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JUSTICE MINISTERS OPEN MEETING IN COSTA RICA
Inaugurating the Third Meeting of Ministers of Justice and Attorneys General of the Americas in San José, Costa Rica, on Wednesday, Organization of American States (OAS) Assistant Secretary General Christopher Thomas urged member countries to identify areas in which they need training to fight internet crimes. That way, mechanisms can be devised for bilateral, regional and multilateral cooperation to tackle what he described as a complex matter that is still relatively unknown.
Internet crime is a top agenda item for the three-day conference of the hemisphere's top law-making authorities who will also consider a recommendation for Chile to host the recently established Justice Studies Center of the Americas.
Ambassador Thomas said the Justice Studies Center will take a lead role in developing human resources and helping to reform and modernize the region's justice systems.
The justice ministers will also examine prison policies, focussing on general health conditions in prisons, including health care, communicable diseases, sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS and drug use.
Costa Rica's Justice Minister Mónica Nagel Berger is chairing the meeting. Among the dignitaries that joined the ministers at the opening session were Costa Rican President Miguel Angel Rodríguez and that country's Supreme Court President Luis Paulino Mora.
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