ANGELES CITY -- European Union (EU) has committed to assist the Justice Sector Coordinating Council (JSCC) in establishing more Justice Zones in the country.
“The Justice Zone will improve justice delivery at the local level through the 3Cs— communication, cooperation, and coordination because it can be focused on the identification of common problems and common solutions to be addressed in a local area,” EU Ambassador Franz Jessen said during the launching of the Angeles City Justice Zone.
Justice Zone is an area where local justice sector agencies such as the police, prosecutors, judges, public attorneys, and managers of detentions facilities identify problems and arrive at common solutions to address them. Through an agreed structure, and through two-way communication with the JSCC, piloting of new activities take place within the Justice Zone.
JSCC members include the Supreme Court, Department of Justice and Department of the Interior and Local Government.
“By focusing on coordination and increase in knowledge sharing, you develop more oriented-system and analytical approaches defined on justice perspective and not just on one institution perspective,” Jessen added.
Angeles City is the fourth Justice Zone supported by EU under its Governance in Justice (GOJUST) program. Others are located in the cities of Quezon, Cebu and Davao.
GOJUST is a three and a half year justice program which supports the JSCC at the national level and roll out the Justice Zone concept at the local level as an important mechanism for sustainable and long-term reforms.
It also works in the area of decongesting the dockets of the courts and the prosecution service, capacity building in financial and administrative management for justice sector agencies, and the automation of various services for case management and expedited hearings. (PIA)