Open Courts (Laboratory of Judicial Innovation) (BUE0010)

Link with the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 (SDG) SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions

Status quo / Issue to be Addressed In general terms, citizens do not find the functions and activities of the different branches of government easy to understand. This complexity makes difficult the interaction between citizens and the government in terms of citizens’ requests and co-creation as well as the follow-up, monitoring and control of public policies. Below are some different issues identified: • Lack of unified criteria for the publication of public information. Currently, information is dispersed, it is not completely clear and there is a lack of access to data. • Lack of information about data generated by each area and inexistence of a protocol established to ease the exchange of such data. While individual efforts are made by Ministries to exploit the data, there is no unified strategy nor coordination between the areas. There is a need to promote the reuse of open data through the participation of several actors in the processes. • The Executive Branch drives different citizen participation stages: virtual, on-site, at public works, etc. There is a need to systematize the information and its indicators to be able to conduct a follow-up, measure the impact in the public policies in an open manner and see the results of these stages. • There is a lack of systematised information in an open format within the Legislative Branch. Likewise, while the Legislature – and the Constitution of the City- promote diverse citizen participation stages, there is no virtual space that systematises the information generated in the Legislature in an open data format, nor an office that centralises citizens’ claims and suggestions or promotes proximity to citizens. • Deficiency in intra-institutional communication of the Judicial Branch. By innovating and making the processes transparent, we will be able to bring them closer to the citizens who normally do not know in detail how Justice works due to its legal technicalities and the limited openness of information on how justice operates.

General objective Make the functions of the three branches of Government more understandable and bring them closer to the citizens, facilitate the follow-up and participation of neighbours in citizen participation stages. Strengthen data openness and generate innovative mechanisms for accountability through the creation of indexes which allow for the assessment of public policies.

Brief description of the initiative The commitment “Openness and Innovation for an Open Government” has different lines of action aimed at improving institutions and their relationship with citizens. These lines of action are: Access to information and assessment – Generate unified publication standards. Elaborate a diagnosis of relevant information related to civil society demand. Create tools and methodologies to assess the public policies on transparency. Open data and reutilisation - The commitment will seek to enhance the open data policy through 3 stages: one internal stage on redefinition of standards and normalisation of criteria; another one aimed at the promotion of use, reuse and openness on request; and another stage for the increasement of published datasets and its displays. Strengthening and follow-up of citizen participation – we will work towards the openness of information on indicators and data about the citizen participation practices carried out by the Government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. We seek to ease the tracking process to show the public the results of the different processes and practices opened, and promote different participation spaces within the public policies cycle. Open data and participation in the Legislature - Analyse the information generated in the Legislature, systematise it and make it available in a centralised open data platform. Create a centralised office to act as a direct link with citizens, which can serve as a tool to increase transparency and proximity to society. Open Courts - Generate an openness space in the Judicial Branch through an Innovation Laboratory which allows for the co-creation, development and diffusion of open government policies leading to the opening of a new extra- and inter- judicial participation channel.

Describe the way in which this commitment is relevant to strengthen OGP values of transparency, access to information, public accountability, civic participation, and technology and innovation for openness and accountability. The generation of unified standards together with the creation of a diagnosis of relevant information related to civil society demand as well as the creation of assessment tools will strengthen civil society’s capacity to monitor and assess the City’s public policies in terms of transparency. Openness of more data contributes to transparency, access to information and accountability. Furthermore, the promotion of use, the reuse and openness on request promote citizen participation, technology and innovation. The participation initiative will make citizen participation processes more transparent and it will provide feedback since it discloses the results, thus it generates a feedback circle between the government and citizens. The improvement of the access to parliamentary information by facilitating the analysis and electronic access to parliamentary information to all citizens and institutions, will allow for the improvement of performance accountability. In addition to enhancing the civil society’s monitoring capacity, the centralised spaces for access to virtual information and the OAC (Citizen Services Office) will promote the effective participation of citizens in the decision-making processes. The creation of a Judicial Innovation Laboratory will facilitate citizens’ access to legal information, moreover, the establishment of openness practices will contribute to accountability.

Milestones Ongoing or new commitment Start date End date 5.1 Creation of the Judicial Innovation Laboratory. Two work meetings will be held with the potential actors involved -Office of the Public Prosecutor of the City of Buenos Aires, Office of the Public Defender of the City of Buenos Aires, Office for the Protection of Minors and Incompetent Persons of the City of Buenos Aires Criminal, and Misdemeanour and Petty Offense Courts 10 and 13 (Juzgados 10 y 13 PCyF). New October 2018 March 2019 5.2 Development of three innovation products in the laboratory ( For example: Open Judicial Units Model, tools for judicial data management, etc) New March 2019 September 2020 5.3 Call to participate in the commitment and diffusion to the entire Judicial Branch (Administrative and Tax Court and Criminal, and Misdemeanour and Petty Offense Court) as well as the Public Prosecutor’s Office. New March 2019 November 2019 5.4 Design and plan “Courses on Open Government” within the institutional framework of the Centro de Formación Judicial, based on the experiences of Juzgados 10 y 13 PCyF (Criminal, Misdemeanour and Petty Offense Courts 10 and 13) and good practices. These stages will be aimed at raising awareness and sharing good practices in terms of transparency, accountability, innovation, work on statistics, displays, collaboration and participation. They will also cover the Access to Public Information Act to improve the compliance standards. New March 2019 September 2020 5.5 Creation and Implementation of Open Government Plans in the Judicial Branch with different initiatives. These plans will be designed, implemented and monitored through a participatory process with civil society organisations. Communication and dissemination of the work will be conducted within the Judicial Branch and externally. New September 2020 September 2020

