The Afghanistan Court Administration System (ACAS), Afghanistan’s new case information management system jointly developed by the Supreme Court and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), was presented to President Hamid Karzai on September 10, 2008.

The presentation of ACAS was part of the Supreme Court’s annual update on the status of Afghanistan’s judiciary, held at the Office of the President and attended by the Chief Justice and members of the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court’s Director of General Administration, Dr. Abdul Malik Kamawi, noted that “President Karzai was impressed with the case-management system. He recommended that the Supreme Court publicize ACAS to Afghan citizens as a great achievement for the judiciary.”  Furthermore, Dr. Kamawi added, “The President said he was confident that achievements like ACAS, which increase the courts’ transparency and efficiency, will increase Afghans’ confidence in the court system.”

Until ACAS was approved by the Supreme Court in September 2007, Afghanistan’s judiciary was hampered by inconsistencies in case registration, management, and record-keeping procedures. With ACAS, each case is assigned a unique case number. The system also includes party index cards that make it easier for litigants, attorneys, court administrators, and interested citizens to find case information. Under ACAS, cases are now filed in individual case folders by case number.

Since September 2007, USAID has been training judges and court administrative staff on how to use ACAS in their own courts. To date, nearly 500 judges and 700 court administrators have received ACAS training and have implemented the system in 203 courts in 24 provinces. USAID plans to roll out ACAS to every court in the country by December 2008.