World Bank Law and Justice Institutions website: http://www.worldbank.org/lji July 2013 News Access to Justice for All: Supporting Djibouti’s Ambitions for the Justice Sector in a Struggling Environment In April 2013 a World Bank Team conducted a mission to Djibouti to explore potential areas for support to access to justice and modernizing the judiciary. Meetings with the different stakeholders – Ministry of Justice, the Court of Appeal, the First Instance Court, and the Prosecutor General – were held covering a broad range of topics, including case management, capacity building & training, improving service delivery to the poor, legal education, including outreach and public information. Most of these topics already form part of the Ministry of Justice’s reform strategy Plan d’Action Quienquennal 2012-2016, which the Ministry of Justice seeks support in implementing. A subsequent mission in June focused on capacity- building to the Ministry of Justice on four key areas: case management and automation; IT development; The Djibouti Ministry of Justice support to newly-established commercial chambers; Photo credit: Eva Melis, LEGJR, The World Bank and restructuring of human resources. These areas will be the focus of continued cooperation in FY14. In addition, the Bank will work with the Ministry of Justice in the piloting of ‘maisons de la justice’ in poor communities and in developing strategies to support implementation of the recently-adopted Legal Aid Law. For more information, please contact Paul Prettitore, pprettitore@worldbank.org Criminal Justice Capacity Building: Experiences from John Jay College of Criminal Justice On April 3, 2013, The World Bank Justice Reform Unit (LEGJR) and the Criminal Justice Resource Group welcomed Jeremy Travis, President of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Mayra Nieves, Special Advisor to the President, and Dr. Dennis Kenney, Professor of Criminal Justice to discuss John Jay College’s experiences conducting international criminal justice capacity building training sessions in Latin America and Africa. Following the Bank’s updated Legal Note on Bank Involvement in the Criminal Justice Sector and increased client interest in criminal justice activities, establishing a high quality knowledge base and training program for Bank staff engaging in this new area is a priority. Jeremy Travis and Mayra Nieves provided an overview of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and the school’s longstanding engagement with criminal justice training. John Jay offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees in criminal justice and related subjects. The college houses a number of research centers, 1 Justice Reform Exchange Newsletter – July 2013 including ones focused on Criminal Justice Research and Evaluation, Crime Prevention and Control, and International Human Rights. Drawing on the subject matter expertise of faculty and researchers, as well as the institution’s global reach, John Jay offers a number of opportunities for collaboration with organizations interested in furthering their engagement with criminal justice issues. These include faculty and student exchanges, collaborative research projects, conferences and workshops, needs assessments and police training. Dr. Dennis Kenney, a professor at John Jay and an expert on international criminal justice sector reform, outlined the assistance he and others provide to criminal justice reform projects in Latin America, Dr. Dennis Kenney, Jeremy Travis and Dr. supported by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). He also Heike Gramckow discuss John Jay College’s discussed ideas for a “Criminal Justice 101” course that John Jay criminal justice capacity building experience. College could help develop for Bank staff. John Jay’s criminal justice Photo Credit: LEGJR, The World Bank expertise and significant past experience in the development sector allow them to provide unique perspectives on the relationship between Bank investments and security and criminal justice issues, such as how to ensure a Bank-financed prison or training academy is effective in reducing crime and addressing public safety. Participants agreed that further training around security and criminal justice issues would be useful, and proposed specific areas of focus such as law enforcement agencies other than police, community policing issues, and strategies to demonstrate short-term success while also contributing to long-term progress. To watch a recording of this event, please go to http://worldbankva.adobeconnect.com/tw73gyf.kfywtb/ For more information, please contact Heike Gramckow, hgramckow@worldbank.org Judicial Performance Enhancement for Service to Citizens in Morocco Approved In March 2013, the “Judicial Performance Enhancement for Service to Citizens” project went into effect in Morocco. Over the next three years, this $15.8 million project will support a participatory reform process in select courts and strengthen the institutional capacity of the Ministry of Justice and Liberty to support and monitor the court system. The pilot phase of this project will take place in Casablanca, Chaouia-Ouardigha and Gharb-Chrarda-Beni Hssen regions. The July 2011 Constitutional Referendum in Morocco called for increased efforts to promote openness, transparency and accountability in government, and included specific provisions for a more independent judiciary. This project seeks to support these goals, and to build on past World Bank and European Union- funded efforts to improve case management and enhance delivery of services based on service user feedback. Despite these structural and legal improvements, public trust in the rule of law remains low. The project focuses on two main programmatic components, in addition to monitoring and evaluation. Component 1: Improving Court