Category Justice for Women

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.

Women and Gender Equality Canada Publishes Two Calls for Proposals

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Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE) has two open calls for proposals. WAGE invites non-for-profit organizations, women’s organizations, Indigenous women’s organizations, or other equality-seeking organizations in Canada with a mandate to advance women’s equality to submit a proposal for a capacity-building or systemic change project.

Under Call 1 – the Women’s Economic and Leadership Opportunities Fund – WAGE seeks to support projects that address barriers to women’s success, change systems to improve women’s economic security and prosperity, and/or increase women’s representation.

Under Call 2 – Women’s Capacity Fund – WAGE welcomes proposals for projects that seek to develop the long-term capacity of women’s and Indigenous women’s organizations.

The submission deadline is November 3, 2023, at 12:00 p.m. pacific time. Eligible organizations can apply to one call.

For information on eligibility requirements or more information about the calls, please visit the WAGE website here: https://women-gender-equality.canada.ca/en/funding/funding-programs/women-economic-leadership-opportunities-capacity-funds/about.html.

Canada’s Second Voluntary National Review Now Available

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Canada’s 2023 Voluntary National Review – A Continued Journey for Implementing the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals is now available in both official languages on the Government of Canada website. The report includes a message from Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau that highlights the interconnected nature of ongoing crises in economic, housing and food insecurity, climate change and other serious challenges in Canada and abroad. The Prime Minister’s introductory message also emphasizes the need to achieve gender equality and promote the empowerment of women and girls, and make progress on other UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

The Voluntary National Review examines Canada’s achievements across the 17 SDGs. Canada is also tracking its work on advancing the SDGs through the Global Indicator Framework (GIF) and the Canadian Indicator Framework (CIF).

The second Voluntary National Review provides details on ways that funding and other supports by Canada’s government to not-for-profit organizations, governments, academia, the private sector, Indigenous communities and organizations, women, youth and other stakeholders are helping to advance Canada’s national strategy. The review also highlights investments, milestones, and additional opportunities to implement the 2030 Agenda.

Canada’s 2023 Voluntary National Review – A Continued Journey for Implementing the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals is available in English here: https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/agenda-2030/voluntary-national-review/2023-report.html.

Examen national volontaire 2023 du Canada – Une démarche continue à l’appui de la mise en œuvre du Programme 2030 et de l’atteinte des objectifs de développement durable est disponible en français ici : https://www.canada.ca/fr/emploi-developpement-social/programmes/programme-2030/examen-national-volontaire/rapport-2023.html.

New Report Highlights People-Centred Justice Initiatives and Good Practices around the World

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The Justice Action Coalition (JAC), a group comprised of over 30 countries and organizations seeking to advance equal access to justice for all, last week released a new report entitled, “Good Practices and Commitments on People-Centered Justice”. The report highlights the commitments and work of JAC members in furthering people-centered access to justice. Good practices and initiatives highlighted in the report include:

  • Canada’s National Action Plan on Open Government (2022-2024) which includes pledges to share justice-related data, the use of plain language, and efforts to ensure access to justice for underrepresented and marginalized populations.
  • Columbia’s Diferencia Foundationwhich opened Alternative Conflict Resolution Centers in Bogotá and Medellín, with two target populations: LGBTI peoples and indigenous communities. These centres advance legal empowerment and the peaceful resolution of conflicts for historically discriminated peoples in Columbia.  
  • Portugal’s Justice Ministry has released a centralized, digital platform – RAL+ – that allows for alternative dispute resolution (ADR) case management. Using RAL+, Portuguese citizens can seek workplace mediation, request information, and monitor their cases. Justice professionals can track cases in real time and readily interact with parties and representatives.
  • In 2023, Indonesia created a Paralegal Justice Academy, which trains village chiefs to be paralegals. In the months since it launched, 300 chiefs have been trained, aiding local dispute resolution across the country.
  • The Solomon Islands’ Paralegalism Project trains and deploys paralegals to remote communities, educating community members on their rights and access to justice services. Since 2019, 25,441 people have been reached with this program.
  • The United States’ USAID Program in 2023 launched a Rule of Law Innovation, Design Experimentation, Acceleration, and Solutions (IDEAS) Lab. The Lab supports access to justice initiatives across the globe – for instance, facilitating a local justice needs survey in Kyrgyzstan, and starting an online community justice house in Ukraine.
  • Supported by the Dutch government, UNDP and UN Women have brought mobile legal aid services to Tanzania and Uganda, helping over 20,000 women and girls with claims related to land use, gender-based violence, marriage, and divorce.

