United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Central America and the Caribbean

Evaluation of the Adversarial System begins in Panama

Panama, January 14, 2020. Accompanied by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime for Central America and the Caribbean (UNODC ROPAN), the evaluation phase of the functioning of the Adversarial System began in the Third Judicial District of the provinces of Chiriquí and Bocas del Toro, located in western Panama.

The experts responsible for conducting this evaluation visited the judicial office and courtrooms in both provinces, as well as the Public Defense Service, the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Victims' Defense Office.

In addition, as part of this evaluation phase, the experts conducted interviews with all actors in the system, both judicial officials and users, who offered their impressions on the functioning of this system almost four years after its implementation.

For Jose Gerez, one of the evaluator experts, "it is an honor to be able to work with the United Nations in the evaluation of the Advertorial System in order to improve the justice service provided to the community."
He added that they have begun the work, "by conducting interviews with the various actors and operators of the SPA, and through observation of hearings."