Performance focuses on enhancing performance through reforms in court administration and case management. Specific activities include re-engineering administrative procedures and developing ICT to support service delivery. Component 2: Upgrading the Strategic Planning and Management Capacities of the Ministry of Justice and Liberty covers strategic planning and management capacities. This will be accomplished through activities on budget planning through performance-based budgeting, strengthening monitoring and evaluation tools for court performance, developing statistics and analysis and improving communication with users and citizens. For more information on the project, please contact Paul Prettitore, pprettitore@worldbank.org 2 Justice Reform Exchange Newsletter – July 2013 Findings of the Public Expenditure and Institutional Review in Security and Justice Presented in El Salvador On May 22 and 23 a two-day workshop was held in San Salvador to discuss the findings of the Public Expenditure and Institutional Review (PEIR) in Security and Justice carried out by the World Bank’s Latin America and Caribbean Public Sector Unit. The workshop launched the drafting process of a consensus-based strategy for the sector, and it brought together all relevant stakeholders (government, private sector, civil society, political parties, and donors). During the event, the 50+ attendees worked in groups focused on the main areas covered by the PEIR and facilitated by World Bank experts. These working groups proceeded to identify and prioritize the issues; listen to relevant national and international experiences brought forward by donors and international experts; and discussed the next steps and the roles and responsibilities of each one of them. During the closing session, the teams presented a matrix containing an initial proposal of actions to be carried out in the following months. These proposals were presented to a committee of donors made up of AECID, UNDP, USAID and the World Bank, as well as the Coordinating Commission of the Executive Technical Unit of the Security and Justice Sector. In the coming months, the World Bank will continue to engage with the stakeholders in order to carry out a series of working meetings in which they will continue the process of drafting consensus-driven action plans based on their initial matrices. For more information, please contact Maria Gonzalez de Asis: Mgonzalezasis@worldbank.org Workshop Participants Discuss Justice Sector Services Across the Mediterranean On 22-23 May 2013, the Center for Mediterranean Integration (CMI) and the Public Sector Reform Unit of the World Bank organized a knowledge-sharing workshop “Justice Sector Services Across the Mediterranean: Access for All.” The workshop in Marseille, France, was conducted under the Chatham House Rule and is part of a series of events within the framework of CMI’s “Open Government Initiatives” program. The public discontent displayed two years ago during the Arab uprisings over lack of economic LEGJR Chief Counsel Christina Biebesheimer, Mats Karlsson, opportunities, accountability, and disrespect of the Salahideen Al-Bashir and other participants in the “Justice Sector rule of law has prompted some governments in the Services Across the Mediterranean: Access for All” workshop Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to initiate Photo credit: Center for Mediterranean Integration reforms aimed at enhancing accountability and improving delivery of justice sector services. The “Open Government Initiatives” program was set up to support government reforms that inter alia enhance access to justice, especially for the poor. Workshop participants included representatives from the justice system in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, and the Palestinian territories. In addition, representatives from different legal aid models (Lithuania, Moldova, Ukraine and the US), Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and international organizations were in attendance. The workshop consisted of four sessions, each followed by discussions, and a concluding review session. One of the sessions focused on the role of civil society in providing legal aid services. CSO representatives stated that countries in the MENA region lack comprehensive legal aid schemes that address needs of the 3 Justice Reform Exchange Newsletter – July 2013 poor. They also advocated for the inclusion of CSOs in the formation of legal aid policy to ensure that legal aid needs of the most vulnerable are addressed. Participants also emphasized the ever-increasing role of CSOs in ensuring transparency and accountability through their involvement in evaluation and monitoring of formal justice institutions. Another session was dedicated to a discussion on how to improve quality of legal services in personal status cases. Common personal status cases include ensuring access to alimony, child support and inheritance; simplifying the process of deferring court fees for the poor; and strengthening special services designed to address personal status issues, including the establishment of Alimony Funds. Participants agreed that, while the existence of Alimony Funds constitutes a positive step towards overcoming the non-enforcement of personal status court decisions, there is still a need to make sure that Funds, once established, have sufficient financial and institutional capacity to enable them to provide a divorced wife and her children the chance for a decent living. Access to legal aid services and their effective management were discussed during the second day of the workshop. Throughout the MENA region many in need of representation cannot afford to hire a lawyer, or do not know when or whether a legal professional is necessary to represent them. To acquaint participants with different models of legal