- Title: HAITI: Justice Ministry sets up operations at a new location in Port-Au-Prince
- Date: 15th January 2011
- Summary: PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI (JANUARY 14, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF STREETS NEAR NEW JUSTICE MINISTRY LOCATION
- Embargoed: 30th January 2011 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Haiti, Haiti
- Country: Haiti
- Topics: Legal System,Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA5U6UUCMD5CA1VT1E9ESE9NFL2
- Story Text: Haiti's Justice Ministry, which collapsed in last year's earthquake, opens up new operations center in location where a new Justice Ministry will eventually be built.
Haiti's justice system took a tangible step forward on Friday (January 14) as officials inaugurated a temporary workspace in the location where a new Justice Ministry will eventually be built.
The Justice Ministry, along with most of the other ministerial buildings, partially collapsed last year in the country's devastating earthquake.
Since then ministry staff have been working in tiny, makeshift tents among the ruins. Some offices in the building survived the disaster and were deemed safe, leaving some staff to work in them.
The new workspace was built with support from the United Nations Development Program.
The offices, although temporary, will help the justice system run more efficiently, explained Eric Overvest, the UNDP's country director.
"The purpose why we are here today is in order to inaugurate officially this workspace for the Ministry of Justice and Public Security which will host 30 workspaces. It's a big tent with air conditioning with proper space so people can work. After the earthquake of course, the premises of the ministry were destroyed," he said.
Meanwhile, the General Director of Justice Ministry, Andre Antoine, said the new offices will give staff a chance to focus on the records of the prisoners, many of whom have been languishing in jail amid the confusion and chaos of the earthquake.
"Now, the work conditions will be more favourable for the employees of the judicial system, and they are going to give better service to the people who are going through judicial processes - and the first beneficiaries will be the people who are in the jails. Furthermore, another benefit will be the police record that each jailed person will have. We will have the information on the police record which is very important for us. With this we can continue the process to see if there is delay and to see how long a prisoner has been jailed until the final decision of the judge," he said.
Justice Ministry operations have been key since the earthquake as the Haitian government reported that around 3,500 inmates escaped from their jails during the quake. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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