Argentina, Costa Rica · 6 August, 2018

Costa Rica implements the Open Justice Policy that seeks to improve access and quality in providing the services for administering justice

A delegation of the Costa Rican judiciary undertook an exchange visit to Argentina to learn about the good practices of the programmes "Justice 2020" and "Open Justice"

The Costa Rican judiciary has recently approved an Open Justice Policy with a Latin American scope that seeks to improve access and quality in providing the services for administering justice. The policy’s aim is to achieve a more open and inclusive justice system, incorporating participatory, transparent and collaborative processes, thereby generating public value and strengthening judicial institutions and the democratic system.

Within the framework of the Programme for Social Cohesion in Latin America, the European Union’s EUROsociAL+ programme is accompanying the Costa Rican judiciary in implementing the Open Justice.

This Policy is based on the Citizen Participation Policy defined by the judiciary with the support of the National Commission for Improving the Administration of Justice (NCIAJ) and it responds to the constitutional mandate established in the 2003 reform of Article 9 of the Political Constitution. The strategic actions include: promoting participation by justice service users, implementing actions to improve the administration and operation of the justice service through greater communication and collaboration with citizens, and increasing public awareness of the judiciary at the national and international levels.

To this end, two activities have recently been carried out with the support of the EUROsociAL Programme. Firstly, a delegation of the Costa Rican judiciary undertook an exchange visit to Argentina to learn about good practices in open justice. The delegation from the Costa Rican judiciary was made up of Supreme Court Justice Nancy Hernández López, Coordinator of the judiciary’s Transparency Commission and Román Solís Zelaya, President of NCIAJ. Sara Castillo Vargas, Executive Director of NCIAJ and Ingrid Bermúdez Vindas, Coordinator of the judiciary’s Citizen Participation Programme, also participated. During their stay in Buenos Aires, they had the opportunity to learn first-hand about Argentina’s advances and good practices in open justice issues, such as the Justice 2020 Programme and the Open Justice Programme from the Ministry of Justice, visit a courthouse in the city of Buenos Aires that implements open justice policies, and hold meetings with authorities from Argentine institutions such as the Ministry of Justice, the Magistrates Council, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Office of the Attorney General, amongst others.

Subsequently, technical assistance was provided to design an Action Plan to implement the Open Justice Policy. This technical assistance has also encompassed the 1st Session of the Open Justice Commission; an inter-institutional dialogue involving representatives from the Judiciary, the Legislative Assembly and various ministries; a roundtable between representatives of civil society; and finally, a workshop to co-create the Open Justice Policy Action Plan.

The ultimate objective of the Open Justice policy is to promote judicial management based on the principles of transparency, participation and partnership, in order to guarantee the rule of law, promote social peace and strengthen democracy.

Área de políticas de gobernanza democrática. Democratic governance area / EUROsociAL+

Country: Argentina, Costa Rica
SDG: Peace, justice and strong institutions
Policy area: Democratic governance policies