NEWS LETTER September 2009

JUSTICE SYSTEM PROGRAMME

Editorial
In this month's edition, advisors from Cape Verde and
Portugal arrived in Dili to support the national judicial
institutions over the next year; the Deputy Special
Representative of the Secretary General, Mr. Finn
Reske-Nielsen meets with the head of the Spanish
Agency of International Development Cooperation to
honor the Spanish Government's contributions to the
International Judges from Portugal sworn into office to work in the
District Courts for the next year............................................................Page 2 UNDP Justice System Programme and other UN
agencies; exams for the first class of the training
course for private lawyers are held at the Legal
Training Center in Dili and the JSP holds an annual
retreat to ensure that the 2010 Annual Work Plan
Spanish Agency of
International Development addresses recommendations of the ICNA report and
Cooperation the MoJ Justice Sector Strategic Plan.
contributes є 1 million to the
Justice System
Programme.........Page 3
The UNDP Justice System Programme continued its
agreement with the Council of Coordination, comprised of the
Ministry of Justice, the Court of Appeal and the Office of the
Prosecutor-General, in December 2008 with the signing of a 5-
year project document. We continue to work towards a
strong justice sector and are committed to providing
information on our activities. Your comments or suggestions
are always welcome and can be sent to
shaila.noronha@undp.org.

The Justice System Programme is

supported by Australia, Brazil,
Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Spain,
Sweden, OHCHR
(UN Office of the High
Draft Law on Customary Law and local justice is elaborated by the
Commissioner for Human Rights),
working group of the MoJ, UNDP and UNMIT........................Page 4 and UNDP BCPR (Bureau of Crisis
Prevention and Recovery)

Also in this month's edition:

- Exams held at the Legal Training Centre for candidates to enter Private Lawyers' Training course.............................................................................. 3
- Justice System Programme holds two-day retreat to formulate annual work plan for 2010.......................................................................................4
- Photos of the month..........................................................................................................................................................................................................5

September 2009 Page 01

 International Judges, Prosecutors and Court Clerks Begin One Year Assignment

T
he UNDP Justice System to the districts outside of Dili, on a Court of Appeal.
Programme (JSP) supported permanent basis, including Dr. João Raposo, who will be based in
the arrival of four Judges, four international judges to each of the Suai commented to say that he feels
Prosecutors and four clerks from district courts. “pleased and challenged both
Portugal and Cape Verde to assist the Dr. Fernando Ferreira, Dr. Diogo personally and professionally with this
national judicial institutions over the Ravara, Dr. Maria Leonor Botelho and task. The main goal is to be able to
next one year period. Dr. Joao Paulo Raposo from Portugal help the Timorese judicial system to
The advisors are provided under were sworn into office at two develop, and I also hope to be able to
agreements of cooperation that UNDP ceremonies, held at the Court of learn and grow with this experience .''
has promoted and supported both Appeal, under the direction of Dr.
logistically and financially. Claudio Ximenes, President of the
An induction course was held on the 21st
of September for the advisors to
familiarize them on the Timorese judicial
system. Moreover, they were provided
with advising guidelines that have been
developed to maximize their capacity
building efforts. The Senior Justice
Advisor for the JSP, Maria del Mar
Bermudez, commented that “the UNDP
Justice System Programme is pleased to
facilitate and support the national
authorities in increasing the capacities
of the Timorese judiciary. We expect
these advisors to support the national
actors to be part of the decentralizing of
justice services and bringing justice to
the citizens of Timor’’.
Several of the advisors will be assigned Above: Dr. Maria Leonor Botelho with Dr. Cláudio Ximenes at the Court of Appeal in Dili, 2nd October, 2009

Far Left: National

Judges, Dr. Ana
Paula Fonseca
and Dr. Maria
Natércia Gusmão
with Minister of
Justice, Dr. Lúcia
Lobato, at the
swearing in
ceremony at the
Court of Appeal
on 25th
September.
Left: Dr. João
Raposo, judge
from Portugal

September 2009 Page 02

 Spanish Agency of International Development Cooperation
contributes є 1 million to the Justice System Programme

T
he Spanish Government,
through the Spanish Agency
for International
Development Cooperation (AECID),
provided an additional one million
Euros to the Justice System
Programme (JSP).
“The Spanish Agency of
International Development Co-
operation is committed to its long-
standing support for UN projects in
Timor-Leste such as
the UNDP- Justice System
Programme. AECID plans to
continue its support to the
achievement of effective rule of law,
peace and stability in Timor-Leste,
through the strengthening of key From Left: Francisco Asís López, Head of AECID, Lydia Vicente, Justice Advisor for
institutions such as the Courts, AECID, Luca Bruccheri, Programme Officer UNDP, Maria Bermudez, Senior Justice
Advisor, UNDP-JSP and Mr. Finn Reske-Nielsen, Deputy Special Representative of the
Prosecution and the Ministry of
Secretary General and UNDP Resident Representative
Justice,” stated Mr. Francisco Asís
López, Head of AECID in Timor- ‘’UNDP is grateful to the and financial support necessary to
Leste. Government of Spain, which has promote human rights, peace and
These funds bring the total been instrumental in providing that development,’’ stated Mr. Finn
contribution of the AECID over the we build capacities of the justice Reske- Nielsen, Deputy SRSG and
past two years to three million Euros institutions. Spain has been a long UNDP Resident Representative.
for the JSP. trusted partner in ensuring technical

