Impact by Regions, Countries & Territories
UNDP’s Global Programme supports crisis-affected contexts across all regions to strengthen the rule of law and human rights. In this section, we present five regional overviews, detailing our priorities and approach depending on the context, as well as feature select country and territory results from 2021.
Five contexts from the list (Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Mali and Yemen) illustrate the achievements of the Global Focal Point for the Rule of Law (GFP). In peacekeeping missions and transition settings, UNDP’s Global Programme works through the GFP to deliver integrated assistance with our UN partners.
GFP Global Focal Point Highlights
Political
Engagement
The rule of law is essential for sustainable peace and resilient economies, as well as for the prevention or recurrence of conflict. To prevent or address injustice, inequalities or democratic deficits, UNDP works with multiple stakeholders to operate in a way that is consistent with the rule of law and creates opportunities for all individuals to exercise their rights and access justice.
Institution
Building
The importance of strong institutions is more evident than ever as countries and communities respond to disruption, whether because of public health restrictions, climate change or political upheaval. Limitations on public gatherings and travel have revealed the need for institutions that are resilient to disruption.
Community
Security
2021 was a pivotal year that saw various developments affecting peace and security around the world. Civic space continued to shrink and the social contract between states and citizens was increasingly challenged, particularly during and after the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Facing distressing consequences of climate change, states and communities are forced to manage more cross-border conflicts, triggered by the displacement of people seeking increasingly scarce resources.
Human Rights
Systems
The scope of human rights challenges is widening, from eroded public trust and shrinking civic space to ongoing inequality and human rights impacts in the socio-economic repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, and emerging risks in the digital sphere. National human rights institutions (NHRIs), along with other human rights defenders, are facing rising and sophisticated forms of reprisals for carrying out their work.
Access to
Justice
Sustainable Development Goal 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) of the 2030 Agenda highlights the importance of access to justice for all for the development of peaceful and inclusive societies. Meaningful access to justice can only be achieved when people know their rights, have the opportunities, agency and capacities to claim them, and have access to independent, inclusive and people-centred justice systems that will respond in a timely, fair and effective manner.
Transitional
Justice
Without justice, there can be no lasting peace. In post-conflict, crisis-affected and fragile contexts, truth-seeking initiatives and reconciliation efforts are essential to bring peace to affected communities. The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down transitional processes as states prioritized their response to the health crisis and measures to support the economy.
Gender
Justice
In 2021, the continued erosion of democracy and the spread of authoritarian trends in politics in many parts of the world contributed to a backlash against women’s rights. The COVID-19 crisis has reversed some of the hard-won gender parity gains by exacerbating pre-existing inequalities and power imbalances. It has also caused a dramatic increase in sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). All these challenges have been particularly acute in conflict, fragile and crisis-affected settings.
Innovation
New ideas and new strategies are critical to building sustainable and effective development approaches that really meet people’s needs. Technologies and globalization raise new human rights concerns and threaten the rule of law. Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic continue to limit people’s access to basic services. UNDP connected expertise across the globe to learn and adapt. Creating a culture of curiosity and experimentation, these efforts ensured that local needs and expertise were combined with emerging models to bring strategic thinking to people-centred development goals.
Eswatini
In Eswatini, UNDP supported the Commission on Human Rights to document and investigate human rights violations that happened during the civil unrest in the country in 2021, and to monitor the human rights situation on an ongoing basis. The work of the Commission contributed to the empowerment of citizens, to the progress in ensuring accountability for reported police brutality and capacity building of law enforcement.
At the end of 2021, the situation in Eswatini remained tense and volatile, with sporadic incidences of violence. Despite the declared efforts to hold a national dialogue, uncertainty prevailed regarding its modality, leading entity and the timeline. In this complex context, with UNDP’s support, the Commission on Human Rights continued to monitor and to investigate reported cases of human rights violations that happened during the unrest, including those allegedly committed by law-enforcement. This ongoing activity fulfilled a preventive function and had a positive effect on the conduct of the police and other security officials. It has also increased the level of public trust in the Commission and brought confidence that there is a body where people can go to report violations and seek redress. This is evidenced by the 133 percent increase in the number of cases reported to the Commission since it scaled up its monitoring and investigative activities. At least seven cases were reported alleging police or military brutality; they are under investigation. To compare, previously only three cases alleging torture committed by the police had been reported to the Commission since 2015.
In October 2021, the Commission published a preliminary report with independently verified evidence, including the number of casualties and detentions. The report was disseminated among government officials, UN agencies, other partners and donors, and civil society. This facilitated a safe space to discuss the findings, not least those where the data was inconsistent with the official government statistics. One of the key recommendations of the report was to provide training for law enforcement to ensure their conduct is in line with international human rights standards. The Royal Eswatini Police has already requested UN support for such capacity building. A scoping mission planned for April 2022 will inform the preparations for the training on human rights-based policing due in May 2022.
In addition, UNDP worked with the Ministry of Justice and Commission on Human Rights to improve access to justice in the country. Two regional justice hubs in two of the country’s four regions were set up, with personnel recruited and equipped to provide legal services. The Commission received UNDP’s support to launch a digital platform for citizens to lodge complaints or share information on human rights violations. The platform will become fully operational in 2022. Overall, the interventions of the Ministry of justice and the Commission have a potential to facilitate access to information and to enable mechanisms for more inclusive national dialogue in Eswatini.
Key Results: Eswatini
A 133% increase in the number of cases of alleged policy brutality reported to the Commission on Human Rights.
UNDP supported the Commission on Human Rights to publish an independent report on the human rights situation in Eswatini, enabling a safe space to discuss violations with the authorities and advocate for accountability.
Two justice hubs were set up in the two busiest regions of the country and a digital mechanism to report violations was created by the Commission on human rights and development.