The Iberian American Network of Judicial Schools (RIAEJ), was created in the framework of the 6th Iberian American Summit of the Presidents of the Supreme Courts of Justice celebrated in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, in May of 2001, is a linked community for the reciprocal cooperation, agreement and support among the Judicial Schools and the public centres of judicial training in Iberian America, contributing to the exchange of information on syllabus, methodology and systems of judicial training, facilitating the coordination of activities interesting for their members and planning of joint training activities. All of this is supported by a flexible organisation structure, respecting the autonomy of each member.

The network aspires to be rendered as:

A model for the Iberian American coordination and integration, contributing to the good functioning of the common judicial space, reinforcing the judicial systems and the State of Law, within the scope of judicial training. A real strategic tool for the institutional development of the judicial branches, by the judicial branches themselves and the addressee of the justice public services, and the consolidation of a democratic, fair and human society, by means of their professional quality, ethics, efficient, responsible, transparent, creative

1. Supporting the consolidation of a democratic and constitutional Rule of Law.
2. Reinforcing the justice public services by means of the improvement of the judicial training and the fulfilling of professional excellence of the people serving justice, particularly the judges and magistrates.
3. Reinforcing the Iberian American judicial branches, by means of a permanent work of the Judicial Schools and the public centres of judicial training.
4. Consolidating a better Iberian American judicial integration by means of the understanding of all the judiciary members of the legal and judicial systems of the other Iberian American countries and of the national and international cooperation tools, as well as the training of the judiciary members to promote such understanding.
5. Promoting the own elements of the Iberian American judicial culture and identity.

The RIAEJ has as a general goal the stimulation and reinforcing of the communication and inter-relation among its members, rendering its services in a systematic way, coordinated, efficient, accessible and trustable; and as specific goals, the following:

1. To be a mean for the disclosing and exchanging of regularly updated information on:
   • The legal framework, institutional location, organisation and functions of its entities, as well as the training models and systems used in the judicial schools and public centres of judicial training part of this organism.
   • The processes of detection of training and planning needs, the organisation and performance thereof.
   • The way in which the trainers are selected, the opportunities offered to them to improve, as well as data on their speciality, training and experience.
   • The methodologies employed by the Judicial Schools and the public centres of judicial training which are a part of this organism.
   • The teaching supports they account on.
   • Experiences of the members of the Network.
   • The areas and activities evaluated, the way they are evaluated and the general and more significant results of such evaluations.
   • The assistance received and the critical reflection thereof.
   • Other information interesting for the judicial training.
2. To provide assessment for the members requiring it.
3. To help the reciprocal cooperation among its members.
4. To facilitate the technological transfer.
5. To contribute to the design, organisation and performance of the joint projects, for the satisfaction of complex needs which may need considerable investment, or any other characteristic requiring a plural and complementary effort.

To reach such objectives, The Network is devoted to the performance of a number of activities, among which we shall stress the following:

1. Facilitating the cooperation and coordination among the members.
2. Fostering the exchange of experiences and information on syllabus, methodologies and systems of judicial training.
3. Creating information support in web sites (indexes, data bases, etc.), taking advantage of the resources provided by the Iberian American Network of Judicial Information and Documentation (IBERUIS).
4. Promoting the new training spaces, assuming the commissioning and management of the Iberian American Centre for Judicial Virtual Training.
5. Performing training activities for the trainers.
6. Formulating, planning and executing training programmes.
7. Helping the correct working of the Iberian American judicial space, by means of training activities to bring together the different judicial systems of the member states.
8. Advancing in the consolidation of a common judicial culture.
9. Any other activity similar to the above-mentioned.

The judicial schools and public centres of judicial training of the Iberian American countries, as well as the Iberian American institutions of judicial training in the regional level, are a part of this Network. This organism is structured as follows:

• A General Assembly, made of all the judicial schools and public centres of judicial training integrating the Network, with the main function of approving the activity plan of the organism, electing the Management Board and the Pro Tempore Secretary among its members and receiving the results of the tasks developed by the working groups. The presidency of the Assembly is elected by the votes of all the members.
• A Management Board, made of five members of the Network, elected by the General Assembly, whose mandate will carry on until the next General Assembly; its function is adopting decisions on the functioning of the Network between the meetings of the General Assembly, being in permanent communication with the Network members, preparing the Agenda of the Assembly General sessions and calling the General Assembly on own initiative or on behalf of a third party of the RIAEJ members.
• A Pro tempore Secretary, which is the temporary headquarters of RIEJ and goes to a member of the Management Board. Its functions are facilitating the relations between the RIAEJ and the national and international Organisations, and performing those tasks allocated by the Management Board.
• Working groups, whose tasks are linked to the research of concrete topics, which can then be used for adopting decisions in the Assembly, or dealing with topics ensuring the correct functioning of the Network.

On the other hand, in the framework of the First General Assembly of the Iberian American Network of Judicial Schools, celebrated in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on the 6th of September of 2001, the organism was formally constituted, being approved and ratified its Working Rules and created the first Management Board integrated by the judicial schools of Colombia, Costa Rica, Spain, Mexico and Dominican Republic. All the delegations who participated in this First General Assembly unanimously ratified the National School of the Judiciary of the Dominican Republic as the Pro Tempore Secretary of the Network.

For further information: http://www.riaej.org