Program Officers of the PNG Centre for Judicial Excellence (PNGCJE) and their key stakeholders recently held the first stakeholder meeting to get a true indication of how they could partner together to improve the delivery of training for the law and justice sector and to improve access to justice for the people of Papua New Guinea.

In attendance were officers from the Department of Justice and Attorney General (Legal Policy and Governance Branch), the Village Court Secretariat, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Magisterial Services (District Court) and the PNG Centre for Judicial Excellence.

PNG Centre for Judicial Excellence Executive Director, Justice John Carey, while speaking during the stakeholders meeting, challenged the officers to think about the people they were working for and how they could help assist them.

Justice Carey said the Memorandum of Understanding which was signed between the Chief Justice of the Supreme and National Courts, the Chief Magistrate and the Secretary for the Department of Justice and Attorney General, was a relationship that was intended to drive the delivery of judicial training for all stakeholders.

“Under everything is improving access to justice. We are doing this to improve access to justice for the people of PNG,” Justice Carey said.

“The objective of this meeting is for our stakeholders to discuss their training needs and to identify areas where PNGCJE can provide support.

“We run an average of 70 training activities a year, but these programs somehow have not fully captured some of our stakeholders, so we need to hear from you what your problems and needs are, and from there we can develop programs targeted for each organization,” he said.

During the meeting, PNGCJE program officers discussed with each of their stakeholders on how they could improve the development and delivery of judicial education and training programs, and what specific trainings each agency needed to develop for their respective clients.