Venezuelan to Host Institute of Higher Judicial Studies
Over the weekend Venezuela’s democratic institutions received a new show of international support after judicial authorities from across the Americas and Iberian Peninsula selected the socialist democracy to host the Ibero-American Institute of Higher Judicial Studies.
The decision, made in Buenos Aires during last week’s XVI Ibero-American Judicial Summit, flies in the face of recent opposition attempts to discredit the Venezuelan judiciary. According to a press statement released by Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ), the countries tasked with elaborating the goals, objectives and reach of Ibero-American Institute of Higher Judicial Studies voted unanimously to support Venezuela’s offer to host the new institute.
The group, coordinated by Venezuela, included Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Spain, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Once the working group passed the Venezuelan proposal, it then went on to the summit plenary where it also received unanimous support.
The innovative institute is “of great importance”, explained the TSJ statement, “because it is within this entity that the judges of the future will be trained, thus strengthening all Iberian- American judicial systems and the quality of services as they relate to the administration of justice”.
While the international institute is to be headquartered in Caracas, the TSJ statement also explained that internet-based technologies would be applied so that distance learning can be used for the initial stages of professional development.
Each country’s judicial authorities will select prospective candidates for the institute’s programs, all of whom will study both online and in Venezuela.
Vote of Confidence
Speaking to reporters, Supreme Court President Luisa Estella Morales explained, “Venezuela has now taken on, with full responsibility, the educational development of Ibero-America’s judges and is prepared to be doing so within a two-year period”.
Representing Venezuela at the summit were Supreme Court President Luisa Estella Morales, First Vice-President of the Higher Judiciary Omar Mora, and Director of the National Magistrates School Arcadio Delgado.
According to Morales. Venezuela was selected to host the institute because “it’s the only country in the world that has courts specialized in administering justice related to violence against women, violence against children, and against adolescents” as well as “a separate commission which studies the judiciary’s advances in these areas”.
In addition, Morales said, “in recent years the entirety of our country’s courts has been systematized and now meets all of the internationally-established standards with respect to applying justice”.
The Venezuelan initiative, approved by all those present at the XVI Iberian-American Judicial Summit, also received a special mention for the work undertaken; something Morales said “is really uncommon at these summits”.
According to its website, the Ibero-American Judicial Summit “is an organization that supports the cooperation and coordination of the judiciaries of the twenty three countries that comprise the Latin American Community of Nations”.