Law Event
Justice oriented facilities for accessible justice
Promotion and protection of access to justice, human rights and human security for all the citizens including women and vulnerable groups is a key priority in the context of Bangladesh. But the justice sector of this country is facing several constrains to deliver timely, affordable and accessible justice. One of the key constraints is the slow process disposal rate and corresponding build-up of a large case backlog. The backlog is placing considerable pressure on the justice sector and hinders the whole justice delivery process. In this backdrop, the Law and justice Division of the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, UNDP Bangladesh and DFID jointly have undertaken a project titled, “Justice Sector Facility (JSF)” with the overall outcome to strengthen the capacity of the justice sector agencies to better serve and protect the rights of all citizens including women and vulnerable groups.
On part of this, an inception workshop was held in Dhaka on October 20 to develop a common understanding of the challenges facing the justice sector and identify possible solutions through gathering information from policy makers and government high officials, learned judges, lawyers, members of law enforcement agencies and access to justice oriented NGOs.
More than 150 participants from across the justice sector namely the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Office of the Attorney General of Bangladesh, Ministry of Home Affairs, Supreme Court of Bangladesh, Bar Associations and other important stakeholders participated in the workshop.
Barrister Shafique Ahmed, Honorable Minister, and Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs graced the inauguration ceremony of the workshop as a chief guest and Mr. Stefan Priesner, Country Director, UNDP Bangladesh as a special guest.
To establish rule of law independence of judiciary and success of justice deliver system is must, where this project will play a vital role to revitalize of the administration of justice in Bangladesh and to improve the overall situation of justice delivery, Barr. Shafique Ahmed anticipated.
He underscored the necessity of reforming criminal justice system through fixing mandatory time limit to end the trial of a case and in case of failure; provision dealing with consequences will be followed strictly.
Stefan Priesner, Country Director, UNDP in his speech said, “Justice is an area of increasing importance in development cooperation, and UNDP views it as closely related to human development and poverty eradication, and as a fulcrum for a human rights approach to development. JSF will form part of a broader blanket of technical support for the justice sector covering all relevant stakeholder agencies involved in justice delivery in Bangladesh.”
Following the inaugural session, a working session with keynote presentations on the thematic areas of JSF was conducted. Md. Sohel Ahmed, Joint Metropolitan Sessions Judge, Dhaka presented a paper highlighting the challenges of justice sector agencies as for example, weak communication, coordination and cooperation between criminal justice agencies, slow process of filing cases both within and between institutions, long disposal of cases which are hindering the justice system.
Mr. Zakir Hossain, Director (admin), Judicial Administration Training Institute also presented a paper on improved management and justice delivery by selected justice agencies.
The effective implementation of the project will contribute to reduce case backlog and speed-up trial process and facilitate the justice sector to ensure accessible justice for the people of Bangladesh, Speakers opined while commenting on different sessions.
Compiled by Law Desk
