This morning, the US Embassy donated several pieces of electronic and office equipment to the judiciary.
The donation was made as part of an ongoing US Government-sponsored "Backlog Reduction Program." Under this program, the US continues to support Belize's judiciary to reduce the number of pending criminal cases before the courts.
The event was attended by stakeholders in Belize's judicial system, including the officials representing the Supreme Court, Magistrate Court, the police department's Prosecution Branch, the National Forensic Science Service, and the Financial Intelligence Unit.
7News was there for the handing-over ceremony. Here's what the donors and recipients had to say about how this donation will help Belize's judiciary to progress their efficiency programs to address case backlog meaningfully:
Trienia Young - Registrar General, Supreme Court
"As you are aware, the Belize Judiciary has implemented a backlog reduction strategy. In an effort to assist in the carrying out of this process, as well as in the support of the various judicial reforms that the judiciary has commenced, the U.S. Embassy has generously donated office and computer equipment, both to the Supreme Court and the Magistrate court. The purpose of this donation is to enhance the case management system, both at the Supreme Court and the Magistrate Court. This will ensure an increase in access to justice, as well as an effective and efficient judiciary."
Louise Blenman - Chief Justice of Belize
"It is critical that litigants are provided with easy access to justice that is fair and efficient, failing in which fundamental rights may be impacted. More recently, inefficiencies in the delivery of justice were forever laid bare during the COVID-19 pandemic. This state of affairs does not augur well since, for example, potential investors who have a genuine interest in Belize will be reluctant to come to Belize. And if they are of the informed view that crimes are not effectively prosecuted and punished, All of this can have the effect of undermining Belize's development and eroding its stability. As a matter of urgency, the Judiciary and Magistracy will be reformed and modernized in order to be able to properly serve the people of Belize."
Leyla Moses-Ones - Charge d Affaires, US Embassy
"The office and computer equipment that we're providing today represent our continued support in addressing processing efficiencies. This equipment is valued at over 280,000 U.S. dollars. And it represents an investment not only in the courts but sort of a spiritual investment in swift justice that means so much, as the Chief Justice says, not only for Belizean communities but for the broader implication of the country's stability and economic prosperity. U.S. assistance in the reduction of case backlog is important because each case represents an alleged crime committed against a victim here."
We also asked the representatives of the US Embassy and the judiciary about the items that make up this donation. They told us that some of the equipment would allow countrywide expansion of the Court to Prison Video Live Link, while others will allow the court to go paperless eventually. Here are those comments:
Georgia Belizaire - INL Justice Sector Program Specialist, US Embassy
"So there are laptops, scanners, and desks, particularly for updating the case management system. There are also security cameras for the court. There are servers because as much case goes into the case management system, they're going to need to actually expand their storage capacity. So, it's basically stuff to improve on the case management program."
Trienia Young - Registrar General, Supreme Court
"The equipment is to be shared between the Supreme Court and the Magistrate Court. Part of the equipment is to go to the prison to expand access to the prison for adjournments and bail applications so that magistrates throughout the country would be able to have access to the prisoners who are on remand. So, that is part of it. Presently, there are four access points at the prison. So that does not give - those are any access points that are set. So, it's only the Belize Supreme Court and the -I believe - two magistrate courts in Belize that did that have that. Now, this would allow for magistrates, wherever in the country of Belize, to be able to access through a wifi-connected laptop."
Daniel Ortiz
"Okay, so explain to us the value proposition and the reduction in cost. Because I know that every time that a prisoner needs to come to court - or an accused person needs to come to court from prison, that's taxpayer's dollars being used to purchase fuel to bring them from - And that's every day, and sometimes it's for just a simple adjournment."
Trienia Young
"And you also have prisoners who are in Punta Gorda who would be brought a couple of days in advance, the same in San Pedro. You have situations that we have seen where prisoners have gotten injured due to traffic accidents. I believe in Orange Walk that occurred. You have where the prison is on lockdown for whatever reason, and the prisoners are not able to have access to the courts. This will alleviate that completely. The equipment donated towards the Supreme Court is not only in relation to prison. We got donations in relation to the servers. So we're getting updated servers. We've got an also for scanning case files. So the plan is so in the future becoming an E - a paperless court. And these are things that are going to assist us in reducing our backlog, in ensuring that there are no files that are being lost, incomplete, or anything to that effect."
