“International Conference on Judicial Communication, Santo Domingo 2023» was the tittle selected by the World Jurist Association and the Dominican Judicial Power to present the World Law Congress Dominican Republic 2025.

Justice Henry Molina, president of the Supreme Court of Justice and the Judicial Council of the Dominican Republic, opened the event highlighting the commitment of his court to generate a more open and accessible communication of judicial matters to the users of the system.

Afterwards, Javier Cremades, president of the WJA, welcomed judges, academics, journalists, international and national leaders gathered to discuss the role of effective judicial communication in the strengthening of justice and democracy. President Cremades emphasized the need to continue progressing under the rule of law and educating in the need of a world governed by law and not by force, to achieving peace.

Furthermore, he invited the legal community, media and public in general, to actively participate in the events that will take place throughout 2024, in the framework of the the World Law Congress Dominican Republic 2025. The congress will turn Santo Domingo into the world jurist capital and gathering international leaders, heads of State, judges, academics, legislators, lawyers, activists, and students to discuss about current topics and the importance of the rule of law.

The Relationship Between Media and the Judiciary

The director of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language (RAE, in Spanish), Santiago Muñoz Machado, gave a master conference on the relevance of the Spanish language in the communication of judicial news to the general public. He emphasized the need to changing technical and complicated expressions to a language more accessible and easier for everyone, since laws are complex and use a complicated vocabulary.

On the second day, journalists Juan Luis Cebrián (Spain) and Antonio Navalón (Mexico) analyzed the role of the media in the judicial system. Likewise, prominent Dominican, French and Spanish jurists and journalists analyzed practices for maintaining a constructive relationship between the press and the judiciary, and the challenges and perspectives of judicial communication in the context of technologies and artificial intelligence.

WJA Medals of Honor Ceremony

The closing of the event was presided by Francisco Ortega Polanco, judge of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Dominican Republic. It included the awarding of the WJA Medals of Honor to journalists Bienvenido Álvarez Vega, Margarita Cordero, and Manuel Campos Vidal; to Spanish lawyer José María Alonso for his contribution to the strengthening of the Rule of Law and democracy, and a WJA Diploma of Honor to Antioco Cuesta, for his support to the aims of the World Jurist Association.