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Swearing in of two Judges and four Public Defenders will boost the capacity of Timor-Leste’s justice institutions

President of the Court of Appeal, Dr. Claudio Ximenes, swears in one of the two judges graduated from the second course offered by the Legal Training Centre. Picture by Thaiza Castilho/UNDP

 

Dili, Timor-Leste, 19 May 2009

On 18 May the Court of Appeal in Dili, Timor-Leste, witnessed the swearing-in of two judges and four public defenders from the second batch of graduates from the Legal Training Centre. In the same ceremony, Dr. Sérgio Hornai was officially appointed as the General Public Defender.

The ceremony was attended by the President of the RDTL, Dr. José Ramos-Horta, Prime Minister, Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão, the President of the Court of Appeal, Dr. Claudio Ximenes, the Minister of Justice, Dra. Lúcia Lobato and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dr. Atul Khare.

In the presence of almost two hundred guests, the graduates received their certificates from Dr. Cláudio Ximenes and Dr. Sérgio Hornai after completing two and a half years of training at the LTC. The magistrates and public defenders also took an oath of office in front of the representatives of their respective justice institutions.

According to Dr. Claudio Ximenes, “Great responsibilities are being placed on the shoulders of these magistrates and public defenders: the responsibility to defend the Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, the responsibility to uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary, and the responsibility to administer justice for the people with fairness, respect, and impartiality”.

The achievement can also be attributed to the collaboration among national judicial institutions through the Council of Coordination. These institutions, with the assistance of the UNDP Justice System Programme, have made assessments on the status of the justice sector, defined effective policies for recruitment and certification of professional jurists and established necessary mechanisms for the implementation of long-term training efforts through the LTC.

“The effective functioning of the judicial institutions is necessary to create stability and therefore contribute to the country's development. These new Magistrates and Public Defenders sworn in today will assist their colleagues to build a strong and independent justice system in Timor-Leste”, said the Minister of Justice.

Notwithstanding this significant achievement, continued support will be provided to the national magistrates and Public Defenders who have begun their careers. Further assistance is also being provided for the 14 students attending the third LTC course, development of training of private lawyers and clerks for the application of new procedural legislation, improvement of office and housing facilities for court actors stationed in the districts and drafting of legislation.

“Today’s graduation of Timorese justice actors shows the extraordinary work that the national institutions have been doing and that these efforts are bearing fruit resulting also in the reasonable expectation of an increased and permanent presence of legal actors in the districts. Another important milestone has been reached with the swearing in of the participants of the second group of trainees of the Legal Training Centre”, stated Dr. Atul Khare.

UNDP and the Council of Coordination of the Justice Sector have been working closely through the Justice System Programme to develop the national capacity of the Courts, the Prosecution and the Ministry of Justice through the Public Defender's Office, Prison Services and the LTC.

The UNDP Justice System Programme is supported by Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UNDP Bureau of Crisis Prevention and Recovery.