Justice should not be a privilege or something tortuous or incomprehensible. Things must start to change in Mexico, as has already happened in other Latin American nations such as Brazil, Ecuador and Colombia, where they updated their civil processes for better family and civil justice.
When Mexicans have conflicts related to divorces, inheritances, adoptions, parental authority, custody, pensions, commercial litigation, property leasing, and neighborhood conflicts, they must face the daily justice apparatus that generally becomes an ordeal.
The federative entity or the color of the government does not matter. Virtually without exception, individuals face the “coyotes” that hang around the courts, slow resolution of lawsuits and even the request of moches, to “advance their business.”
Since 2017, a constitutional reform was approved with an eye toward justice for all. In 2019, the General Population Survey of the World Justice Project (WJP) concluded that the daily justice system in Mexico is deficient because the processes are long, expensive and not very adaptable to the circumstances.
Despite the seriousness of the problems and the size of the challenge, the Legislative Branch took almost six years to fulfill its responsibility. It was Senator Olga Sánchez Cordero who decisively promoted the changes and managed to add the experience and contributions of social and academic organizations, bar associations, various federal and state government agencies, and local and federal judicial powers.
The reform finally came to fruition just this month of April when the Mexican Congress approved the creation of a new National Code of Civil and Family Procedures, which homologates actions, mechanisms, deadlines, rules, standards, criteria and terms for conflict resolution, in all the country.
There are some guarantees that are basic in this historic reform: free and prompt attention to cases; the orality of trials; the protection of the rights of women, minors and disabled people; the defense of collective interests; the use of alternative means of dispute resolution -such as conciliation or mediation-, and the use of digital technologies.
The new National Code of Civil and Family Procedures will enter into force until 2027, because the federal entities must eliminate their local codes and all system operators must be trained, so that the so-called daily justice works like “a little clock”.
Judges, prosecutors, social workers, experts, notaries, lawyers, personnel from the Civil Registry, the National System for the Integral Development of the Family and the Mexican Institute of Social Security, among many other institutions involved, must update their operation and service times. , benefiting more than 1.4 billion people who have unresolved civil or administrative justice needs.
It is difficult for the political class to deal with meeting social demands. This time we saw, in the Senate and in the Chamber of Deputies, the result of professional legislative work and real efforts to reach consensus.
The new National Code of Civil and Family Procedures is a great advance and places the Mexican legal system at the forefront of the best on the continent and in the world. So be it.
