Jordan Times
Friday, September 30, 2005
Judicial reform strategy
reviewed
By Mahmoud Al Abed
AMMAN — Officials outlined the Kingdom's progress in implementing judicial
reforms on Thursday, including a plan to monitor the performance of judges.
In a presentation during the First Regional
Conference for Partners in Judiciary Development, attended by representatives of
13 Arab states, Jordanian judicial officials reviewed achievements made in the
11 aspects of the 2002-2006 Judicial Reform Strategy.
The strategy seeks to boost the efficiency of the court system, accelerate
litigation procedures and upgrade the performance of judges and court staff,
among other objectives.
According to the working paper Jordan presented to the two-day meeting, judicial
authorities have prepared a draft code of conduct for judges as part of efforts
to ensure the integrity of the judicial system.
This will include a new system to monitor the performance of judges.
All judges whose services exceed three years will be subject to this system,
said the paper.
Other major achievements included efforts to activate the role of mediation and
alternative litigation means to ease the growing pressure on courts. Mediation
can, for example, be useful in insurance cases, the paper said.
Under the strategy, proposals have been submitted to amend legislations with the
aim of reducing the number of the so-called “automatic appeals,” the paper said.
Jordan has also built modern court compounds in different districts supplied
with communication networks that link courtrooms throughout the Kingdom,
including the Ministry of Justice.
It has also increased the number of judges and court clerks, who have received
English language and IT training.
The gathering, in which 100 legal experts took part, is part of a series of
follow-up activities set by the conference on Good Governance for Development in
the Arab world held at the Dead Sea in February this year.
The good governance initiative is supported by the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) and the governments of France and the United States, among
others.
At the opening session of the conference on Wednesday, UNDP Resident
Representative Christine McNab said the Jordanian strategy, if fully
implemented, “can enhance the opportunities, security and empowerment of the
citizens of Jordan.”
In remarks to the press ahead of the meeting, Waseem Harb, the Lebanon-based
representative of UNDP, commended Jordan as “the first Arab country that has
been able to draw up a comprehensive programme to modernise its judicial
apparatus.”
“International organisations look at Jordan's judicial reform efforts as a
success story and that is why we are working on facilitating access to this
experiment for all other Arab countries,” he said.
Participants in the conference also had a close look at the judicial reform
experiments in other countries such as Yemen, Egypt and the United Arab
Emirates.
The conference concluded yesterday.
In a related development, Prime Minister Adnan Badran on Thursday met Arab
justice ministers and heads of the judicial delegations participating in the
conference.
The premier underlined the importance of regional cooperation in judicial
development, especially since “lawsuits are becoming more and more interlinked
due to the increasing movement of individuals, capitals and investments across
borders.”