SHOP PROYECTO ACCESO REGIONAL OFFICES

If you would like more information, contact us at: [email protected]

The Need for Rule of Law / Judicial Reform Programs

Judge Michael Town of Hawaii, an ACCESO faculty member, works with Panamanian Judge Waleska Hormechea de Segovia in facilitating new oral advocacy skills at Costa Rican training session in October 2001.

A lot of world leaders are talking about the rule of law. In the wake of the events of September 11, the rule of law is an important part of global governance. Whether he was meeting with Chilean President Ricardo Lagos at the White House wishing Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo congratulations on his victory, visiting U.S. troops at Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo, or building the internationational coalition with Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri, U.S. President George W. Bush has spoken of the importance of the rule of law. When President Bush met with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Shanghai on October. 21, 2001, they agreed "that terrorism poses a direct threat to the rule of law."

Latin America is one region that requires a major public and private push toward providing the mechanisms to achieve justice and to bring about human security. As Justice Jorge Eduardo Tenorio has explained: "Latin America is immersed in an era of euphoria over the construction of democratic and social states under the rule of law."An independent judiciary and a transparent and fair system of conflict resolution are fundamental components of democratic governance. Unfortunately, despite its best intentions, the developed world has not succeeded in providing sufficient funds nor consistent programs to enshrine the rule of law or provide for efficient and equitable access to justice. As Thomas Carothers reports (paraphrasing a former United States Agency for International Development (USAID) official now working with the World Bank):

"Reforms have often worked on superficial elements rather than fundamental structures; aid providers have often chosen clients or allies with a vested interest in the status quo; attempts to expand judicial access and to ensure fairer treatment of the majority of citizens remain incompletely realized, and in some countries not achieved at all; corruption, excessively vertical structures, clientalistic appointments, and inadequate organizational mission persist; public confidence in judicial systems remains low; crime continues to escalate; many businesses still prefer to settle conflicts extrajudicially; and increases in the productivity of courts have not kept up with demand."

In spite of current efforts to assist legal reform and the rule of law in Latin America, there is yet much to be done. Many constituencies are invested in legal reform and judicial reform in Latin America. So why has there been little success?

The reform process requires more innovative programming, better public and private partnering and more cross-sectoral collaboration. Proyecto ACCESO is a mechanism to coordinate that collaboration, document its dynamics, and disseminate best practices in judicial innovation.