aid, state-funded services from Lithuania and Moldova as well as community legal centers from Ukraine were presented. Participants also discussed pros and cons of pro se legal representation which was introduced by the Self-Represented Litigation Network of the USA. There was a consensus among participants that meaningful reform must be predicated on empirical data that is scrupulously and professionally analyzed, and based on an open dialogue within the MENA region and beyond. Participants agreed to meet again in six months to re-assess progress made. The CMI will serve as a platform for future knowledge-sharing events. For more information, please contact Paul Prettitore, pprettitore@worldbank.org Justice and Rule of Law Featured in the High Level Panel Report on the Post-2015 Agenda On May 30, 2013 the High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda delivered its report to the United Nations Secretary General. Building on the existing eight Millennium Development Goals, this report proposes a post-2015 structure of twelve goals and 54 targets. The proposed targets are structured at both global and national levels, allowing for some discretion in matching country priorities. Unlike the Millennium Development Goals, the High Level Panel’s report includes two standalone goals that directly address justice and rule of law: Goal 10, “Ensure Good Governance and Effective Institutions” and Goal 11, “Ensure Stable and Peaceful Societies”. Target 11b provides an even more specific focus to “Ensure justice institutions are accessible, independent, well-resourced and respect due process rights”. Other justice elements are mainstreamed in goals on poverty, health and a global enabling environment. This report opens space for further input and debate on justice and rule of law as the post-2015 process moves forward. Next steps in the process include a Secretary-General report to a United Nations General Assembly meeting in September 2013. In addition to this, the Open Working Group that emerged from the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development will meet in February 2014 to discuss governance, rule of law and peacebuilding. Further engagement around justice issues in these and other steps of the post-2015 process is still necessary. The World Bank’s Justice Reform Unit (LEGJR) coordinates an informal monthly call of development partners, NGOs, and academics to discuss new developments and exchange information around the post-2015 debate. If you are interested in being involved in any part of the post-2015 debate on justice please contact Nick Menzies, nmenzies@worldbank.org. Read the full report here 4 Justice Reform Exchange Newsletter – July 2013 Publications and Events New Justice and Development Working Papers Paper 21/2013: “To Whom Do The People Take Their Issues?” The Contribution of Community-Based Paralegals to Access to Justice in South Africa by Jackie Dugard and Katherine Drage “To Whom Do The People Take Their Issues?” The Contribution of Community- Based Paralegals to Access to Justice in South Africa by Jackie Dugard and Katherine Drage is the latest paper in the Justice and Development Working Paper Series. Paralegals provide a crucial link to justice services and legal redress in South Africa, particularly for the rural poor. Although post-Apartheid constitutional reforms guaranteed a broad range of rights and benefits to all South Africans, including the right to legal assistance, accessing many of these benefits remains a challenge for those who live in remote areas and those who cannot afford legal representation. Community-based paralegals fill this gap by providing dispute resolution and legal support that is both geographically and financially accessible and informed by a deep understanding of the social issues and everyday challenges facing their clients. Despite the prevalence and importance of paralegals in the South African justice sector, their role remains largely underformalized and understudied. This report seeks to address this gap by providing a broad analysis of the current state of the paralegal sector. It begins with a historical overview of paralegal services in South Africa from the apartheid period to the present. The study then maps the current state of the paralegal sector, and provides detailed information on the structure and function of key organizations that provide paralegal services. Through an analysis of twelve case studies of paralegal-assisted cases, the report identifies facilitating and hindering factors for Community Advice Offices at both the institutional and organization level. Paper 20/2013: The Drug Treatment Court Concept: The Jamaican Drug Courts by Stephane Jackson Haisley A new paper in the Justice & Development Working Paper Series, “The Drug Treatment Court Concept: The Jamaican Drug Courts,” by Stephane Jackson Haisley, was published in May 2013. The drug treatment court (DTC) model was conceived out of the need to solve the numerous and intractable problems that drug-related cases create for court systems. A DTC is generally seen as a court that deals specifically with offenders who have committed offenses while under the influence of drugs and provides an alternative to incarceration. DTCs make use of a multidisciplinary team involving judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, probation officers, treatment providers, police officers, and educational and vocational experts. The criminal justice and health service systems join to provide drug-dependent offenders with the mechanisms to recover from drug addiction and lead a productive and crime-free life. The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of DTCs. After providing an overview of the origins of the DTC, looking at its roots in the United States and Canada, the paper examines the foundation and present-day