Africa-Press – Cape verde. MpD deputy João Gomes today welcomed the “commitment and increased responses” on the part of the Government aimed at improving the Justice sector, stating that the data shows that the situation “is better”.
Parliament/Debate on the state of Justice: MpD welcomes the increase in Government responses to improve the Justice sector
The parliamentarian from the Movement for Democracy (MpD, power) made these statements when he spoke at the opening of the debate in the parliamentary session on the situation of Justice in Cape Verde, highlighting that the characterization that his party makes, in light of the statistical data contained in the reports from the Superior Councils of the Judiciary of the Public and Judicial Ministry, is that, at the end of the 2022/2023 judicial year, “better indicators” were registered in relation to previous years.
As he highlighted, the indicators are “encouraging and encourage us to continue the path” set so far towards the desired goal, which is the achievement of “more and better justice” for Cape Verdeans.
“The number of criminal cases registered (entered) at national level decreased by 5.8% compared to the 2021/2022 judicial year. The number of closed criminal cases, although lower than last year, is, however, higher than the number of cases filed, by 4.9%. The number of cases judged (13,291) is significant”, he indicated.
He also highlighted that the established procedural reference values were exceeded, at national level, by 44.8%, highlighting the positive results achieved and the national pendency decreased compared to the judicial year 2021/2022, by 2.3%, recognizing, for on the other hand, that the country is still far from the level it aims for, but “it is undeniable”, he maintained, in one of the most critical items of evaluation of the system there were “significant improvements”.
According to João Gomes, the statistical reality indicates that pending cases are the main cause of the slowness of justice and “one of the great challenges” faced by the entities responsible for carrying out justice, as it is necessary to respond in a timely manner to cases that come before the courts, without delaying the processing and decision of those that have already been pending for many years.
“But the slowness of justice cannot fail to be associated with the growth in access to justice and the search for judicial protection, as Cape Verdeans prefer judicial bodies to conflict resolution mechanisms”, he said, highlighting the Government’s measures to solve this problem.
In this sense, he highlighted the qualification, training and motivation of human resources to be able to deal with greater competence and ease with increasingly complex disputes, modernization of services, with continuous investment in equipment and new technologies and profound legislative reform, with several measures legislation in the implementation phase.
He also highlighted the increase in human resources, with the training and hiring of more magistrates and court officials for the Superior Councils, implementation of the SIJ and the reformulation of the Judicial Inspection and the Public Ministry, through the law proposals awaiting scheduling in Parliament.
The deputy also welcomed the improvement in the capacity of the judicial system to respond to cases of child sexual abuse for “child-friendly justice”, pointing out in this context, the importance of installing hearing rooms for child victims of sexual abuse.
“As government public policy measures for the proper functioning of Justice, we also highlight the installation of the Justice Campus in Palmarejo, the reinforcement of the commitment to the Humanization of the Penitentiary System and Social Reinsertion and greater coordination between the Government and the Superior Councils, to ensure greater productivity of the System, among others”, he assured.
He recognized that Cape Verde has not yet reached the level of justice satisfaction, but that the reality of justice today is different from the situation a few years ago and that “the MpD is confident that tomorrow’s will be much better”.
“The MpD Parliamentary Group welcomes the commitment, attention and responses that the Government led by Ulisses Correia e Silva has been giving to the sector, from 2016 to this point, a fact recognized by Cape Verdeans, in particular the superior councils of the Judiciary and translate into a continuous and accentuated allocation of human, financial and material resources allocated to the Cape Verdean Justice”, he declared.
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