The humanization of Justice

Nauru may be one of the smallest countries in the world. Compared to Portugal, it is also undoubtedly one of the most remote. However, a year ago, the Republic of Nauru, located in the South Pacific, with the support of the United Nations, launched a highly distinctive and noteworthy initiative, promoting what is now known as the "Nauru Declaration on Judicial Well-Being." Drafted by several judicial leaders and experts from various countries, including Portugal, the Nauru Declaration established a set of key principles aimed at highlighting the need to raise awareness that stress in the judicial context is not synonymous with weakness, nor should it be stigmatized. Rather, it is a problem that must be recognized and addressed by judicial institutions, with a strong focus on awareness-raising and prevention.

Aware of the importance of this issue, the United Nations General Assembly established July 25th as "World Judicial Well-Being Day," which was celebrated for the first time this year. The vote was overwhelming: 160 votes in favor, 3 abstentions (from Haiti, Madagascar, and Syria), and one vote against from the United States of America, which argued that the Nauru Declaration represented the internationalization of the "self-care" movement and its migration to domains that do not concern it. This isolated position, however, is not surprising, considering, for example, that in February 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services prohibited the use of, among other terms, the term "mental health," banning it from official documents and communications.

However, the US stance under the current administration has not prevented the establishment of a truly historic global milestone, recognizing that the physical, emotional, and mental health of those charged with judging is a fundamental condition for preserving the independence, impartiality, and integrity of the judicial system. The establishment of a World Day dedicated to this issue also demonstrates its importance in times of attacks on judicial independence across the globe.

However, despite the progressive stance expressed by the United Nations, the truth is that the topic is not always fully understood, largely due to a blurred and even populist view of it. Indeed, talk of judicial well-being is often seen as a reference to privileges granted to judges rather than as a call for the creation of conditions for better administration of justice for and on behalf of the people. This distorted view, in fact, sometimes finds an echo within the very institutions responsible for managing justice systems, generating, through the devaluation of health, stress, and even burnout , greater pressure, clearly counterproductive to the desired efficiency that is sought from the system.

On the other hand, whether in the judicial sphere, in business, or in any other professional activity, the issue of health, and especially mental health, remains, and is widespread, a taboo topic. Professionals avoid talking, those in charge avoid listening, and systems, especially those based on the human component, tend to lose efficiency as long as they persist in a logic of denial. Indeed, as far as the justice system is concerned, it is not uncommon to find a preference for statistical dazzlement and mere quantitative appearance, overlooking the concrete conditions in which people find themselves working and what this can mean in terms of decision-making quality. In general, concerns about these matters are limited to circumstantial proclamations. Prevention doesn't go much beyond the merely cosmetic, and the widespread feeling that emerges is that we are working at the limit, without sufficient institutional support, and in a context of enormous frustration.

Now, while the global community is making serious progress in the debate on judicial health, Portugal continues to face concrete challenges. According to the Superior Council of the Judiciary's annual report for 2024, the number of judges in active service registered the sharpest decline in the last five years, falling from 1,775 in 2020 to 1,716 in 2024, despite the fact that case resolution rates have also been on a favorable trajectory. The same Council of the Judiciary acknowledges that significant psychosocial risks associated with the exercise of judicial function have been identified, such as work overload, lack of resources, case complexity, and deadline pressure, with a negative impact on the physical and mental health of judges. This is compounded by "a professional culture that tends to downplay signs of exhaustion and stress, fostering burnout ."

Given this reality, and dispelling the illusion that, by neglecting people, everything can be resolved through information technology or new technologies, it makes sense to understand that the date celebrated today directly urges governments, management bodies and societies to reflect on policies that promote the health and efficiency of the judicial system, by, in the case of Portugal, and by way of example, halting the successive decline in the number of judges, effectively establishing an effective system of advisory services, presenting concrete and effective solutions for psychological support and stress management, as well as establishing a culture that promotes the personal and professional fulfillment of those who serve the system.

Just as in healthcare, education, law enforcement, civil aviation, and so many other areas where people's safety or lives are at stake, in their various dimensions, the workload in the courts also weighs heavily on the system's decision-making capacity, accuracy, and responsiveness. An increasingly reduced judiciary, with no prospect of a change in the short term, will continue to place the system under increasing stress for what appears to be an undesirably prolonged period. The Nauru Declaration and the World Day celebrated today effectively demand that the country embrace practices that provide physical safety, mental support, personal balance, and humane management of the judicial system. This is a reminder of a commitment formalized by the UN to ensure the protection of those entrusted with the duty of administering justice.

With its strengths and weaknesses, justice is a human construct. It is made by people, addressed to people, and is a right for all. Judicial well-being and the humanization of justice are not issues related solely to the individual resilience of each judge, but rather directly impact the independence, integrity, and efficiency of judicial systems, in Portugal and worldwide. Recognition of this issue within the United Nations only occurs through the highest-level understanding of how the health of the judiciary is also fundamental to democracy itself, a principle we must never lose sight of.

The texts in this section reflect the authors' personal opinions. They do not represent VISÃO nor reflect its editorial position.