The Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments is the executive body based on the justice facility and is based on all administrative aspects related to the functioning of the courts. This document provides an overview of the strategic work plan of the Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs (Justice Sector) that initially reflects the Ministry of Justice’s established vision of preserving rights. The freedoms and public and private funds in accordance with the constitution and the law, and facilitating access to justice through facilitated procedures and modern techniques, as well as reflecting the role of the ministry in terms of establishing respect for the rule of law through specific initiatives related to its competencies.
This vision is translated through specific tasks based on cooperation with the judiciary in a way that enhances respect for the rule of law, keeps pace with political, social and cultural development, stimulates the investment environment in the Kingdom, and creates positive communication at the national and international levels, leading to the provision of judicial services with the highest efficiency and transparency at the lowest cost and time possible. The objectives that the Ministry of Justice seeks to achieve are as follows:
1. Cooperating with the judiciary in light of the provisions of the constitution and the law in a way that contributes to the development of justice procedures and enhances their effectiveness.
2. Developing the Ministry's administrative systems and structures and working methods, and developing court headquarters.
3. Development of legislation related to justice, especially with regard to alternative means of dispute resolution (such as arbitration and mediation), as well as those related to expediting the settlement of disputes (such as case management).
4. Training and qualification of national judicial, legal and administrative cadres through the Judicial Institute and in cooperation with international bodies.
5. Activating communication channels at the national and international levels.
6. Taking care and investing minors' funds.
7. Development and updating of documentation services.
8. Optimal use of information technology, especially linking the courts with the various devices and bodies related to the work of the courts, creating an electronic reporting system, and filing the case electronically.
9. Development of statistics and planning.
10. Establishing respect for the rule of law in light of the jurisdiction assigned to the Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments.
This document presents in general terms the strategies and mechanisms for achieving these goals, and the outcome that is hoped to be achieved in order to achieve the vision of the well-established Ministry of Justice and advance the mission entrusted to it to carry out.
Strategies and procedures for putting the action plan into practice
Achieving the goals that the Ministry of Justice seeks to achieve requires the adoption of a number of strategies, mechanisms and procedures that contribute to reaching them, always bearing in mind the extent to which these strategies are linked to the vision and mission of the Ministry of Justice. The following part of the document outlines the strategies and procedures necessary to achieve the various objectives of the Ministry of Justice:
The Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments affirms its duty to work side by side and within the framework of its specific competencies according to the constitution and the law with the Supreme Judicial Council to put into full implementation the strategic document for the Judicial Authority 2020, which is a matter which considers success in its implementation a qualitative leap in the field of judicial and judicial work in general. . And that by adopting a number of strategies as follows:
First: Cooperation with the judiciary in light of the provisions of the constitution and the law in a way that contributes to the development of justice procedures and enhances their effectiveness:
1. Forming working groups with the Supreme Judicial Council as well as the Public Prosecution Office to coordinate the implementation of the judicial strategy.
2. The Minister of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments meets periodically at the Supreme Judicial Council to look directly at the extent of progress in implementing the strategy and remove any obstacles.
Second: Developing the Ministry's administrative systems and structures and working methods, and developing court headquarters.
The existence of organized administrations and sound scientific planning for human and financial resources is the cornerstone for achieving the desired goals. With regard to the Ministry of Justice, a number of measures must be taken and a number of mechanisms adopted for that purpose are required, as follows:
1. Complete the procedures for establishing the Assistant Agency for Statistics, Planning and Communication:
The departments attached to this agency, which was recently created, undertake many tasks that are covered by the following items, as detailed below in clauses five and nine.
2. Development of an electronic file management system:
An effective file management system would increase the efficiency of access to information and increase the management’s effectiveness in taking the appropriate decision in a short term. This calls for, at this stage, to focus on places where files are kept and how files are handled, as well as electronically managing files.
3. Increase the organizational capacity of the Judicial Institute:
The Institute for Judicial Studies should play the role it is expected to play in establishing a continuous training and development process for all workers in the legal and judicial field, which requires the completion of the administrative and organizational structures necessary to increase its activity in achieving the plan of the Supreme Judicial Council in training, as well as training lawyers, jurists and workers in the judicial field.
