A program to modernize the Honduran judicial system recently completed the construction of 20 municipal courthouses and began work on 23 more.

A total of 80 courthouses will be built as part of the program, which is being carried out with the help of an $8.7 million IDB loan. Funds will also be used to update legislation, improve access to legal services, and strengthen planning, management and information systems.

Access to the judicial system will be improved by providing equipment and training to the Office of the Public Defender and other legal aid offices, and the establishment of systems for mediation, conciliation and commercial arbitration.

Salvadoran Supreme Court President Armando Avila hailed the new facilities in a ceremony last year to inaugurate a courthouse in the Municipality of San José de Colinas. Judges cannot work in dilapidated surroundings, he said, adding that in some places, “the town bar is better than the courthouse.”

The IDB is financing judicial reform projects in many Latin American countries. For an overview on the subject, see IDBAmérica, Nov.–Dec. 1999.

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