The Iberian American Judicial Summit is an organisation which channels the cooperation and agreements among the Judicial Branches of the twenty two countries of the Iberian American community of nations, bringing together in one single forum the higher instances and government bodies of the Iberian American judicial systems. The Presidents of the Supreme Courts of Justice and the maximum responsible persons for the Judiciary Councils of Iberian America are joined together in the Summit.

The main objective of the Iberian American Judicial Summit is the adoption of agreed actions and projects, persuaded as we are that our common cultural heritage is a privileged tool which can contribute to strengthen the Judicial Branch and, therefore, the democratic system, notwithstanding the needed respect for the difference.

In its current format, the Iberian American Judicial Summit is the result of the fusion or convergence, from the month of June of 2004, of two former structures: The Iberian American Summit of Presidents of the Supreme Courts of Justice and the Iberian American meeting of the Judiciary Councils.

The Iberian American Summit of Presidents of the Supreme Courts of Justice was also de result of a process that was started in Madrid in 1990, and continued in consecutive editions during the years 1993 and 1997 (both in Madrid), 1998 and 1999 (both in Caracas), 2000 (in the Canary Islands), 2002 (Cancun), and 2004 (El Salvador). On the other hand, the Iberian American Meeting of Judiciary Councils celebrated in Honduras, in 2004, its 4th plenary session, after celebrating the previous ones in Sucre (1998), Barcelona (2000) and Zacatecas (2002).

The Permanent Secretariat is the technical support body for members of the Summit, and is in constant communication with them, via the National Coordinators. The Secretariat is charged with transmitting detailed information about their activities; gathering and receiving their initiatives and observations in the same way; calling meetings of the Coordinators or experts if necessary; and maintaining a close relationship with the Pro Tempore Secretariat, which is responsible for arranging each specific edition of the Ibero-American Judicial Summit.

The office of the Permanent Secretariat is determined by the Plenary Assembly, for a period of four years, renewable. It is currently held by the Supreme Court of Justice of Uruguay. For the first time in the history of the Summit, the Permanent Secretariat is represented by a woman, the minister of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, Ms Elena Martínez Rosso.

As the most relevant results reached so far, all of which can be consulted in the website of the Summit we can mention:

• The approval of the Iberian American Judge Statute, which aspires to be the paradigm or reference identifying the values, principles, institutions, proceedings and minimum necessary resources to guarantee that the jurisdictional function is developed in an independent way, defining the role of the judge in the context of a democratic society and encouraging the efforts in this sense developed by the Judicial Branches in the region.
• The approval of the Chart of Rights of the Users of Justice, with the purpose of comprehensively compiling all the rights protecting all the persons who require the services of the administration of justice in the Ibero-American scope.
• The creation and maintenance of the Iberian American Class Room. A training program, directed to Iberian American judges and magistrates, which by means of a system of grants awarded by the General Council of the Judiciary of the Kingdom of Spain, the following aims, among others, are pursued:
  • Making the expertise related to judicial training available to the Iberian American legal community.
  • Bringing together the existing links among the Supreme Courts and the Judiciary Councils of the Iberian American countries.
  • Consolidating a framework of meetings among judges and magistrates both Spanish and Iberian American of a high academic level creating a reference in the different scopes related to the performance of the jurisdictional function.
  • Implementation of an Iberian American judicial community facilitating the exchange of experiences, information and research projects.
• The creation of the Iberian American Network of Judicial Information and Documentation (IberIUS). It has been conceived as a community for the reciprocal cooperation, agreement and support among the Centres and Units of Judicial Information and Documentation in the Iberian American countries. Its aim is to contribute to the strengthening of the Rule of Law in the member countries, making available for the members of the respective judiciaries any relevant judicial information and documentation which allows them improving the quality of their decisions, and making available for the general public the required information to understand the justice system and the means to exercise the rights protecting them. All of this by means of interconnection, consultation, disclosure, exchange and other services of judicial information and documentation of the Iberian American countries judicial systems.
• The creation of the Iberian American Network of Judicial Schools (RIAEJ). The Iberian American Network of Judicial Schools was created pursuant to the agreement of the 2nd Iberian American Meeting of Judiciary Councils, celebrated in Barcelona in the month of March of 2001, and pursuant to the agreement of the 6th Iberian American Summit of Presidents of the Supreme Courts of Justice, celebrated in the Canary Islands in May of 2001. The RIAEJ was created from the start as 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, which takes advantage of the available technologies to help fulfilling its purposes.
• The commissioning of the Iberian American Centre for Judicial Virtual Training. This centre was created pursuant to an agreement of the 6th Iberian American Summit of Presidents of the Supreme Courts of Justice, celebrated in the Canary Islands in May 2001. The Iberian American Centre of Judicial Virtual Training was initially seen as a tool for to strengthen the judicial career. It has the impact of helping the Judicial Schools as a tool providing an effective, uniform and accessible training for the Iberian American judges and magistrates, by means of the use of leading technologies for distance judicial training. In this way, the Judicial Schools can overcome some important limitations linked to the on-campus education programs.
• The commissioning of an Iberian American Network of Judicial Aid (IberRED), conceived as a tool to help the international judicial assistance and an essential step forward in the creation of the Iberian American Judicial Space. This is understood as the specific stage where the judicial cooperation activities is subject to reinforced mechanisms, dynamics and tools for simplification and speeding up which allow an activity of this kind suitable and pursuant to the requirements, notwithstanding the scope of competences of the Legislative and Executive Branches of the represented States.
• The approval of the Ibero-American Code of Legal Ethics, which defines the legal obligations that in turn help provide a definition of judicial excellence and calls for a direct commitment to excellence and the rejection of mediocrity from the Judge, as well as being conceived as an instrument for clarifying ethical conduct in the legal sphere and a guide to ethical matters for the justice service.
• The approval of the 100 Brasilia Regulations on access to justice for vulnerable persons. These documents contain certain operating principles or basic ideas that should serve as a launch-pad for further initiatives; they also contribute food for thought with regard to problems of access to justice for the most disadvantaged sectors of society. Additionally, they establish a series of recommendations that may be useful for those in charge of legal policy and those working in the legal profession.
• The approval of the Ibero-American Charter of Victims' Rights, which is designed to implement the 100 Brasilia Regulations on access to Justice, with regard to victims in general and victims of crime in particular.
• The creation of the Ibero-American Network for Management and Research to Ensure Quality within Justice (RIGICA-Justicia), with the aim of guaranteeing and improving the services provided by Member States' justice administrations by promoting quality standards, experience exchanges, research, publication and dissemination of studies in order to promote, define and implement public policies concerning quality management in the judiciary.