A time to reflect on a decade of court-to-court collaboration
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the partnership between the Family Court of Australia and the Supreme Court of Indonesia. On 2 September 2015, both courts held a meeting at the Secretariat Building of the Supreme Court of Indonesia to reflect on the last decade of collaboration.
The one-day workshop discussed the 10-year journey, key achievements from the collaboration as well as the future direction. In attendance were the Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia, Her Honour Diana Bryant and the Executive Adviser of the Family Court of Australia, Ms Leisha Leister. Indonesian representatives included Prof Dr Takdir Rahmadi, S.H., LLM (Head of the Development Chamber and coordinator of the Judicial Reform team), the Director General of Religious Court, the Director General of General Courts and officials from both Indonesian directorates. Non-government partners from Pemberdayaan Perempuan Kepala Keluarga (PEKKA) and Pusat Kajian Perlindungan Anak University of Indonesia (PUSKAPA UI) also contributed to the discussions.
One of the partnership initiatives reflected upon was the 2007 research on Providing Justice to the Justice Seeker: A Summary Report on the Indonesian Religious Courts Access and Equity Study. This study provided 5 recommendations in relation to increasing the fee waiver (prodeo) in courts, simplifying procedures of fee waiver (prodeo), increasing circuit courts and providing better information regarding court processes.
A number of policies developed at the Supreme Court have responded to these recommendations. The Religious Courts in particular have shown significant increases in fee waiver allocations, circuit courts and legal aid posts at the courts. General Courts are similarly gradually increasing the fee waiver thresholds.
“I never believed in research. I used to decline when people approached me to do research, because it never had tangible results for the real people in the field. But this research was different, the research allowed for better collaboration with religious courts and services for women”, says Director of PEKKA Nani Zulminarni.
Other notable achievements from the collaboration include the development of Supreme Courts Policies namely SEMA 10/2010, PERMA 1/2014 and PERMA 1/2015 that allows justice seekers, especially people who are poor and vulnerable to access services in courts and at integrated and mobile services. The policies provide for funding allocations to enable the poor to have their cases heard in courts and provide a framework for increased information and transparency in the courts.
Although these developments have been very positive, improvements can be made. There is a need for enhanced coordination between planning and allocation in the courts to match real demands in the field. This can be facilitated through trusted and reputable civil society organisations. A number of legal umbrellas need to be developed to strengthen implementation of integrated mobile services to provide better access to justice seekers.
The Head of the Development Chamber, Prof Takdir thanked the Family Court of Australia and the Federal Court of Australia for the partnership to date.
