Costa Rica, Colombia and Mexico join forces to strengthen Restorative Justice
Costa Rica, Mexico and Colombia will strengthen the application of Restorative Justice in criminal and juvenile justice with greater emphasis on attention to vulnerable populations, approaching their territories, communities, respecting their worldview and their individuality.
Costa Rica, Mexico and Colombia will strengthen the application of Restorative Justice in criminal and juvenile criminal matters with greater emphasis on the attention of vulnerable populations, approaching their territories, communities, respecting their worldview and their particularities.
Likewise, the reduction of the gap of gender, age, ethnic inequality, through the sensitization and the formation of the citizenship, that allows to generate a cultural change in the way of resolving legal conflicts, that guarantees an alternative to incarceration, is sought. with a more realistic, integral and re-socializing approach, more human, generating a social impact on the population, in accordance with the Human Rights Instruments.
Within the framework of this project, letters of understanding were signed on February 28, 2017, in the Multipurpose Room of the Supreme Court of Justice, with the representation of the President in office of the Supreme Court of Justice, Jesús Ramírez Quirós, the Ambassador of the European Union, Pelayo Castro Zuzuarregui, the Magistrate and Coordinator of the Program, Doris Arias Madrigal and the President of the Superior Court of Justice and the Council of the Judicature of the State of Mexico, Sergio Javier Medina.
The Ambassador of the European Union, Pelayo Castro, commented: "With this initiative, the EU is launching the first triangular cooperation project in Costa Rica together with Latin American partners, in this case, Colombia and Mexico." We unite two fundamental objectives of the EU: justice and the protection of human rights Restorative justice is an alternative model that favors social cohesion and contributes to solving criminal conflicts with integral solutions and greater efficiency and humanization in the treatment of crime. "
According to Judge Doris Arias, the support of the European Union will continue to build new opportunities for the population, especially those who are in a vulnerable condition when the Fifth Anniversary of Restorative Justice is celebrated in the administration of Costa Rican justice.
"The demand of today's society to the Criminal Justice Administration is focused on greater efficiency and speed in the way of resolving conflicts, citizens and victims in particular, demand that there is no impunity, that their claims be resolved in a reasonable time and that they are repaired the damages caused "assured the Magistrate and Coordinator of this project.
The President of the Superior Court of Justice and the Council of the Judicature of the State of Mexico, Sergio Javier Medina said that for the Judicial Branch that he heads it is an honor to join this tripartite project in favor of strengthening Restorative Justice in criminal and penal matters youth, which will provide its experience in the care of the vulnerable population, with special emphasis on indigenous groups, obtained in its Center for Mediation, Conciliation and Restorative Justice, under its own model that seeks family and social integration, as well as the attention of causes that generate the conflict with an emphasis on crime prevention.
"Mexico will share with Colombia, Costa Rica and the European Union good practices in training, implementation, evaluation, and disclosure of restorative justice, with the certainty that joint work with nations will allow the Mexican entity to become a model for the implementation of restorative justice, "said Sergio Javier Medina.
For the President of the Superior Council of the Judiciary of Colombia, Martha Lucía Olano de Noguera, her country is moving towards peace and its stabilization process needs quality justice and asserted "A justice committed to the reconstruction of the social fabric weakened by years of armed conflict , maybe never like now, talking about restorative justice in Colombia is so necessary and timely. "
He also indicated "The Judicial Branch of Colombia has elaborated strategies for the deepening and improvement of the application of restorative schemes capable of limiting the harmful consequences of punitive justice".
"Although, the exercise of State power must be forceful and decisive in the repression against crime, it is also true that this purpose must be carried out within the framework of the Social State of Law and its ultimate purpose, it cannot be other than restitution, reparation, dignification and inclusion of the citizen in processes that allow truth, justice and reparation for the damage caused, "concluded Martha Lucía Olano de Noguera.
In Costa Rica, the project is framed within the strategic objectives of the Judiciary to reduce judicial backwardness, encourage citizen participation, modernize judicial management and improve the management of human resources. It is a form of conflict resolution closer to reality, focused on damaged human relationships. Value the facts, thoughts and feelings. From this dialogue, the accused person assumes his responsibility in repairing the damage to the victim and the community, avoiding impunity.
In Mexico State, an entity that represents Mexico, mediation and conciliation services have been offered since 2002 as alternative mechanisms for dispute resolution, and now it has 18 regional centers. Since 2014, this procedure has been granted in the criminal and juvenile penal sphere.
For its part, in Colombia there is Law 906 that came into effect in January 2005 and introduces the Restorative Justice program. There are specialists in this area, as well as in the resolution of conflicts, and there is interest in strengthening mechanisms for victims, gender and human rights.
The three countries are interested in working together with the same objective that benefits the vulnerable populations, approaching their territories, communities, respecting their worldview and their particularities, decreasing age, gender, ethnic inequality, among others.
This regional project aims to be a tool that generates changes in the way to resolve criminal conflicts, with integral and realistic solutions, to obtain better results and greater efficiency in the treatment of crime, within the framework of humanization and greater rationalization to which it must guide all efforts the Administration of Justice.
