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Like many countries in Latin America, the Peruvian judiciary has been marred by accusations of political manipulation, inefficiency and abuse of power. In the 1990s, President Alberto Fujimori limited the judiciary's independence, frequently intervening in its workings. Executive meddling left a legacy of corruption, unequal access to justice, and political bias, making the judiciary one of the least respected institutions in Peru. Subsequent judicial and legal reforms have attempted to improve the transparency, professionalism and fairness of the judicial branch. To be successful, however, these efforts must be accompanied by continuous and informed citizen oversight.

The Comisión Andina de Juristas (CAJ) has been working to increase transparency, accountability and consistency of the Peruvian judiciary through increased citizen oversight and constructive relations between civil society and the judicial community. Founded in 1982, CAJ is one of the best-known and most authoritative voices on democracy and human rights issues in the Andean region. CAJ conducts research, publishes reports, and implements programs on human rights, the modernization of the state, and the strengthening of democratic institutions in Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.

With NED support, CAJ conducted research and consultations in 2003 and 2004 and concluded that any judicial accountability strategy led by civil society needed to be constructive, sustainable and practical. The Peruvian judicial system lacks sufficient human and financial resources and any transparency requirements would only increase workloads and further delay the administration of justice. With these lessons in mind, CAJ created citizen accountability committees in eight regions of Peru. Composed of law students and young lawyers under the guidance of a senior advisor, these committees are charged with collecting information on individual judges serving in regional courts.

In 2005, CAJ gathered information on judges' professional backgrounds, case and ruling histories, and personal finances. Judges provided this information voluntarily, and CAJ hoped that through their example they would inspire the judicial system to assume greater disclosure and transparency. After this information was published in CAJ's website, the National Council of Magistrates, the body that appoints judges and monitors their performance and ethics, made this disclosure practice mandatory for all judges. This information is now published in the Council's website, and is a testament to the advocacy and accountability work of CAJ and its citizen committees.

Following this important success, CAJ began collecting the judicial decisions and rulings from key courts—penal, civil, and family. By making judicial rulings transparent, CAJ hopes to prevent corruption, promote the independence of the judiciary, increase the consistency and predictability of judicial decisions, and secure citizen access to the decision-making process and legal rationale behind judicial rulings. So far, sixty-five judges have voluntarily made their judicial decisions transparent. Over 100 volunteers have uploaded this information into a sophisticated, searchable database developed by CAJ and available on its website.

In a major breakthrough, the new head of the national judiciary recently announced that he intends to adopt this initiative as official policy. All judges will be required to make their decisions publicly available on a searchable database. To support the sustainability of the project and lighten the administrative burden on the judiciary, CAJ has partnered with eight distinguished law schools around the country to establish a permanent mechanism whereby law students regularly collect, systematize and upload information about judicial rulings onto CAJ's database. The recent announcement to expand this judicial accountability project nationwide and the commitment of law schools to sustain this effort are significant achievements for CAJ.

CAJ's constructive and non-confrontational approach, combined with its institutional prestige, helped position this project and the issue of judicial accountability on the reform agenda. CAJ focused not only on increasing citizen oversight but on contributing to the efficient, effective and transparent administration of justice. CAJ will continue to work with law schools to update the database, and will train lawyers on how to use precedent and former judicial rulings in the litigation of cases. CAJ is also exploring the possibility of implementing a similar project in another Andean country.