Prosecutions need to adopt new technologies to improve efficiency

Dubai: For the first time in the Middle East, prosecutors and judicial authorities will congregate under one roof to attend the 6th International Association of Prosecutors (IAP), Middle East and Asia-Pacific Regional Conference in Dubai next Saturday.

Dubai Public Prosecution (DPP) is organising the 6th IAP Conference, titled ‘Public Prosecution in the 21st Century', between November 14 and 16. Such an event holds great importance to prosecutions across the region, according to DPP's Senior Advocate General Yousuf Hassan Al Mutawa.

"We have a strategic plan which includes planned goals. One of those goals is to reach international standard in terms of excellence in performance. For this, we have to familiarise ourselves to international benchmarks. Hosting such a conference introduces us to other public prosecution departments and allows us to share others' experiences," said Al Mutawa.

This is an important and historic and first of its kind move for Dubai, UAE and the region because it's focused on prosecutors' performance, he explained.

Risk management

"Last year, we became members of the IAP and I led a DPP team that participated in the 5th Conference, held in South Korea. We displayed a presentation about Dubai and DPP's achievements. IAP members were impressed and held an in-house meeting during which they unanimously agreed that Dubai becomes the 6th host of the IAP Middle East, Asia and Pacific Regional Conference," he said.

DPP aims to convey a strong message, through hosting this conference, that a public prosecution's legal performance, solely, is not enough to develop a prosecution's operation and performance, said Al Mutawa.

But what complements and develops a prosecution's legal performance, is the institutional and professional operation, he stressed.

"That's why the conference will tackle two major topics on institutional operation and risk management. Those two themes are critically important to develop a prosecution's technical performance. Therefore, our message to public prosecutions is that there should be more focus and involvement of technology and be clearer policies and better implementation of risk managements. Those are crucially important in terms of performance," he said.

On what distinguishes DPP's performance and has attracted the conference to Dubai, Al Mutawa said: "Dubai Government has always adopted the best practices in terms of institutional performance across all its departments. For instance, DPP didn't have a human resources administration and now we have one, specialised in developing the performance of legal specialists and employees. We have adopted the best IT advancements in our performance to benefit our client. As part of our strategic planning, we have set goals through which we aim to render the best services to the litigating parties. We have utilised the information technology to render excellent services… all these institutional matters helped us develop our performance.

"The IAP Conference will focus on the crucial role of information technology in prosecution processes. Discussions and presentations are programmed to focus on the increasingly important role of IT in the prosecution processes, highlighting the best practices in investigation techniques, e-services for litigating parties in the case and e-case management. DPP will share its experience in adopting and applying technology to our performance."

During the conference, DPP will give presentations on its experience in e-case management, role of technology in its operations and its successful adoption and implementation of risk management.

Verifying the role of risk management in DPP, Al Mutawa clarified: "Risk management has become a major tool to control crises and implement proper security and defence mechanisms against any sort of vulnerabilities. Nowadays, risks could hit anyone… like fires or dangerous accidents etc. Risk management is essential in terms of reducing loss and avoiding damage. We protect our employees against any emotional or financial abuse such as bribes."

Committee

Al Mutawaa said DPP's higher committee formed a scientific committee, chaired by Advocate General Chancellor Khalifa Bin Deemas, to study all the papers that will be presented during the event.

"The scientific committee mainly focused on adopting participations that focus on practical implementations, especially in terms of risk management and use of modern technologies. Eventually such presentations, to be delivered by IAP regional members, will help in exchanging expertise and enriching our performance… or this is what we call in scientific management as benchmarking," he said.

He said DPP always considers its clients' criticism to develop or improve services. "A successful individual always looks forward. We consider clients' remarks concerning our operations. Thank God almost everyone praises our services and operations… the strangers before the close ones," he said.

"For example, the Korean Attorney General highly praised our customer services and electronic operations during his recent visit. DPP renders advanced services that aren't available at many public prosecutions across the world. A recent study revealed that the society has 81 per cent trust in DPP's performance and services."

DPP's strategic plan is "flexible, updatable and subject to augmentation and practical development", but the Senior Advocate General did not specify what sort of benchmarks DPP lacks to enhance its performance.