In Colombia, UNDP contributed to the transformation and digitization of justice in municipalities that were most affected by the armed conflict. The initiative was aligned with the global development priorities of the 2030 Agenda, the Call to Action for Human Rights and the New Agenda for Peace, and received support from UNDP’s Global Programme for Strengthening the Rule of Law, Human Rights, Justice and Security for Sustainable Peace and Development (the Global Programme).
To implement its digital justice project in Colombia, UNDP prioritized two main lines of action: the support to the Family Services Offices (FSOs or Comisarías de Familia), the main justice providers in cases of domestic violence, and consolidating the digitalization and integration of 1,044 conciliation proceedings into the information system of the Conciliation in Equity (SICEQ).
STRENGTHENING THE INFORMATION SYSTEM OF THE FAMILY SERVICES OFFICE (SICOFA)
According to the Colombian legislation, the FSOs mission is to prevent domestic and gender-based violence and to guarantee, restore and remedy the rights of survivors. The key objectives of UNDP intervention are: (1) enable the FSOs to collect verified information about gender-based violence and domestic violence cases at the local level; guarantee an efficient family justice for the community; contribute to prevention, protection and remedy for survivors or people at risk.
UNDP support, through the Global Programme, enabled the design, prototyping and development of a web application that contains the core module of the national information system for FSOs (SICOFA). To date, the application is in beta status and has been tested in six municipalities to assess its functionality and user-friendliness. The SICOFA will be finalized by the Ministry of Justice and is expected to be implemented country-wide in 2025.
Under this pilot, UNDP developed new capabilities in FSOs, enabling them to provide people-centred justice services in an efficient manner. A document was prepared on SICOFA structural improvements and new functionalities with recommendations for the second phase of the software development. Finally, in June 2023, a new agreement was signed between UNDP and the Ministry of Law and Justice (MJD) laying the foundation for stronger cooperation to prevent and address gender-based violence.
SICOFA contributes to addressing the lack of information about domestic violence in Colombia and improving protection for violence survivors. For instance, it automates the process for adopting protection measures and reduces processing time for domestic violence cases. In addition, future data collection and analysis will nurture public policy decisions with real-time evidence and improve accountability processes by local and national governments.
STRENGTHENING THE INFORMATION SYSTEM OF THE CONCILIATION IN EQUITY (SICEQ)
In cooperation with the Directorate of Alternative Dispute Resolution Methods under the MJD, UNDP prioritized consolidating the physical information of the Conciliation in Equity mechanism in digital repositories. The information system of the Conciliation in Equity (SICEQ platform) collects and stores the information about the conciliations, manages knowledge and learning to resolve future conflicts, generates conditions for dialogue and peaceful coexistence, and digitalize minutes and records of the conciliation procedure.
In 2023, SICEQ was piloted in conciliation centres in the departments of Meta and Cauca as part of a three-month plan to digitize conciliation minutes stored in the justice offices of these municipalities. Digitizing this data will protect the historical information on the conciliation process in Colombia.
Lessons learned and good practices
Frequent changes of government officials, including in the Ministry of Justice and Law, delayed cooperation and agreements within the framework of digital transformation as a transformational goal. UNDP addressed this challenge by deploying a ‘shock plan’ to move forward.
The project adapted the tools and methodologies to the context of each territory and ethnic community. The interventions strengthened the capacities of conciliators, as well as justice provides in family matters to guarantee quality and efficient services.
The sustainability of the SICOFA will depend on the capacity of the Ministry of Justice for the system rolling-out, administration and continuous improvement. There is a risk that the Ministry of Justice will have limited financial, technical and operational capacities in the future to sustain the use of the system.
Looking forward
UNDP interventions were intended as catalytic for access to justice. It is expected that the FSOs will improve the management of gender-based and domestic violence cases, responding to the specific needs of the communities. In parallel, the operationalization of SICOFA will standardize the case management, enable prompt and quality care, consolidate information about victims and aggressors, as well as provide important data for national policy and decision-making.