IMPLEMENTING THE RULE OF LAW IN BRAZIL’S AMAZON FRONTIER

Abstract

This piece traces the courageous and dedicated efforts of Brazilian judge Sueli Pereira Pini and her colleagues in Brazil’s northern state of Amapa to undertake an ambitious effort to deliver justice and other government services to the marginalized and disenfranchised inhabitants of Macapa municipality. That municipality serves as the capitol of Amapa state, and its residents include those residing in remote communities in the hinterlands accessible only via dirt roads and trails as well as those the Balique archipelago, part of the enormous Amazon River Delta, whose communities are only accessible by water-based transportation. Developing the justice-distribution network known as Justicia Itinerante for the land-based communities and Justicia Fluvial Itinerante for the communities in the archipelago involved acquiring and converting buses and Amazon riverboats to function as mobile courts and utilizing them to conduct proceedings in a diverse assortment of civil, criminal, family and commercial cases. It is an inspiring narrative demonstrating how passion and determination can combine to provide access to justice for those governments all too often ignore.