Ambassador recalls daunting task of tackling more than half a million cases

Declaring the USAID’s backing to tackle Sri Lanka’s massive backlog of more than half a million cases by implementing best practices and tools for case management, US Ambassador in Colombo Julie Chung has said that an experienced prosecutor from the U.S. Department of Justice works hand-in-hand with the Sri Lankan judiciary to help improve Sri Lanka’s justice system.

Ambassador Chung said so addressing the Annual Law Conference at the Grand Hotel, Nuwara Eliya, recently.

She said: ” The United States is committed to helping Sri Lanka achieve greater equality within its justice system. Over the past several years, U.S. assistance to the justice sector has helped provide legal aid, raise awareness on important laws, and strengthen the performance of justice institutions and actors through programmes implemented by USAID, Department of Justice, and the Department of Commerce.

For example, USAID’s Efficient and Effective Justice programme strengthens the Sri Lanka justice sector by improving administrative efficiency and increasing the capacity of justice sector personnel. USAID has offered continuing legal education in topics such as alternative dispute resolution, immigration, land laws, legal research, gender equality and social inclusion, and professional ethics.

The United States also supported Sri Lankan efforts to modernize court operations so that instead of focusing on the bureaucracy, you can focus on delivering justice to all.”

Ambassador Chung said that the Embassy brought two prominent women to Sri Lanka to attend the event oraganized by the Bar Association: the State of Utah’s Supreme Court Justice Paige Peterson and Utah’s first female U.S. attorney Trina Higgins to share with Sri Lankan juidciary their thoughts and also learn from the local side. They’ve both come from small, rural towns and worked hard and sought opportunities to get to their positions; some of you in the audience may have had similar experiences, the Ambassador said.

During the speech, she said that no judicial system is perfect, including that of the United States or Sri Lanka, but we all endeavour to make it more equal.