In October 2022, ABA ROLI Peru organized the final round of the VII National Interuniversity Oral Litigation Competition between teams from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP) and Universidad Nacional Hermilio Valdizán (UNHEVAL) from Huánuco. Facilitated under ABA ROLI’s Justice Sector Support Project (JSSP-2), the full competition ran from June 2022 to October 2022 with 199 teams from all over Peru participating, concluding with UNA VIS from PUCP as the overall competition champion. ABA ROLI worked with the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights to organize this competition.
The champion team members from UNA VIS are Omar Cesar Espinoza Marmolejo, Enrique Alberto Pimentel Palomino, and Diana Celinda Fustamante Sánchez; and the Kuskalla team members from UNHEVAL are Ana Xiomara Picón Príncipe, Dunga Isaias Ventura Doria, and Mayerlin Magdalena Doroteo Illatopa.
ABA ROLI’s JSSP-2 project, which began in February 2022, aims to strengthen Peru’s law enforcement and judicial effectiveness; foster cooperation and coordination among Peru’s justice sector institutions to minimize transnational crime, and advance respect for human rights and access to justice for all citizens. The first phase of the project ran from 2016 to 2021, and it contributed significantly to strengthening the skills of justice system operators in investigating crimes under an adversarial system and in oral litigation during judicial proceedings. JSSP had a significant positive impact on the quality of justice services, including improving response times, access to information about the proceedings, quality of evidence obtained, clarity of judicial decisions, and access to justice in general. Another significant achievement of JSSP was a commitment by justice system institutions to engage more closely with civil society and to promote awareness of their duties and responsibilities among the population. This program is funded by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.