experiences of DTCs in Jamaica. It also refers to some efforts among various countries in the Western Hemisphere to monitor DTCs and evaluate their effectiveness. The paper concludes with a return to the achievements of DTCs in Jamaica and a brief look at the future of the DTC. The full reports can be downloaded from the Justice and Development Working Paper Series website. For more information, contact Kate Lonergan, klonergan@worldbank.org 5 Justice Reform Exchange Newsletter – July 2013 New MENA Quick Note: Justice Sector Services and the Poor in Jordan: Determining Needs and Priorities A new installment in the MENA Quick Notes Series, "Justice Sector Services and the Poor in Jordan: Determining Needs and Priorities," was released in May 2013. This publication analyzes the findings of a household survey of justice sector needs in Jordan. Understanding the demands and priorities of poor persons is important to effectively target services in the justice sector. To help enhance data, in 2012 the Department of Statistics implemented a survey of 10,000 households focusing on the justice sector the first of its kind in Jordan. The survey was administered throughout the country, covering both rural and urban areas. Its primary objective was to identify the most common types of legal disputes and the characteristics of the households and individuals involved. The survey demonstrates that the most frequent types of cases reported vary by the expenditure levels of respondents. The key areas for reform to impact poverty include: improving the quality of services in personal status cases, especially access to alimony, child support and inheritance; simplifying the process of deferring court fees for poor persons; and strengthening special services developed to address personal status issues, including the newly-established alimony fund. Read the full report here For more information on this report, please contact Paul Prettitore, pprettitore@worldbank.org Delivery of Justice Sector Services to the Poor: How are Middle East Governments Addressing Gaps? The poor often face significant challenges to accessing justice sector services, often due to prohibitive costs and limited access to legal information and representation. Services exist throughout the Middle East and North Africa region to address these barriers, however the services are often equally difficult to access and do not meet users’ demands. Because of these challenges, many services designed to help improve access to justice for the poor are significantly underutilized. The recently released report, “Delivery of Justice Sector Services to the Poor: How are Middle East Governments Addressing Gaps?” examines the justice services targeted towards the poor in the Arab Republic of Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank and Gaza. These include legal aid, waiver and deferment of court fees, and special provisions for cases involving personal status issues such as marriage, divorce, alimony, child custody and support, and inheritance. The report next addresses service delivery gaps of legal aid to the poor, and highlights strategies that can help to improve these gaps. Measures to improve service delivery include analyzing the demand for justice services, establishing an independent institution to oversee legal services, clarifying eligibility criteria for needs-based services, and simplifying procedures to access those services. Expanding upon existing improvements in the breadth and quality of justice sector services available to the poor also remains an important component of improved access to justice throughout the region. Read the full report here For more information on this report, please contact Paul Prettitore, pprettitore@worldbank.org 6 Justice Reform Exchange Newsletter – July 2013 Courts, Public Confidence and Infotainment: Looking Through a Media and Language Lens A Brown Bag Lunch presentation on “Courts, Public Confidence and Infotainment: Looking Through a Media and Language Lens” at the National Center for State Courts featured Dr. Pamela Shulz. Dr. Shulz presented her extensive research and analysis of communication trends and media portrayals of the court system. Her findings indicate that the power of words and language to dictate public opinion and public perceptions is particularly important for the justice system, because court functioning and legitimacy depends largely on community consent. Media headlines often don’t accurately reflect the process and nuance of court proceedings, yet they have considerable influence on agenda-setting and public opinion. The extremely limited depth of Twitter and other social media reporting create a further challenge to properly capture the complexity of a court ruling. Dr. Shulz offered recommendations for courts to re-cast the discourse and maintain public confidence by engaging directly through their own media Dr. Pamela Shulz discusses the influence outlets and social media engagement. of media and language on the courts Photo credit: National Center for State To watch a recording of this event, please go to Courts http://icmelearning.com/brownbag/index.html Workshop on Impact Evaluations for Public Sector and Justice Reforms in Dakar, 24-27 June On June 24-27 a workshop of Bank-supported projects from Africa was held in Dakar, bringing together government counterparts, researchers and Bank staff to develop initial impact evaluation designs for public sector and justice projects. Three justice projects were represented:  The Nigeria Access to Justice for the Poor project;  The Kenya Judicial Performance Improvement Project;  The Senegal Economic Governance Project that seeks to improve the efficiency of judicial decisions. Beyond developing the initial impact evaluation designs, the workshop provided an opportunity for researchers and project teams to