of good practices, at both European and international level.
The programme is a professional, voluntary and non-profit exchange. The UIHJ helps colleagues get in touch with each other. The practical arrangements, including the working language, are agreed directly between the host office and the participant, who covers his or her own travel and accommodation costs. Offices in nine countries, in Europe and Africa, have already registered to host colleagues, including Belgium and Estonia.
Would you like to host a colleague or experience the profession in another country? Host offices register through the form available on the UIHJ website. All information and the list of participating offices, sorted by country, are available at www.uihj.com/job-shadowing.
The UIHJ warmly thanks the Estonian delegation for its visit. It also thanks the Belgian National Chamber of Judicial Officers and the Aecetia office for their welcome and their availability.
Le chiffre de neuf pays est celui affiché sur la page à la date du 15 octobre 2026 : Algérie, Belgique, République démocratique du Congo, Estonie, France, Gabon, Grèce, Pologne et Portugal. Si vous me précisez les dossiers évoqués lors de votre présentation de clôture, je peux les intégrer au paragraphe correspondant.