You can read the full report in English here: https://cic.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/JAC-Good-Practices-and-Commitments-on-People-Centered-Justice-June-2023.pdf.

UNDP Publishes Evaluation of Support to Access to Justice

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The Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has published an evaluation of the UNDP’s support to access to justice. The evaluation examines UNDP support from 2014 to 2022, and is based on the following UNDP definition of access to justice: “the ability of people to seek and obtain a remedy, through the formal or informal justice system, and in accordance with human rights principles and standards”.

The evaluation’s six evaluation questions collectively identify the extent, effectiveness, relevance, coherence and sustainability of the UNDP’s efforts, which are assessed using qualitative and quantitative methods.

The evaluation’s 7 recommendations include:

  • Enhanced investment by the UNDP, and the strengthening of the UNDP’s value proposition in the area of access to justice at the country level, based on comprehensive analyses of institutional and people’s justice needs;
  • Pivoting UNDP programmes to people-centred justice, including ongoing support to the institutionalization of legal aid and programmatic focus on fairness, quality and oversight of justice processes in ways that align with people’s ability to address and prevent justice problems;
  • Expanding the UNDP’s work to include more actors, such as alternative dispute resolution;
  • Investment in more and better people-centred justice data.

The full Evaluation of UNDP Support of Access to Justice report and infographics are available in English here: http://web.undp.org/evaluation/evaluations/thematic/a2j.shtml.

New Reports Offer Guidance on Reporting and Prosecution of Sexual Assault on PEI

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RISE, a community legal information organization that offers support for victims of sexual and intimate partner violence and workplace sexual harassment, has published a series of reports aimed at offering guidance to victims of sexual assault on PEI who are over the age of 18. “Reporting Sexual Assault: A Guide for Victims on PEI” offers information on where to access support services and the types of supports that are available, what constitutes sexual assault and consent, sexual assault evidence kits, among other important information.  The “Sexual Assault Prosecution: A Guide for Victims on PEI” report discusses prosecution of sexual assault and offers an overview of the process, the parties involved,  and addresses questions that might arise for persons going through the process.

“Reporting Sexual Assault: A Guide for Victims on PEI” and “Sexual Assault Prosecution: A Guide for Victims on PEI” are available on the RISE website in French and English here: https://www.risepei.com/en/downloads. The publications are not a substitute for guidance from a lawyer.

Study on the Costs and Benefits of Community-Based Justice in Sierra Leone Makes Important Recommendations for Scaling Up Community Justice Services

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On average, it costs users of local, paralegal services in Sierra Leone US $8.44 to access the service, far below what it costs to access the formal justice system. According to a new report on the Costs and Benefits of Community-Based Justice in Sierra Leone, without these community-based justice services, the government would spend approximately US $23.3M to support access to justice services through the formal justice system. This compares with approximately US $18.3M to access community-based justice services. This is among several important findings from a first-of-its-kind study by the Center for Alternative Policy Research & Innovation on The Costs and Benefits of Community-Based Justice in Sierra Leone.

The report makes 10 recommendations for scaling up paralegal-based justice services, including:

  • Establishing a National Legal Empowerment Fund;
  • Funding exploratory research;
  • Further reducing out-of-pocket costs to access community-based justice services;
  • Meaningfully integrating community-based justice services in the broader justice sector; and
  • Building robust and efficient monitoring and evaluation systems.