build an African From left to right, Vincenzo Di Maro of The World Bank, Akin Akinsanya of the Nigeria Legal Aid Council, Nicholas Menzies of the World Bank community of practice on impact evaluations. For the and Rufai Rilwan of the Nigeria Legal Aid Council discuss impact Bank, this workshop is the start of the engagement of evaluations for the Nigeria Access to Justice for the Poor Project. public sector and justice reforms with impact Photo credit: Mattea Stein evaluation. The plan is to expand the initiative toward similar programs in other regions. For more information, contact Nick Menzies, nmenzies@worldbank.org 7 Justice Reform Exchange Newsletter – July 2013 Release of International Association of Prosecutors (IAP) Global Justice Confidence Index The International Association of Prosecutors (IAP) recently released the first-ever Global Justice Confidence Index, measuring international perceptions towards governance and the criminal justice system. The study, conducted by the RIWI Corporation, utilized unique nano-survey technology to randomly sample nearly 400,000 internet users in 153 countries. The findings of this study indicate clear areas for improvement for the criminal justice system. 32% surveyed say they do not know how their own criminal justice system works, and less than 60% trust the police to help victims of crime. Understanding of how the criminal justice system functions is also unrelated to freedom of the press, democratic freedom, or economic freedom. These findings indicate that greater education and awareness-raising about the criminal justice system is a priority throughout the world, even in economically prosperous countries. The two major areas of concern that arose from this study are theft of personal information online and the threat of local gangs. The findings of this survey offer innovative global data about perceptions of the criminal justice system, as well as key areas of concern for criminal justice practitioners to address in the future. Call to Authorship: Justice Sector Issues The Justice Reform Practice Group seeks expressions of interest from authors to write material suitable for publication as part of the Justice and Development Working Paper Series. Full details of the requirements for suitable papers, and links to all papers previously published, are available via the Law and Justice Institutions Thematic Group website at: www.worldbank.org/lji For further information, please email justicedevelopmentworkingpapers@worldbank.org Upcoming Events Program on Judicial Reform in Latin America and the United States From July 7 to July 20, 2013, American University’s Washington College of Law, the Faculty of Law of Universidad Diego Portales, and the Justice Studies Center of the Americas (CEJA) will host a second annual course on judicial reform in Latin American and the United States. This two-week intensive study is geared towards practicing lawyers, judges, public defenders or district attorneys, as well as current graduate students. The course looks at current judicial reform processes in Latin America, with particular emphasis on criminal justice reform. It brings together stakeholders from civil law systems, common law systems, and academia to provide practical knowledge around the new systems of justice and share lessons from the U.S. justice system that may be relevant to Latin America. The program will offer five courses, three in Spanish and two in English, over the two-week period. Courses taught in Spanish include “Overview of Criminal Justice Reform in Latin America”, “The Trial in Latin America”, and “Civil Reforms in the Americas and Prospective Changes”. The courses taught in English will focus on selected topics in the U.S. criminal and civil justice system. For more information about the course, please visit http://www.wcl.american.edu/judicialreform/ or contact judicialreform@wcl.american.edu. 8 Justice Reform Exchange Newsletter – July 2013 2013 Court Technology Conference From September 17-19, 2013, the National Center for State Courts will host the 2013 Court Technology Conference in Baltimore, MD. Conference presentations will focus around 6 themes: (1) Self-represented litigants; (2) Judicial officials’ use of court technology; (3) Management of Court IT; (4) Video Remote Interpretation; (5) Reaping the benefits of court technology and (6) Next-gen CMS and DMS. For more information, please visit http://www.ctc2013.com/ 6th International Conference on the Training of the Judiciary The 6th Annual International Conference on the Training of the Judiciary, sponsored by the International Organization for Judicial Training (IOJT) and the National Center for State Courts, will take place in Washington, DC, from November 3rd-7th, 2013. The conference will focus on the themes of leadership and judicial education, judicial skill building, technology and judicial education, judicial education and the academic community, and judicial education in support of justice system reform, independence, and accountability. To learn more about the conference and register, please visit http://www.iojt-dc2013.org/. Early registration ends July 15th. The objectives of this newsletter are to provide information about justice reform activities across various World Bank units; to support communication and coordination about justice reform within the World Bank; to enhance knowledge exchange and learning across the World Bank; to provide information about related activities and knowledge development in related sectors; and to provide information about justice reform activities and knowledge development outside the World Bank. Next edition: for September 2013 – please submit contributions by our first draft deadline on August 14, 2013. Email contributions may be sent to: klonergan@worldbank.org 9 Justice Reform Exchange Newsletter – July 2013