Finjus, the Institutionalism and Justice Foundation, a leading civic organization, has issued a call for the National Congress to review the budget assigned to the Office of the Public Defender. The foundation submitted the request to the Chamber of Deputies that is studying the 2024 National Budget.
The group says that an increase of RD$50 million in the unit’s budget for 2024 is not sufficient and is far below the requirements of the Public Defenders Office to comply with its obligations.
There are currently some 80 candidates awaiting confirmation to begin training. New offices are supposed to be opened in other provinces, along with a long-awaited raise in the salaries of current lawyers working for the Office of the Public Defender, but all this is contingent on the increase in the Office of the Public Defender budget.
Lawyer Servio Tulio Castaño Guzman, the executive vice-president of Funjus, called the current budget assignment completely inadequate for the real needs of the agency. He says the office needs an allotment of over RD$1.2 billion to appoint at least 500 public defenders throughout the country.
Read more in Spanish:
El Caribe
9 October 2023