Access to Justice:Approaches for Bringing Services Closer

to the People

Waleed H. MalikSenior Public Sector Management Specialist, AFTPR

Justice Reform 101 Course – November 11, 2010, Washington DC

Presentation

Overview: Role of justice institutions

Access to justice challenges

Approaches for enhancing access to justice

PartI

PartI

PartII

PartII

PartIII

PartIII

EXECUTIVE

LEGISLATIVE

JUDICIAL

CIVIL SOCIETY- PRIVATE

Ministry of Justice

Legislative Committees on Justice

Judges and Court Personnel

Bar associations Notaries

Public Prosecutors (may be autonomous)

Law Reform and Drafting Committees

Judicial Councils Law schools and legal aid clinics

Solicitor Genera; (Procurador General)

Ombudsman Public defenders ADR Centers

Police, prisons (Ministry of Interior)

Comptroller General

Judicial training institutes

NGOs/Legal aid

Forensic laboratories

Court-annexed ADR

Media

Registries

Judicial enforcement offices

Credit bureaus

Overview: The Justice Sector*PartI

PartI

*Plus International Courts and Tribunals

Framework: Accessible and Sustainable Justice Services

Access to justice is a sine quo non for transforming the economy and promoting national competitiveness

Information & Court Services

Cost & Resources

Culture

Access to Justice

Access to Justice: Definition

“…people’s ability to solve disputes and reach adequate remedies [solutions] for grievances, using formal or traditional justice systems. The justice process has qualitative dimensions, and it should be in accordance with human rights principles and standards…” UNDP 2005

Poverty & Exclusion

Governance

Investment Climate

Development Challenges and the Role of Justice Institutions

Access to Justice

Institutional Capacity

& Efficiency

Transparency&

Accountability

COUNTRY CONTEXT

JUSTICE INSTITUTIONS

Access to Justice: Challenges

Exclusion - Access to justice is a response to the problem of social and institutional exclusion; this exclusion is based on biases against the poor and marginalized groups (e.g. norms and policies affecting women, youth, indigenous peoples).

Information and other services - Numerous barriers exist to providing critical information that supports access to justice: the absence of centers that collect such records, or the destruction of such records due to erosion, natural disaster, accident or war, etc.. (e.g. getting a copy of court judgment, property registration requires access to information).

Cost of justice and corruption issues - Typically these are legal costs, court fees and opportunity/administrative costs. This also includes corruption payments by users and other stakeholders.

Organizational dimensions - This refers to the jurisdictional and geographic coverage of dispute resolution bodies (e.g. courts, tribunals etc.). It also entails court delays, absence of alternatives, dilapidated courthouses, shortage of public defenders, slow enforcement etc.

PartII

PartII

Challenge: Judicial Map of CroatiaGeographic Distribution In Urban and Rural Areas and Resource Allocation

TYPE OF COURT:

ŽUPANIJSKI SUDOVI

OPĆINSKI SUDOVI PREKRŠAJNI SUDOVITRGOVAČKI SUDOVI

Judicial Map of Tamaulipas, MexicoOrganizational Challenges

10

Challenges: Dilapidated Facilities

• Lack of awareness among policy makers about the importance of court facilities and how they impede or facilitate judicial reform, partly reflected in low capital investments

• Shortage of space for judges, staff and operations (e.g. hearings, record keeping) to meet the burgeoning demand for justice services

• Dilapidated and rundown conditions, inappropriate space distribution, the lack of security, poor IT capability, lighting, and HVAC facilities etc.

• Absence of timely information about the inventory and condition of buildings, including high percentage of rented courthouses, suboptimal maintenance and building practices

• Lack of strategic planning, including the lack of functional and design standards, the failure to involve internal and external users in design, the lack of decorum and symbolism, the lack of appropriate criteria for locating facilities in rural areas

Openness Gap: Access to Judicial InformationLatin America and the Caribbean Rankings (CEJA 2008)

Most:Court organization, instructions (91%);

Judgments and orders (74%)

Least:Human and Other Resources (15%)

Disciplinary Proceedings (17%)Budget Execution (27%)

Access to Justice: Approaches

Promoting citizen education and establishment of pertinent legal norms (e.g. media outreach, j-radio, information campaigns in schools, NGOs, information centers)

Reducing user costs (e.g. legal aid, pre-trial conference, family counseling, pro-se representation, interpreters, fee system review)

Improving incentive system for judges and staff and improving resource utilization (e.g. equitable judicial salaries, robust oversight mechanisms, cost-recovery mechanisms, transparent and effective budgets)

Promoting alternative dispute resolution mechanisms in formal and informal justice systems (e.g. conciliation, mediation)

