07 May 2018

Volunteer or Donor Opportunity Proposed ETLJB Project East Timor Court Reports Database


BASIC OUTLINE OF JSMP EAST TIMOR COURT REPORTS PROJECT
DRAFT 17 MAY 2017 (C) wwright2018

JUSTIFICATION

One of the long-held objectives in our mission to raise consciousness of legal and politico-legal awareness of East Timor is the construction of a web site for all of the court reports filed by JSMP. The JSMP court monitoring reports are centrally importance as they are the only accessible source of information on court proceedings and law and justice issues in East Timor, which have been complicated and troublesome in many respects since before the invasion in 1975.

Legal scholars, lawyers, students, academics, researchers and ordinary citizens who do not speak Tetum or Portuguese would benefit greatly. International scrutiny by the international legal fraternity of all legal systems is essential for the future of democracy and the rule of law everywhere. If there is limited access to legal information then that is a concern for lawyers. It is also a concern of policy makers in legal affairs who can make justifiable informed decisions based on empirical, not anecdotal evidence or rumours or religious ideology or other legal structures that are undemocratic and, in some cases, oppressive.

Tetum, Indonesian and Portuguese sections of the web site could also be published subject to sufficient resources.

Access to justice means access to legal knowledge that is independent of the State or its agencies of the government. Knowledge is empowering of the citizens' legal rights and responsibilities. That is why the JSMP court monitoring reports are essential also as a source of data on the volume and nature of court proceedings in East Timor. There is no other such source. 

CREDIBLE SOURCE
JSMP has been funded for more than 15 years by international donors. JSMP is a respected peak law and justice civil society organisation whose works are outstanding work by the East Timorese lawyers who have to live and operate on hand-outs. Fortunately, these donors have been consistently generous because of the very high standard of JSMP's work, management and budget. JSMP's work is cited many times in academic research. JSMP is a highly respectable organisation. The principal lawyers are well-known in the legal fraternity and to the author

WOMEN'S LEGAL ISSUES
Part of the JSMP program is the Women's Justice Center.

BASIC PROJECT COMPONENTS
The database would be entirely online. 

IT compels the acquisition of hardware and expertise to build the database. 
Costs are not known but are estimated at US$5,000. 
Apple desktop computer including software laser printer.
Internet access (quite costly in East Timor)

Collection and organisation of all JSMP court reports spanning 15 years as well as their press releases on law and justice issues in East Timor as a supplement to the reports. I have a lot of experience in web sites and database operation but not in their establishment.

VOLUNTEERS
Volunteers perform excellent work and contribute a great deal to civil society. In the first instance, volunteers of services and IT would be invited to participate.

I have, since working in East Timor for UNTAET, The Asia Foundation, The University of San Francisco, UNCHS (Habitat), the European Union and Caritas, voluntarily maintained the East Timor Law and Justice Bulletin for the last 12 years. I am prepared to volunteer as much as possible on the operational work and or the management of it. I have project management experience in East Timor.

EXISTING WORK
JSMP presently emails its court reports to email subscribers though they are hard to find in one up-to-date location, are not optimally organised and are extremely difficult to search through them all with the database's own search engine. 

There is already a rudimentary collection of JSMP court reports posted and some organised by the East Timor Law & Justice Bulletin (ETLJB). The project proponent is the administrator of ETLJB. ETLJB is cited in many academic works itself. 

This could form the core of the collection; already in electronic form. 

If you are an expert in database construction or can donate a PC, printer, database software etc, your contribution would be greatly appreciated. The database would advertise that support.

PROPONENT'S EXPERIENCE IN EAST TIMOR

UNTAET (Property Rights Adviser)
Transitional Administration Ministry of Infrastructure
Transitional Administration Ministry of Justice
National Parliament
Civil Society
The Asia Foundation
The University of San Francisco
The European Union
Caritas
UNCHS Research on the Reconstruction of Land Record in East Timor


Other countries of experience: Indonesian, Bangladesh

AID AGENCIES
USAID
AusAID
ADB
World Bank

PARTNERSHIP WITH JSMP
The author will approach JSMP about a partnership to construct and maintain the database (and continuously funded for maintenance and enhancements) An agreement would have to be negotiated. It is anticipated that JSMP would welcome the initiative consistent with their vision. I volunteer my firm's services (Wright Law & Justice) at no cost to negotiate and draft that agreement, submit it to funders for approval and finalise all the legalities.

REVENUE GENERATION FOR JSMP
The service could be free or accessible upon payment (and limited to registered lawyer subscribers) which would then transmit to JSMP for maintenance. Later, advertising could be another stream of revenue. 

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
Please contact me at warren@wrightlawyer.com.au if you are interested in participating or funding this project. Our initial target is US$5000. I will hold the funds on trust. 

A full accounting will be provided. I conduct trust accounting in my legal practice.

CONTACT ME TO DISCUSS FURTHER
If you would like to make any kind of contribution to the development of this project, please contact me using the contact form in the right column of this web site or by email. 

THE PROPONENT
A licensed lawyer since 1986. Admitted to the Supreme Court of New South Wales & High Court of Australia. Owns and operates law firm Wright Law & Justice. Details can be verified with the New South Wales Law Society. Forward any queries to me.

Warren L. Wright BA LLB
Principal
Wright Law & Justice


WARNING COPYRIGHT IS RESERVED TO THE AUTHOR. THE TEXT AND IDEAS IN THIS PROPOSAL ARE THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF WRIGHT LAW & JUSTICE


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