Draft:People-centered Justice

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People-centered justice is a way to organize justice services and the justice system in the broadest sense of the word,[1] around the aspiration that justice should be equally accessible and effective for all people, enabling them to resolve justice problems, address injustices, stand up for their rights, resolve disputes effectively and access the services that they are entitled to.[2] [3] It focuses on the most common justice problems that people face and what works to resolve them and it recognizes that justice systems are not delivering for the vast majority of people.[4]

The approach recognizes that an inclusive and effective justice sector is a pre-condition to the achievement of many other societal goals,[5] including the other goals set out in the UN's 2030 Agenda.[6]

Origin and context[edit]

People-centered justice has been used sporadically in academic work, for example 2011 in a study on the Justice Sector in Singapore[7] and in 2012 in a book review.[8] It is unclear who first coined the term, but the adjective "people-centered" has been used in other contexts including, people-centered development, people-centered health systems[9] and people-centered design.[10] The concept of people-centered justice is closely related to the idea of legal empowerment and this understanding builds on the work of the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor which concluded in 2009.[11] [12]

The concept of people-centered justice gained prominence in the context of global debates on the rule of law and access to justice, inspired by the adoption of SDG 16, which has at its heart the global goal to provide access to justice for all by 2030.[13] In that context a global Task Force on Justice worked to set out an agenda for the achievement of the goal of providing equal access to justice for all.[14][15][16] From 2018 onward, the OECD policy round table on access to justice, and its corresponding workstream, was focused on people-centered justice.[1]

People-centered justice as an approach emerged in response to the empirical reality that most justice systems around the world provide justice for the few, not justice for all.[17] At the global level, this gap between the justice people want and need, and the justice they receive is conceptualized as the Global Justice Gap.[18]

There are explicit linkages between people-centered justice and human rights. The effective realization of human rights and the prevention of human rights violations large and small, are intrinsic to people-centered justice: it emphasizes individuals as rights-holders and recognizes that equal access to justice is critical to sustainable development and peaceful societies.

The principles of people-centered justice[edit]

A series of international declarations, agreements and statements have recognized five central principles of people-centered justice:[19]

  1. Put people and their justice needs at the center of justice systems
  2. Resolve justice problems
  3. Improve the quality of people’s justice journeys
  4. Use justice for prevention
  5. Provide people with means to access services and opportunities

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Time to Commit to Justice for All". Newsweek. 2019-08-07. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
  2. ^ "Task Force on Justice ¦ Justice for All Report". Justice Task Force. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
  3. ^ "Opinion: Most people have no access to basic justice. But the fix is easier than you think". The Independent. 2019-04-29. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
  4. ^ "Justice out of reach for two in three, U.N. report says". Reuters. 2019-07-08. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
  5. ^ "Riga statement - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development". www.oecd.org. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
  6. ^ "People-centred justice pays rich dividends". www.gulftoday.ae. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
  7. ^ Cheah Wui Ling, Developing a People-Centered Justice in Singapore: In Support of Pro Bono and Innocence Work, 80 U. CIN. L. REV. 1429 (2012).
  8. ^ Wells, Gary L. "Toward a More People-Centered System of Justice: A New Framework for Examining Wrongful Convictions." Judicature, vol. 96, no. 1, 2012, pp. 45-46. ProQuest
  9. ^ De Man, Jeroen, et al. "Patient-centered care and people-centered health systems in sub-Saharan Africa: Why so little of something so badly needed?." (2016).
  10. ^ "People-centered design", Design and the Social Sciences, pp. 50–56, 2002, doi:10.1201/9780203301302-11, ISBN 9780429219276, retrieved 2023-03-29
  11. ^ CIC, NYU (2018-09-27). "Legal Empowerment, Justice and Inclusion". Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
  12. ^ "Opinion: Most people have no access to basic justice. But the fix is easier than you think". The Independent. 2019-04-29. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
  13. ^ "Riga statement - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development". www.oecd.org. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
  14. ^ "Justice out of reach for two in three, U.N. report says". Reuters. 2019-07-08. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
  15. ^ Hodal, Kate (2019-04-29). "Poor bear the brunt as global justice system fails 5.1 billion people – study". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
  16. ^ "People-centred justice pays rich dividends". www.gulftoday.ae. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
  17. ^ See for example for Canada: Farrow, T.C.W. and Jacobs, L.A., The Justice Crisis: The Cost and Value of Accessing Law, 2021, University of British Columbia Press, https://books.google.com/books?id=Ov2bzQEACAAJ; for the United States: Legal Services Corporation. 2022. The Justice Gap: The Unmet Civil Legal Needs of Low-income Americans. Prepared by Mary C. Slosar, Slosar Research, LLC.  https://lsc-live.app.box.com/s/xl2v2uraiotbbzrhuwtjlgi0emp3myz1
  18. ^ Task Force on Justice, Justice for All – Final Report. (New York: Center on International Cooperation, 2019), available at https://www.justice.sdg16.plus/ and for a global estimate of the justice gap: World Justice Project, Measuring the Justice Gap: A People-Centered Assessment of Unmet Justice Needs Around the World, available at: https://worldjusticeproject.org/our-work/research-and-data/access-justice/measuring-justice-gap
  19. ^ The principles of people-centered justice have been endorsed by over 55 countries through the Hague Declaration on Equal Access to Justice for All by 2030, the Buenos Aires Declaration on Equal Access to Justice for All, the g7+ Joint Action Plan on Access to Justice for All in Conflict-Affected Countries, the Joint Letter to the UN Secretary-General on Reimagining social contracts: A call to put people at the center of justice, the endorsement of the Joint Letter by the Conferencia de Ministros de Justicia de los Países Iberoamericanos (COMJIB), the OECD Riga Justice Agenda: Transforming justice for a vibrant social contract and the Joint Statement and Call to Action on the Rule of Law and People-Centered Justice.
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