Month November 2023

Report on UN Sustainable Development Goal 16 Explores Power of Digitalization

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The goal of UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 is to: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. A new report, published this month, explores the potential of digitalization to help create a more just, inclusive and sustainable world.

The SDG 16: Through a Digital Lens report seeks to examine the ways in which the move towards digitalization intersects with the pursuit of peace, justice and strong institutions. It highlights the importance of considering digital enablers, and outlines a vision for ensuring that digital transformation aids, rather than impedes, progress towards SDG 16.

Topics explored in the report include:

  • Universal connectivity and the digital divide
  • Legal identity
  • Illicit financial flows and their digital enablers
  • Impacts of online disinformation and misinformation
  • Perspectives on conflict in the digital space
  • Moving forward (digital social contracts, responsive and people-centred digital governance, other issues)

SDG 16: Through a Digital Lens was prepared by David Andersson for the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute. The report is available in English here: https://unicri.it/sites/default/files/2023-11/SDG%2016%20%20Report_web.pdf.

Ibero-American Alliance Publishes First Report on Access to Justice

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The Ibero-American Alliance brings together justice stakeholders from Latin America, Spain, Portugal, and Andorra to support better people-centered justice in the Ibero-American region. Formally established in 2022, the alliance recently announced the publication of its first joint report. The Report on Access to Justice in Ibero-America provides important insights into the state of access to justice in Ibero-America and ongoing efforts within the region’s justice ecosystem to improve access to justice for all.

The report highlights work being carried out in three key areas:

  • Data and innovation;
  • An action plan and regional framework for access to justice;
  • Efforts to leave no one behind, including efforts aimed at helping women and girls, youth, the LGBTQI+ community, ethnic and religious minorities, migrants and refugees and others

The 2023 Report on Access to Justice in Ibero-America is available in English here: https://cic.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Report-on-Access-to-Justice-in-Ibero-America-2023-EN.pdf

The 2023 Report on Access to Justice in Ibero-America is available in Spanish here: https://cic.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Report-on-Access-to-Justice-in-Ibero-America-2023-ES.pdf.

Information for this post was gleaned from the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies website.

Australian Report Suggests National Legal Aid Program on the Brink of Collapse

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A new report prepared by Impact Economics and Policy for National Legal Aid (Australia) highlights funding and other challenges that have left the nation’s legal aid services in a state of crisis. According to the report, “Australia’s justice system is in crisis because people can’t access it, and the program designed to [e]nsure access is buckling under the weight of growing demand and shrinking supply.”

In 2014, a major report recommended an additional $200 million per year in funding for legal aid to address unmet legal need. The funding was not provided. Since the 2014 report, however, there has been a 3 per cent per capita cut in government funding for legal aid services. The result is that many, mostly disadvantaged groups in Australia lack adequate access to legal representation and services. Funding gaps are especially critical for matters related to civil and family law.

The cost of unresolved legal problems in Australia – including costs related to lost income, health impacts and seeking redress – is estimated to be between $11 billion and $66 billion in 2023. The compares to an estimated cost of $484 million to adequately fund Legal Aid in 2023. The annual estimated benefit derived from investing in Legal Aid is $639 million.

Justice on the Brink: Stronger Legal Aid for a Better Legal System is available online here: https://ajrndotco.files.wordpress.com/2023/11/0f02e-justiceonthebrink.pdf.

New Report Examines Court Injunctions Against Homeless Encampments in B.C.

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A worsening crisis in homelessness in B.C. has resulted in an increase in the number of homeless encampments on public lands. Encampments can be a source of shelter, support, and safety among unhoused people. While B.C.’s courts have recognized that it is unconstitutional to evict people seeking shelter on publicly-owned lands overnight if they cannot be accommodated in shelters, people experiencing homelessness will often lack daytime shelter or somewhere to store their belongings. The result is “a vicious cycle of continual displacement” in which unhoused people are often forced to pack up and move daily.

“Rush to Judgement”, a new report from the Centre for Law and the Environment and Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia presents findings from a comprehensive review of reported court decisions on injunctions against homeless encampments on publicly-owned lands in B.C. The report focuses on interlocutory and final injunctions from 2000 to 2022. Notably, a majority of decisions during this period were interlocutory injunctions (20 out of 24). The report underscores that, in most cases, an interlocutory injunction will mark the end of a case since it usually means that the government has achieved its goal of legally evicting encampment residents.

The report reveals that:

  • There is an 85% success rate for applications for interlocutory injunctions against homeless encampments in B.C.
  • Only about 25% of applications for final injunctions are successful
  • In some cases, interlocutory decisions apply a relaxed legal test that “minimizes or ignores the issues of irreparable harm and balance of convenience”

The full report, Rush to Judgement: A Critical Survey of Court Injunctions Against Homeless Encampments in BC, 2000-2022 is available online here: https://allard.ubc.ca/sites/default/files/2023-10/Rush%20to%20Judgment%20Report%20Oct%202023.pdf.