Rule of Law: Success Stories
President of Bolivia Opens Integrated Justice Center
On September 15, 2004, Carlos Mesa, the President of Bolivia proudly opened USAID's first Integrated Justice Center (IJC) in El Alto, Bolivia. With a 66.9% poverty rate, El Alto is one the poorest areas of Bolivia and the poorest in the capital of La Paz. Other centers are opening in the Yungas and Chapare, areas with poverty rates of 80% and higher. The IJCs are being built in the poorest areas of Bolivia to provide common citizens' access to justice - which is one of the most serious current problems of responsibility and legitimacy facing the Government of Bolivia today.
The Government of Bolivia has been on precarious footing since the last year. Last year, political, social and economic conditions in Bolivia resulted in violent protests that included serious confrontations with government forces and eventually culminated with the ousting of the President in October 2003. Confidence in state institutions, seen as provoking greater levels of conflict, was eroded even further but seems to have stabilized with the new President, Carlos Mesa. Although to date the degree of violence has diminished, the potential for resurgence is present and the intensity and scope of civil unrest could become worse if the state does not address on a priority basis certain pressing needs of its citizenry.
In order to provide citizens with access to justice in the currently unstable political landscape, USAID/Bolivia, through its subcontractor MSD, has developed a program of Integrated Justice Centers. The timing of these centers could not be better as Bolivia is experiencing a massive change in the state-citizen relationship. A government accustomed to corruption and inefficiency is struggling to meet the social demands of an increasingly agitated population. The general public, emboldened with its success at changing the presidency and gaining first ever rights for indigenous people, is increasingly aware of its power to obtain government responses through collective protests, but remains largely unaware of the responsibilities involved in collective decision making driven by social unrest. While they have achieved incredible results in a short amount of time they are still unaware of the appropriate roles of the citizenry in preventing social chaos. Bolivia's immediate!
future will be determined in large measure by the interplay of this precarious new relationship-a government struggling to respond, and a citizenry increasingly impatient for substantive changes and responses. The inauguration of the IJC on September 15, 2004, comes at a perfect time as the IJCs seek to strengthen this new relationship by providing both formal and alternative forms of justice and conflict resolution to the most vulnerable citizens of society.
The Centers will inform citizens of their rights and about legal procedures, provide often instant conciliatory services, and work closely with the formal justice system to address the needs of the Centers' clients. Even more exciting, the IJCs will develop a cadre of indigenous leaders capable of sharing Justice Center-related knowledge and replicating or implementing relevant skills and abilities (e.g., conciliation). These leaders will implement an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) component. This component will be different from the formal justice system which is made up of the traditional lawyers, judges and prosecutors. It will use an indigenous system which, for the first time, will be recognized by the formal system. By giving the indigenous people a system that they have been used to and trust it will defuse some of the conflict and mistrust of the government.
Although the project is only for one year and is being done on a pilot basis, it is hoped the IJC's will generate enough use to become sustainable from other donors as well. To achieve this goal the Integrated Justice Centers will all contain Community Service Centers staffed by volunteers from the community. These volunteers will promote the services of the IJCs and disseminate information about educational materials, basic concepts related to the competencies of the Center, receipt and routing of cases as well as providing media relations. The IJCs will bring improved efficiencies, more timely rendering of verdicts, a decrease in due process violations, and more opportunities for public involvement in and monitoring of justice sector officials to the poor and indigenous communities of Bolivia at a very critical time. USAID is continuing to lead an effort to create a more stable community and government through programs such as the Integrated Justice Centers.
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