In Lebanon, the ‘palace de justice’ which are six spread over the governates of Lebanon, are the palaces which include the court rooms where civil, penal, and personal states issues are resolved before judges. It also includes a branch for the prosecutor office which is in charge of submitting files for the ‘public right’. The disappointment, unfortunately, originates in the palace. Several factors overlap here the employees’ unprofessionalism, old-fashioned archiving methods, and the absence of technological reforms.
Unprofessionalism is stipulated in disrespecting timings and scheduled appointments. You may be a lawyer in a hurry to catch a pleading for a case before one court, yet the desk employee at another court, which is a public sector employee, will let you wait meaninglessly for a couple of hours just because he/she decided to leave the desk unwatched for unspecified time. The absence of clear schedules containing the operating and working hours makes it untraceable for lawyers to organize their time accordingly.
The old-fashioned archiving methods is a crucial issue that shall be highlighted and solved by the ministry of justice as soon as possible. Imagine having to manually search for court appointments from a handwritten book organized by the employee him/herself. In reality, every court session is saved on this copybook and each case file is stored manually in a paper-based folder which is stored accordingly in a metallic closet that the employee has access to solely. The fact that rights and freedoms are saved and stored within those papers and files which are at risk of being lost, damaged, or stolen anytime and unexpectedly, generates major human rights violations. Sarcastically, I have personally experienced losing a case folder in one of the ‘palace de justice’. The employee has mistakenly stored the case under an unknown date, and the infinite search adventure has started. Two months now, the case folder is still unfound including previous court records and decisions, pleadings and hearings of both parties, along with their personal data. I’m unaware of what procedures shall be adopted in such a case, but I’m pretty sure that courts shall start adopting technological reforms for storing their data and protecting the database from any threat or attack. It is unacceptable that peoples’ rights and freedoms are simply vulnerable by being stored on papers without any backup.
Resorting to technological reforms is through utilizing online storage clouds to save the database of all court files and archiving them in an accessible format which allows each lawyer to follow up on his/her case based on the file number. A secure software shall be adopted and protected by Lebanese forces within their jurisdiction. As well as organizing work schedules and making them accessible to the public. By that, lawyers and other workers organize their work according to the schedule shared online, which the employees have to abide by. Moreover, the demand for infusing technology in public occupations rises since it’s a crucial tool for protecting the rights and freedoms, sparing the loss of database from risky threats and unprofessional employees.
Protecting rights starts from guarding the judicial sector from risks and potential threats. Hence, Lebanon cannot call in the name of freedom and justice before repairing its own judicial system that roots mainly to unprofessional staff and corrupted system.
As for my dream for change proceeds to struggle with the realistic obstacles that make the path tougher. Unwavering, it remains present to ensure rights are fully shielded from violating shots. And what’s better than success achieved after a tough path!