4. Development of work in the State Cases Authority:
The State Litigations Organization assumes the representation of the government before the judiciary, which requires supporting the structure of the apparatus and increasing its administrative effectiveness to cover the increasing number of prosecutions before courts of various degrees.
5. Development of the administrative structure of the courts:
This development aims for each court to have the self-administrative ability to run its procedures so that it is an independent unit that includes secretaries, file management and archiving, follow-up decisions and writing judgments, which urgently requires an increase in the number of employees, and coordination with the Supreme Judicial Council from the start when establishing new departments.
6. Middle management development:
Experience has shown that the middle management level, which is represented by department managers and supervisors, is the one who spends the most time in accomplishing management tasks and At the same time, it is the least fortunate in terms of human resource planning and development programs. It requires increased attention to this level of administrators, directing more development programs and raising their functional capabilities to them due to the importance of the role they play, as it represents a link between the upper and lower levels of management, and is the most capable of touching practical problems and proposing realistic solutions.
7. Activating the Secretariat of the National Committee for International Humanitarian Law:
It is the committee entrusted with the Ministry of Justice to follow up on the implementation of international humanitarian law at the national level.
8. Development of electronic programs for internal correspondence and circulation of clients' requests:
The electronic circulation of internal correspondence and the requests of those dealing with the administration entity would greatly facilitate the administrative work in the ministry, thus reducing the time spent in handling these correspondences and requests manually and raising the efficiency of the administration in dealing with them.
9. Development of the headquarters of the courts and prosecution offices:
The development of court and prosecution offices has become an urgent necessity imposed by the increasing population and the steady increase in the number of cases, in addition to social and economic developments. This development would facilitate judges and litigants, and raise the efficiency of judicial work. Indeed, technological development necessitates changes in the headquarters of courts and prosecution offices to accommodate this.
Third: Developing legislation related to justice, especially with regard to alternative means of resolving disputes (such as arbitration and mediation), as well as those related to expediting the settlement of disputes (such as case management).
Achieving the objectives related to the vision of the Ministry of Justice requires, in addition to developing the relevant structures and systems, legislative amendments in laws and regulations, the most important aspects of which can be presented as follows:
1. Amending the Procedures Law
2. The Ministry continues its work in introducing amendments to the pleading law to expedite litigation procedures and overcome the loopholes that lead to slowness in these procedures and reduce the burden on the shoulders of the Court of Appeal and the Court of Cassation through the development of the case management system, as well as amending the provisions related to implementation in order to increase the effectiveness Implementation procedures, and developing the expertise system. And the development of internal arbitration procedures, travel bans, and court jurisdiction.
3. Issuance of the Mediation System:
4. In agreement with the modern judicial trends towards providing alternative solutions to settle disputes that are less costly and easier to resort to, for which different applications have been adopted in many judicial systems, the matter requires following up the completion of the legislative system that regulates the conditions and cases of resorting to mediation.
5. Development of legal judiciary procedures:
The development of Sharia judiciary procedures requires introducing some legislations and making amendments to existing legislation as follows:
• Work to complete the issuance of the unified family law, taking into account sectarian specificities.
• Amending the law of procedures before Sharia courts to include the family reconciliation system.
• Developing a regulation for the work of marriage officers.
• Continue to develop the work in the alimony fund.
Fourth: Training and qualifying national judicial, legal and administrative cadres through the Judicial Institute and in cooperation with international bodies.
The Institute for Judicial and Legal Studies was established by Decree No. 69 of 2005 to carry out the main mission in the field of legal and judicial training, targeting judges, members of the Public Prosecution Office, members of the Legal Affairs Department, lawyers and judicial agents.
The role of the institute has expanded in recent years in cooperation with the American Bar Association and the United Nations Office on Crime and Drugs, as well as the Institute is moving towards more partnership with the Institute of Criminal Studies in Sir Koza and other bodies specialized in training and capacity building in light of the increasing needs for judicial training of judges and members of the Public Prosecution Office as well as New judges, lawyers and other judicial agents. The comprehensive plans approved by the Institute's Board of Trustees will be implemented, namely (Chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council, Attorney General, Minister of Justice, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Justice, Head of the Fatwa and Legislation Authority, President of the University of Bahrain and a representative of lawyers).