The Costs and Benefits of Community-Based Justice in Sierra Leone by Felix Marco Conteh, Yakama Manty Jones, Sonkita Conteh, Henry Mbawa and Aisha Fofana Ibrahim (CAPRI) is available online here: https://www.caprisl.org/post/the-costs-and-benefits-of-community-based-justice-in-sierra-leone.

This project was funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and is one of the final research outputs from a multi-country research initiative on Community-Based Justice Research.

International Group Publishes Policy Paper on Access to Justice for Women and the Rule of Law

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A new policy paper by The Elders outlines frameworks and tools for all nation states to respect and proposes measures for governments, civil society, and the legal community to adopt to ensure that “access to justice and the rule of law form the bedrock of the post-pandemic recovery.”

“Access to Justice for Women and the Rule of Law” examines the impacts that the ongoing global health crisis has had on access to justice for women, including as relates to increased risks of intimate partner violence and difficulties accessing support services. The paper takes turns discussing each of three main barriers women face in seeking access to justice: discriminatory laws, discrimination in the application of laws, and complex and inaccessible justice systems. Recommendations for a way forward include:

  • A holistic, long-term, and collaborative approach to understanding women’s justice needs
  • Repealing discriminatory laws and enacting legislation that better protects women
  • Improving data collection and analysis to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the scale of the justice gap as it affects women
  • Efforts by the legal community to increase the number of women in senior positions within the justice system
  • Measures to ensure that services for women are accessible and empowering and reflect a people-centred approach to justice

To read “Access to Justice for Women and the Rule of Law”, visit: https://theelders.org/sites/default/files/newsarticaldocument/The-Elders-Access-to-Justice-for-Women-and-the-Rule-of-Law.pdf.

Rise Women’s Legal Centre Publishes New Report on Family Violence in B.C.

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A new report by B.C. based Rise Women’s Legal Centre examines the province’s family law system and its responsiveness to family violence matters. Research was carried out over 3 years and includes both consultations with experts, and focus group interviews with women across more than 20 communities in B.C. who had lived experience of violence and the legal system.

The report makes several recommendations for improvements that will contribute to dispelling myths and stereotypes. The report also discusses the need for a better understanding of the seriousness of both physical and non-physical violence.

Why Can’t Everyone Just Get Along? How BC’s Family Law System Puts Survivors in Danger by Haley Hrymak and Kim Hawkins, and published by Rise Women’s Legal Centre is available online here: https://www.citynews1130.com/2021/02/05/b-c-s-family-law-system-fails-abused-women-puts-survivors-in-danger-report/.

New Report Discusses Justice for Women Amidst COVID-19

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“Justice For Women Amidst Covid-19” is a newly published report that outlines some of the ways that the COVID-19 pandemic has curtailed access to justice for women around the world.

The report documents both new challenges and pre-existing gender justice gaps that have been exacerbated by the pandemic, including an increase in domestic violence, and implores that urgent action to be taken. With stay-at-home orders in effect to varying extents globally, many local avenues for help have not been available or accessible to women.

Director-General of IDLO, Jan Beagle urges that we not make gender equality and women’s rights a casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic. She adds that, “as the risk of gender-based violence continues to grow during the pandemic, and the ability of justice institutions to effectively deliver services is diminished, it is of utmost priority to forge innovative ways to support women’s access to justice and empower them to realize their rights.”

The report also makes the case for investment in justice services and programs that will benefit women and girls and presents strategies to improve access to justice for women.

“Justice for Women Amidst COVID-19” was jointly produced by UN Women, IDLO, UNDP, UNODC, World Bank and The Pathfinders for Justice; the report is supported by The Elders. “Justice for Women Amidst COVID-19” is available in full here: https://www.justice.sdg16.plus/justiceforwomen.