MIAMI, FL (March 22, 2007) –Call it justice re-engineering or a justice evolution. For almost 30 years now, Colombia has been moving away from a cumbersome legal system in which heavy paperwork and Byzantine practices made a speedy trial, or any other proceeding, essentially impossible.
Now as that modernization process enters its implementation phase, a team led by two Florida International University professors is overseeing the application of its key components. Funded by a $20.5 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), FIU’s Center for the Administration of Justice (CAJ) is working on the nationwide implementation of a new criminal procedures code and the migration from paper to electronic record-keeping, among other improvements.
“Our goal, and that of the Colombian government, is to have a system in which justice is not only expedient, but also impartial and accessible,” said Victor Uribe, an FIU law and history professor who moved to Colombia to head the project. “Given the region’s geopolitical situation, as highlighted by this month’s visit to Colombia by President Bush, it is in the best interest of the United States to ensure that one of its strongest allies is stable and prosperous. That is the reason behind this commitment.”
Uribe and his team are implementing this complex and wide-ranging project amidst a drug-fueled, three-way armed conflict between leftist guerrillas, right-wing militias and the government, said CAJ Director Luis Salas. However, FIU has the on-the-ground experience to tackle the challenge, Salas said.
“Unlike other universities, FIU is involved in field work. We are well known in Latin America when it comes to developing U.S. policy toward the region,” Salas said.
Since 1984, the CAJ has led projects of this type in Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Bolivia, among others. In Colombia’s case, the country’s size and rugged terrain, for example, are a reason for the judiciary’s absence in vast areas of the countryside.
After Colombia embarked in its modernization process during the 1970s, it took a faster pace in the 1990s as the conflict raged and the United States actively stepped in to help the Colombian government. In 2004, Colombia made a leap when it switched from a legal system based on filings, to open proceedings in which prosecution and defense orally argue their cases. Uribe said the idea is to expedite a process which often meant a defendant could languish in jail for years while a file crawled its way through the system.
This glacial unresponsiveness has made the population weary of institutions that often have been absent altogether. Because of that, one of the project’s components is to make justice accessible and relevant to disadvantaged groups such as ethnic minorities and the victims of the country’s war. One approach is the creation of Casas de Justicia, or justice houses. These are essentially courts that will offer everything from the issuing of birth certificates to the settlement of civil disputes, Salas said.
That social aspect of the project is one of the reasons why the team of 22 –which includes architects, planning and communication specialists in addition to legal experts-is mostly Colombian with the exception of one. Salas said that it is crucial in the development of trust of areas in which the team has direct contact with the population. For example, Uribe is a Colombia-trained lawyer, which gives him a good understanding of the culture, legal system and the political climate, Salas said.
“For peace to happen and take hold in Colombia a responsive and effective justice system is critical,” said Salas. “At the same time we understand this cannot be a process imposed from the outside. That is why we took steps to make sure this is a Colombian project, tailored to the country’s realities, not one imposed from the outside.”
—FIU—
Media Contact:
Jose Dante Parra at 305-348-2716 and parraj@fiu.edu.
|