Based on the needs for continuous training and retraining of Mongolian judges identified and requested by the General Council of Courts, the Supreme Court and Justice Ministry, preparation for the establishment of the Mongolian Retraining Center for Judges (JRC) has been conducted by Mongolian Foundation for Open Society (Soros Foundation) in the year of 1999, through discussions and consultations with local and foreign stakeholders in the legal reform of the country such as Justice Ministry, the Supreme Court, the General Council of Courts, UNDP, the US AID, the World Bank, the German Association of Technical Assistance and Cooperation (GTZ), Constitutional and Legal Policy Institute (COLPI) and others.

Consequently, the MFOS, jointly with COLPI, agreed to financially and technically support start-up establishment and operation of the JRC. The Mongolian Government has committed itself to provide classroom and office space to the JRC and to incrementally increase financial contribution so as to take over the JRC and allow the MFOS and COLPI to withdraw.

JRC was officially founded on January 21st, 2000 as a non-governmental organization with the main of improving capacity of Mongolian judiciary through qualified and specialized judicial training and retraining programs.

The actual training courses started in April 2000 and, as of December 1st 2000, around 220 judges from all over the country have been trained, at least once. The JRC’s objective is to train each judge in the country (there are around 360 judges in Mongolia) at least once by mid-2001, and then to shift to new specialized curricula.