Vice-president of the STF takes part in meeting of Councils of Justice from Portuguese-speaking countries

21/11/2023

The vice-president of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), Justice Edson Fachin, took part in the First Summit of the Superior Councils of Justice of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP), which ended on Tuesday (21) in the city of Praia, Cape Verde. He represented the president of the STF and CNJ, Chief Justice Luís Roberto Barroso.

At the event, Brazil was elected to the vice-presidency of the Forum of Superior Councils of Justice of the CPLP. The presidency will be held by Angola. The community is also made up of Cape Verde, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and East Timor.

Access to justice
At the event, Justice Fachin explained the challenges that Brazilian courts need to overcome to ensure that the adoption of technology really does broaden access to justice and results in guaranteeing the effectiveness of citizens' fundamental rights. "Technology cannot become an obstacle to the promotion of human dignity and the realization of our mission of social pacification," he said.

Judicial administration
In a scenario where 31.6 million new cases will be received in 2022 alone, with around 29.1 million cases tried and a stock of 81.1 million pending cases, Brazil, according to Fachin, is faced with a highly complex activity in terms of the administration of the Brazilian judicial apparatus. "The search for a balance between available resources, installed productive capacity and the efficient performance of the judicial service requires Brazil to continuously adopt the best governance and management practices," he said.

Electronic format
The Justice informed that currently 99.2% of new cases registered in 2023 entered the Brazilian judiciary in electronic format, while 89.2% of the stock of pending cases is already being processed in electronic format. "But the effort to virtualize judicial services goes beyond the simple dematerialization of the paper process," he emphasized.

Digital security
According to Fachin, progress has also been made in regulating the practice of procedural acts electronically, in defining and implementing security protocols that guarantee the validity of procedural acts and the integrity of systems. "We have also made progress in creating structures aimed at guaranteeing access to digital justice, especially in relation to the large contingent of digitally excluded people," he said.

Charter
At the event, the "City of Praia Charter for the Digital Transformation of CPLP Judicial Systems" was approved, in which the member countries of the community pledge to expand the availability of judicial services in a digital environment.

Artificial intelligence
In the document, the nations point out that computer systems to support the management and processing of cases, as well as information technologies and artificial intelligence applied to judicial systems, are instruments and means of improving administration that should facilitate access to justice, respect the independence of judges and courts and guarantee the right to a fair and just trial.

Goals
In the charter, the countries commit to 16 goals, including adopting a technological standard to guarantee the authenticity, integrity and legal validity of electronic documents; regulating the practice of procedural acts in a digital environment, including the communication of procedural acts; and implementing a unified service for the publication of judicial acts and digital inclusion points to guarantee access to justice in at least 10% of judicial administrative units (counties, districts or provinces).

Also present at the event were the secretary general of the National Council of Justice (CNJ), federal judge Adriana Cruz, and the assistant judge of the CNJ Presidency João Thiago Guerra.

RP/GG//AR

With information from the CNJ

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