By NNN-WAFA,
Ramallah : The European Union Co-ordinating Office for Palestinian Police Support (EUPOL COPPS) has said that its goal is to help build a viable Palestinian state with a functioning criminal justice ststem.
“We have a common goal to assist Palestinians and their National Authority to build a viable Palestinian state with a functioning criminal justice system,” head of the EUPOL COPPS’S Rule of Law Section, Christophe Lukits said Tuesday.
In a press conference held at the EUPOL COPPS offices here, chief of the mission Colin Smith said that the development of the Palestinian police is their main concern, and that serious work is being done to make the Palestinian criminal justice system (PCJS) function.
He explained that 800 police officers were trained on forensics and criminal investigation among other things, and that USD 50 million were invested by the EUPOL COPPS, providing vehicles, forensics and training centres.
The plan is to enable the Palestinian criminal justice system to operate similarly to a functioning criminal justice system, that is to integrate all the stages of prosecution, starting from the police arresting a suspect, to handing a final sentence; an operation that includes all relevant departments, starting at the police department, and ending in the prisons service.
Lukits said that many achievements have been achieved with a lot of activities on the Palestinian side and on the international donors side.
He added that the role of EUPOL COPPS is having one big asset of providing expertise from all areas involved in the criminal justice area. “We have 11 international experts — judges, prosecutors, lawyers, police officers, and prison directors. This enables us to work simultaneously on the whole chain of the Palestinian criminal justice system, not only one segment of it,” he said.
This should be done in perspective of reaching a rule of law, an essential element to a future Palestinian state, according to Smith. “A state has to have a democratic criminal justice system, based on the rule of law, the ability to deal with crime and to protect the rights of citizens, not only individuals and institutions, but also of prisoners,” he said.
“We must define the reality of the problem to see where we can add value to the Palestinian criminal justice system and develop it to reach a minimum operating level, to make it work,” Smith said.
“Looking into any functioning penal system, we find that the rule of law, law and order, criminal justice are a continuum, which we are increasingly concerned about, because the system is still not working, despite all investments,” he added.
Lukits said: “We have to provide not only law and order, but also justice, respect for human rights, accountability to citizens and to clients in trial, and to hand sentences to them, that is the essence of the rule of law.”