CEJA Holds 2nd Annual Conference

 

 

Sue Collins (USA), Member of the Board of the UIHJ, was in attendance for the UIHJ. CEJA is the acronym for Centro de Estudios de Justica de las Américas (Justice Studies Center of the Americas - JSCA). The main objective of the conference was efficient mechanisms to resolve non-criminal disputes such as civil, commercial, family, labor, consumer, environmental, and administrative laws, among others; with the focus on improving the citizen's access of justice. The two main focus points of the conference were (1) Litigation Reform of Civil Justice and (2) Process Hearings in Civil Justice.

The group met in 2012 in Quito to starting a dialogue of the main problems of the justice system in Latin America and some possible changes to improve the system. This conference began the process of developing the ideas formulated in Quito. One of the main concerns being the backlog of cases in the courts due to long hearings, trials and the delay in the collection of the judgments rendered by the court. The term “Legal Efficiency” was used to describe the desired result from reform of the civil procedures. Ms. Bettina Consten from GIZ stated that “Procedure not only effects the social and economics of a country, but also the people. Justice delayed is not justice at all”. She also stated that strengthening the rule of law will demand more respect from the citizens,

Justice Elena Highton, Vice-President of the Supreme Court in Argentina advocated the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and Mediation techniques as an alternative to lengthy court proceedings. She stated that other means of giving a citizen access to the law need to be considered. Ms Highton stated that Buenos Aires now has compulsory mediation allowing the courts to hear more cases.

Dr Christian Riego, Executive Director of CEJA spoke during the first session agreeing with Ms Consten and Ms Highton and outlining the goals of the two-day conference. Mr Riego stated that a comparative prospectus between countries was done to help with reforms. Negative experiences of countries undergoing reform can help those countries now looking at reform. The criminal reforms have been completed and now with that experience the reform of the civil law will begin. He went on to state that Chile and Uruguay have both instituted wide reforms. Lima has instituted reform in commercial and civil actions and every country in Latin America now has mediation for labour, commercial and family matters.

Mr Riego pointed out that even after reforms have been made to the laws and procedures, there is still the problem of implementation of those new procedures and the training of personnel. Implementation is limited due to financial and political challenges. He commented that if the laws aren't consistent and working well, the judges will revert to the old ways of handling cases. Reforms should be universal and not localized, he stated, and went on to say that the purpose of the conference is to present ways to solve these problems and to come up with ideas and solutions together that will work for everyone.

The conference was organized to encourage the involvement of the attendees in the discussions. Attendees were selected before the conference to ensure that they were knowledgeable in the different aspects of the issues to be introduced during the conference. The sessions were organized first with a keynote speaker on the topic of discussion. A panel of experts then each spoke 20 minutes on the topic of the workshop. The group then began open discussions on what had been presented by the speaker and panel members adding their own thoughts and concerns or experiences in their particular field of expertise in their country.

The topics covered included, the implementation of new procedures, execution and the collection of judgments, the auction and sale of property and the use of alternative resolutions. Lively debate and discussions took place between the attendees citing their own personal experiences. Potential problems were discussed as well as successes that had been achieved in some areas of reform that had already taken place in some of the countries in attendance.

The conference was very successful in bringing to the forefront the need for reform and offering suggestions and guidance to the individuals who will handle the actual preparation and implementation of the new civil procedure laws in the Latin American countries. The UIHJ will continue to monitor the progress of CEJA and offer our support in their efforts.