Private Lawyers' Training exams held at the LTC

The first private lawyers' training will
begin this year in November at the
Legal Training Centre, following the
law that was passed in late 2008 for
the state to work towards regulating
the legal profession. The course will
run for 15 months to provide
training to lawyers in all areas of the
new penal and civil codes of Timor-
September 2009
Leste and to provide the formation
required for accreditation as a
lawyer in Timor-Leste. The exams
were held on the 24th and 25th of
September at the Legal Training
Center and a total of 47 candidates
took the exam, including 11 women.
There are 40 vacancies for this first
round of the course. Currently there
Candidates
take the exam
for the Private
Lawyers
Training
course, in Dili,
24th and 25th of
September
are less than 100 private lawyers in
Timor-Leste. By 2012, all private
lawyers will need to complete this
training to receive the required
accreditation and be able to
continue to practice law.
Sr. Jose Pedro Camoes, head of the
Association of Timor-Leste Lawyers
(AATL), asserts that this training is
important to build capacities of
lawyers in Timor-Leste, in order to
to strengthen and sustain the
judicial system.
Until a national Bar Association is
created in Timor-Leste, the process
of accreditation will be the
responsibility of the Legal Training
Center. Parliament has given all
lawyers a 4-year grace period to
enter the training course at the LTC
in order to be accredited
Page 03
 Consultation on customary law and local justice completes
eight workshops
throughout Timor-Leste,
including district workshops
in Baucau, Los Palos, Oé-
cusse and Suai and also
sector consultations the
formal justice sector and
with human rights, civil
society and women's
organizations. The process
of consultation allowed for
local authorities, justice
Raquel Yrigoyen Fajardo (standing left) at the
workshop/consultation in Los Palos, March 10-12, 2009 actors and civil society to
After nine months of service to the discuss customary law and local justice
UNDP Justice System Programme, as it is in their respective sucos. The
Raquel Yrigoyen Fajardo left the participants were invited to give their
project after completing a process of proposals and inputs into the draft
public consultation to draft the legislation.
legislation on customary law and local Key recommendations made by the
justice. The consultation included participants included the creation of
community tribunals with
jurisdictional powers at the local level,
the recognition and establishment of
limits to customary law and the
establishment of a commission at the
local level to support gender-based
victims.
The draft legislation on customary law
and local justice was elaborated by the
working group of the Ministry of
Justice with the technical support of
UNDP and UNMIT.
The next step will be to present the
final report with the draft legislation to
the MoJ. It is envisaged that UNDP will
support the MoJ in a national
workshop where all stakeholders will
be invited to review the draft
legislation and give final inputs into its
elaboration.

JSP hold two-day retreat to develop Annual Work Plan for 2010

C
ity views of Dili from the
mountain town of Dare was
the setting for the annual
retreat for the Justice System
Programme held this year on the 1st
and 2nd of October.
The two days included a formulation
of the 2010 annual work plan
addressing the recommendations
stemming from the Justice Sector
Strategic Plan and the draft
Independent Comprehensive Needs
Assessment (ICNA) report. The JSP,
which was initially started in 2003, The JSP currently has over 40 staff judicial advisors in the Ministry of
underwent a revision in 2008 and working in the various Management Justice, Courts, Prosecution and
was developed for a further five Unit, Prison Services, the Legal Public Defenders' office.
year period. The revised document Training Centre, IT Unit, Access to
included new components to the Justice and the Field Teams.
project such as Access to Justice. The JSP also supports international
Intern joins JSP for 3 months
Claire Tarbes, a Master's student from the Université Paul Cézanne Aix-
Marseille III, joined the Justice System Programme for a three month
internship. Claire is from Reunion Island, a French island near
Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. She studied Law in Paris for four years
and is now completing a Masters in International Legal Field Officer
Programme.
“I am particularly interested in working on access to justice, as for me it’s
the most essential activity for a strong and sustainable social
reconstruction in Timor-Leste,” commented Claire.
September 2009 Page 04
 NEWS LETTER September 2009
Photo: Carlos Dinis

JUSTICE SYSTEM PROGRAMME

Photos of the month
Below: Six national judges, all
graduates of the Legal Training
Center, departed for Portugal for 6
months training supported by a joint
venture between the MoJ and
Portugal. Pictured below, with Dr.
Cláudio Ximenes, President of the
Court of Appeal:
Left to Right: Dr. Edite Palmira Dos Reis, Dr.
Jose Maria de Araujo, Dr. Cláudio Ximenes,
Dr. Natércia Gusmão(front), Dr. Ana Paula
Fonseca and Dr. Joao Rodrigues Ribeiro. Dr.
Duarte Tilman, not pictured belowed, was
part of the group of six.

Above: National Judges with International Judge

from Portugal at the swearing in ceremony at the
Court of Appeal in Dili. Four international judges
will support the Courts while the national judges
are in Portugal:
Dr. Edite Palmira Dos Reis, Dr. Diogo Ravara from Portugal,
Dr. Ana Paula Fonseca and Dr. Jose Maria de Araujo.

Photo: Renato Dacosta, UNDP

Right: Staff of the UNDP Justice

System Programme at the annual
two-day retreat
Left to Right: Bernado Fernandes and Erika
Macedo from the Legal Training Center, Ester
Barros, Adviser to the Ministry of Justice-
Directorate of Notary, Abdul Ghafur, Finance
Officer and Annie Serrano, Gender Advisor
for UNDP.

Produced by Public Information Officer, Justice System Programme

For further information or suggestions please contact Shaila Noronha, 7304445, 3313583, shaila.noronha@undp.org
September 2009 Page 05