Bangladesh

Civil Justice Reform (1998 - 2002)

The Bangladesh Legal Study Project began in November 1999, to address the problems of backlog and delay in the court systems. These problems arose primarily because of the lack of judicial accountability, combined with an absence of discipline and fragmentation of the litigation process and a lack of versatile alternatives to a full trial. The BLSG team in conjunction with ISDLS determined that that Alternative Dispute Resolution and case management techniques would be the best solutions to these problems.

In February of 2000, the BLSG visited California to observe the history, details, and practical operation of the ADR and case management. The delegates also had the opportunity to review the on-going Pakistani and Indian reform movements, which were modeled after the American movement. Following the example of the Pakistani and Indian reformers, Bangladesh opted to begin planning the introduction of the reforms by way of a pilot project focusing on the Family Court system.

The Bangladeshi legal community at large was introduced to the idea of ADR and case management during a large seminar April 2000, with largely favorable results. In May 2000, ISDLS sent experienced mediators to Bangladesh to train judges in ADR and case management methods. Following the two week training session, the pilot project was immediately initiated in the Family Court system. Initially, however, the project was not quite as successful as was hoped. The Bangladeshi judges were disappointed in the results that had had thus far, and were requesting support to restructure the pilot project model. In response, ISDLS dispatched several more judges and law professionals to advise the Bangladeshi judges and offer new mediation methods.

By fall of 2000, the reform project was deemed highly successful, with the least successful mediators still enjoying a 40% success rate. Lawyers and judges in the commercial and bankruptcy courts began to take notice of the success; legislation was passed in 2001 expanding the reforms into all court systems. By 2002, the continuing rate of success prompted the World Bank to sponsor the expansion of the reform movement into most courts across the country, although not commercial courts. Meanwhile ISDLS and the BLSG are working on expansion of the program to the commercial courts, as the backlog and delay in these courts are particularly damaging to the nation's economy.

The reform movement in Bangladesh has thus far made exciting progress in decreasing its judicial backlog, and has enjoyed enormous support from the legal community at large. Currently, the Bangladesh Minister of Law and former-Chief Justice Kamal are working to pass legislation and form grassroots support for a total revamping of the justice system to make ADR and case management mandatory in all cases, as it has recently become in India. In light of their work so far, this seems to be a plausible goal. The work currently being conducted in the Bangladeshi program falls under the South Asia Rule of Law Initiative.