Modernizing service provisions via organizational improvements that bring justice services closer to people (e.g. mobile courts, e-justice, m-ICT services, hearings via video-conferencing, casas de justicia, one-stop-shop justice centers, Juditecture (modern facilities), specialized tribunals for business and other matters)

PartIII

PartIII

Judicial Decision

Users

Do more with sameresources

Rationalize demand of justice services and empower citizens, especially the vulnerable groups:

•Promote the citizens charter for access to justice and outreach•Promote legal aid, professional services and education•Promote transparency, and public trials that enhance confidence•Encourage disjudicialization (e.g. expand notaries role)•Promote cultural sensitivity and NGO outreach•Leverage traditional justice system•Promote 24 hour courts for demand management

Expand and diversify supply of justice services:

•Encourage timeliness in the system, and promote alternatives•Recognize multidisciplinary nature of justice services•Improve emphasis on execution of judicial decisions•Encourage measures that provide flexibility and innovation in service provision (e.g e-justice, mobile courts, family mediation, youth restorative justice, judicial mapping)•Develop excellence standards and certification systems for justice services

Enhancing Access2Justice:Demand and Supply Approaches Other Sector

Institutions

Formal Mechanisms

Traditional Mechanisms

Population (%) 19 32 49

Ladino / Indig. 90 / 10 50 / 50 10 / 90

Judges 36 18 46

Lawyers 85 ~14 ~1

Cases (%) 35 40 25

Distribution of Judges, Lawyers and Court CasesDemand and Supply Mismatch Before Reforms 2000

Approaches: Leveraging the Internet for Corruption Monitoring

Approaches of Market for Legal Services: Legal professionals per 100.000 inhabitants

Approaches: At-Risk-Youth and Access to Justice

1. Victims’ RightsProtecting and reintegrating young people who are victims of crime (including traffickingand other forms of harm and violence)

2. Restorative JusticeSeeking alternatives to the incarceration of young offenders, and supporting rehabilitation and reintegraton of those who receive custodial sentences

3. Prevention and EducationReaching out to young people as future users, operators, and actors of the system,and as future members of civil society charged with safeguarding checks and balances of the system

RestorativeJustice

Prevention and Education

Victims’Rights

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Approaches: Towards Juditecture (Courthouses that Leverage Modern Technology and Architecture

Together in Bring Services Closer to the People)

“Juditecture is a means to an end”Design and construction of courthouses and provision of e-justice technologies should cater to

judicial reform priorities and meet appropriate functional standards and norms

Physical Space and location Technologies and tools

Approaches: E & M Justice

• For the judicial system as a whole– M and E-justice tools for judicial proceedings and

administration (e.g. Singapore, Turkey, Finland, Australia, Ethiopia)• E-filing, e-fees, e-records, e-notifications, e-case

management systems, e-court recording, e-laws, e-decision

• E-media, e-coordination, e-communication• E-management information, e-statistics, e-

learning• For the society as a whole

– Judicial portals and mobile applications for transparency and accessibility (e.g. Estonia)

• Radio: Community Justice (e.g. Tanzania, Brazil, Tamaulipas)• TV: Judicial Dialogue (e.g. Mexico, Ukraine, South Africa, Russia)• Schools: “Student Judges” (e.g. Guatemala, Costa Rica)• University/NGOs: Youth Justice (e.g. Philippines, Poland, Chile)

Approaches: User Education

Sources: Author and http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=16315&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

Approaches: Citizen Outreach• Media dissemination of annual reports, Citizen Charters

(e.g. Netherlands, UK), “Open Days” (e.g. Kenya)• One-Stop-Shop for Justice Services (Casas de Justicia)

(e.g. Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Tri. & Tobago)• Culture and Justice (e.g. Problem Solving Courts

Australia, Indigenous Courts Quintana Roo & Chiapas Mexico, Multi-lingual services in Canada & Singapore)

• Mobile Courts to help the poor and vulnerable access justice (e.g. Guatemala, Philippines, East Timor)

Thank YouReferences include:

• http://www.accesoalajusticia.cl/primerforo/si/webjusticia/expo2.htm• www.Oj.gob.gt• ABA-CEELI• UNDP• HOK; Kitai O-Group; KIRK; Mauser; MMN, Hardenberg, and others• World Bank project specialists and experts including Rick Messick,

David Bernstein, Roberto Panzardi, Gerald Thacker, Eric Petersen, Christina Biebeshiemer, Lisa Bhansali, David Varela, Davit Melikyan, Heike Gramshaw, Barry Walsh, Vivek Maru, Klaus Decker, Maria Amelina, Maninder Gill

• Supreme Courts of Guatemala, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Turkey, T&T, Honduras, Venezuela, Singapore, Australia, Philippines, Mexico

• National Center for State Courts• Chicago - Ken College of Law• Croatian and Turkish Ministry of Justice• Others