Uruguay
Uruguay’s Supreme Court of Justice Asked the Senate for More Resources for the Judiciary
Judicial authorities warned in Parliament that the system is facing growing demand without operating budget increases for 15 years. They also pointed to shortcomings in the response to gender-based violence and in the Technical Forensic Institute.
Authorities from the Suprema Corte de Justicia called on the Uruguayan Senate for an update to the Judiciary’s resources and warned of an overloaded system, amid debate over the Rendición de Cuentas.
According to El País Uruguay, SCJ president Doris Morales said operating expenses have not been adjusted for 15 years and argued that the institution has had to reorganize itself to keep operating with the same level of income to cover its expenditures.
In the same vein, legal secretary Gabriela Figueroa said, according to that outlet, that the Judiciary tried to redistribute funds and improve efficiency in the use of allocations, although she warned that strategy is already reaching its limits in the face of growing demand. She also said judges and court staff are working without the necessary human and material resources.
Figueroa also focused on gender-based violence. According to El País Uruguay, she stressed that this phenomenon carries significant weight both because of the number of cases and the need for interdisciplinary teams and more technical resources. She added that, eight years after the law on violence against women based on gender came into force, just over 15% of the population has the institutional framework provided for the judicial response.
Regarding Montevideo, the official questioned the fact that there were no budget increases in two Budget discussions to strengthen the judicial response. Still according to El País Uruguay, she said that last year each judge in the capital opened an average of 726 cases, which were added to those already pending, in a context of limited technical teams and public defenders’ offices that need more professionals.
For his part, legal secretary Juan Pablo Novella criticized in Parliament that the Rendición de Cuentas arrived with “zero pesos” for the Judiciary, despite rising demand, especially in gender-based violence. He also said budget execution stands at around 97%, according to El País Uruguay.
During the hearing, the requested reinforcement for the Instituto Técnico Forense was also defended. General director Patricia Porley argued, according to El País Uruguay, that more than 40% of the institute’s expert reports are requested by the Fiscalía, a growing demand that belongs to another agency. She also added that expert reports linked to the law on gender-based violence have increased.
In her presentation, Morales asked senators to take the Judiciary’s needs into account and said the requested resources are aimed at guaranteeing access to justice on equal terms. She also warned that restricting those funds means, in her view, a setback in that goal.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not do its own reporting on this event.