5. Juzgados abiertos (Laboratorio de Innovación judicial)

Objetivo del compromiso

Al momento de proponer el compromiso, los portales web del Poder Judicial utilizaban tecnicismos jurídicos que dificultaban su comprensión por parte de la ciudadanía. Faltaba una estrategia de transparencia activa y de difusión integral de las actividades de dicho Poder. El compromiso buscaba subsanar estos problemas a través de distintas actividades. Entre ellas estaban la creación de un laboratorio de justicia abierta e innovación judicial, la convocatoria dentro del propio Poder Judicial a distintas áreas que quisieran participar del compromiso, la generación de productos de innovación, así como pequeños planes de acción cocreados junto con organizaciones de la sociedad civil; y el diseño de cursos de gobierno abierto para todo el Poder Judicial tomando como base las buenas prácticas existentes en los Juzgados 10 y 13 de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires [17].

¿Contribuyó a la apertura del Gobierno?

Significativamente

Antes de la implementación del compromiso no existía un laboratorio judicial de participación y apertura ciudadana. A partir de la implementación del compromiso, no sólo se creó el laboratorio sino que se creó una red latinoamericana de justicia abierta, se generó un programa de capacitaciones en la temática y se creó una red con participación multiactor para la creación de planes de acción que se implementarán en 2021 [18]. Así, el compromiso contribuyó significativamente a la apertura del Gobierno. Si bien varios de los hitos en un principio apuntaban a fortalecer las capacidades institucionales, el desarrollo de la implementación del compromiso pudo subsanar las limitaciones de la pandemia, culminando con una red comprometida a generar un plan de justicia abierta global para 2021. Durante la implementación del compromiso se realizaron diversas reuniones presenciales y virtuales que contaron con la presencia de actores de un amplio espectro del Poder Judicial, así como de la sociedad civil. Se realizaron webinarios en coordinación con OGP y se publicaron decenas de notas, y documentos sobre las experiencias de justicia abierta en la Ciudad de Buenos Aires.

Detalles sobre la implementación:

Los cinco hitos se completaron de manera sustancial en el transcurso de los dos años de implementación. El 14 de marzo de 2019, en el marco de la Semana de Gobierno Abierto, se lanzó el Laboratorio de justicia abierta e innovación judicial, denominado “#JusLab” [19] a partir de una encuesta pública de consulta ciudadana. Los ejes iniciales del trabajo del Laboratorio de justicia abierta e innovación son: 1) Difusión y comunicación, 2) Datos abiertos y transparencia, 3) Tecnología e innovación,  4) Capacitación y 5) Colaboración [20]. Como resultado de las distintas reuniones del laboratorio se generaron varios productos entre los que se destacan el libro de Justicia abierta [21] y las visualizaciones de los Procesos de la Ciudad (donde la Procuración Penitenciaria de la Nación trabajó conjuntamente con el Juzgado 10 y el Juzgado 5). Asimismo, en el marco de la creación del #JusLab, se abrió la participación a todo el Poder Judicial, invitando a los actores involucrados a cocrear la agenda 2019/2020 y se diseñaron cursos de gobierno abierto puestos en marcha en la plataforma del Centro de Formación Judicial (CFJ) del Consejo de la Magistratura [22]. Debido a que en marzo de 2020 se comenzó a trabajar de manera remota a causa de la pandemia, no se llegó́ a concretar el trámite para subir el curso a la plataforma, el cual se espera que esté disponible en 2021. Sin embargo, aprovechando las oportunidades de colaboración virtual [23], se puso en marcha un proyecto desde el Consejo de la Magistratura, para armar la Red Internacional de Justicia Abierta (RIJA), que surgió de una de las sesiones colaborativas del #JusLab. En ella los representantes se comprometieron a realizar las capacitaciones en el marco de la red [24].  Finalmente, el 11 de noviembre de 2020 se aprobó la Resolución del Plan anual de justicia abierta en el Plenario del Consejo de la Magistratura [25]. La resolución tiene como objetivo establecer parámetros comunes a todo el Consejo e interactuar con las distintas áreas para contribuir al diseño de programas concretos así como a la identificación de una agenda consensuada de prioridades con participación de las organizaciones de la sociedad civil dedicadas a la temática. De este modo, la resolución encomienda a la Secretaria de Planificación del Centro de Planificación Estratégica del Consejo de la Magistratura la elaboración de un Plan Anual de Justicia Abierta cuyo ámbito de aplicación será el Consejo de la Magistratura y las áreas jurisdiccionales que se encuentran bajo su dependencia. El Plan tendrá como objeto diseñar e implementar los programas que se realicen en el Consejo en torno a datos abiertos y transparencia, capacitación en esos temas, investigación e innovación y estándares de comunicación y difusión entre otros.