Access to Justice From a Human Rights Perspective

Abstract

Access to formal state of justice in Timor-Leste is one of the major problems as a logical consequence of a process of building a new state like Timor-Leste. We have seen that Timor-Leste at the time of its restoration of Independence has been facing a lack of its qualified human resources in the area of justice. The public questions a lot the process of justice in the courts in respecting human rights especially in relation to the time limit of the trial, the preventive detention that exceeds the time without a fixed date for the trial, the problem of evidence, the trial of minors, torture and homicide in preventive detention, the problem of the use of the Portuguese language in court and there are many cases pending in court. Even so, the state seeks to make a lot of effort so that justice can be accessible to all citizens through the judicial reform that this government makes and the formation of judges, public defenders, prosecutors, judicial officers and mobile courts. Timorese leaders seek to establish Timor-Leste as a state of law where state positive law regulates the entire life of the state and the people. One of the indications of a rule of law is the guarantee of access to justice to assert and protect human rights of the timorese people. We have seen that in Timor-Leste, not only does the state justice system exist, but also the state of Timor-Leste values and promotes the use of the traditional justice system, especially in rural communities, as a quick and accessible solution in the search for the solution and resolution of the conflict. Therefore, we can consider that the state of Timor-Leste seeks to establish the state and traditional mechanism to help every citizen in accessing justice