The International Association of Judges was founded in Salzburg (Austria) in 1953. It is a professional, non-political, international organization, bringing together national associations of judges, not individual judges, approved by the Central Council for admission to the Association. The organization currently encompasses 93 such national associations or representative groups, from five continents. The Association has four Study Commissions, dealing respectively with judicial administration and status of the judiciary, civil law and procedure, criminal law and procedure, public and social law. These commissions are composed of delegates from national associations

The Association has four Regional Groups:

 

1. The European Association of Judges (44 Countries);

 

2. The African Group (20 Countries);

 

3. The Iberoamerican Group (18 Countries);

 

4. The Asian, North American and Oceanian Group (14 Countries).

 

The main purpose of the IAJ is to safeguard the independence of the judiciary worldwide. In order to achieve this goal, the Central Council meets once a year and the Regional Groups twice a year. During such meetings, the plenary sessions discuss and make proposals in respect to, inter alia, resolutions and declarations pertaining to the judiciary in a particular country or countries; and ad hoc working groups are established to prepare drafts to be submitted to the plenary.

Representatives of the IAJ are also active in UNO branches and the Council of Europe offices, such as the Consultative Council of European Judges (CCJE) and the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ).

The IAJ provides on a regular basis, experts to assist in the field of justice, to the UNO, European Union, Council of Europe and the Federation of Latin American Judiciary (FLAM).