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Positive results drive expansion of Rule of Law training and technology program for Iraqi judges
Baghdad, Thursday, 28 February 2008
A joint venture by the United Nations, U.S. State Department and 3rd Infantry Division to train and equip Iraqi judges on information technology was so well received in its first iteration that a second round of computer training is now underway at the request of the Iraqi judiciary.
The program, first implemented in summer and fall 2007, familiarizes the judges with laptop computers loaded with software containing ninety years of Iraqi legal code. The judges receive hands-on training on the donated computers during group seminars conducted by members of the 3rd Inf. Div.’s “Rule of Law” team.
For the March sessions, the team’s paralegal, Spc. Wallis Lacey, a 21-year old from Columbia, S.C., has resumed his role as primary trainer for the Iraqi judges and lawyers. This time he is distributing forty laptops, as well as sets of CD-ROMs loaded with the entirety of the Iraqi legal code stretching from 1917 to 2006.
Two hundred and fifty computers were initially distributed to judges around Multi-National Division – Center’s area of operation. This second round of training is a result of Iraqi interest; the tools and software are intended to help the judges work through the country’s backlog of criminal cases.
“The systems and software installed previously were so well-received that requests for additional systems came in non-stop,” said Spc. Lacey. “This computer automation is much better than tracking the legal code on an out-moded, paper-driven system.”
The software gives the judges a baseline of legal code and precedent to work from in a system that, under Saddam Hussein, had stagnated and been greatly abused. Freed from intimidation, the judges are now trying to get back on their feet in prosecuting and trying cases.
According to Lt. Col. Christopher Royer, Rule of Law director, G9, 3rd Inf. Div., “This technology resource gave Iraqi judges tools they need to effectively and efficiently process the country’s backlog of cases, especially criminal cases.”
The new systems will all be in place by the end of March.
