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

Africa

Arab States

Latin America & The Caribbean

Asia-Pacific

Europe & Central Asia

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.

Guinea (Conakry)

Following the military coup d'état of 5 September 2021, caused in part by years of poor governance, corruption and repeated violations of individual and collective rights, the new transitional authorities committed to improve the rule of law and justice in Guinea. They also committed to strengthening the independence of the judiciary and to improving the fight against impunity and corruption. Upon the request of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, UNDP provided support to improve the legal and regulatory criminal and correction framework. In December 2021, two workshops were therefore held: firstly one with experts from the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights as well as magistrates, and then a larger validation workshop with members of the gendarmerie and police as well as civil society representatives, including lawyers. This approach made it possible to draft a framework that brought together 58 operational texts to ease the implementation of the Criminal Procedure Code. The adoption of this legislation is planned for 2022 and is expected to bring positive effects, such as allowing for alternative measures to detention and relieving congestion in penitentiary establishments.

Before the change of regime, UNDP had supported the evaluation of the achievements of the 2015-2019 Justice Reform Priority Action Plan and the development of a Roadmap of Priority Actions for Justice and Human Rights for 2022-2024. The new authorities have committed to the continuation of these reforms in 2022, with the support of UNDP. The implementation of the justice roadmap, as well as of the penal and prison policies, will improve access to justice for the most vulnerable citizens that cannot afford legal representation and is expected to increase public confidence in the justice system.

To further support the security sector, UNDP organized a training for 26 defence and security forces officers and magistrates, including three women, on techniques to fight and prosecute cybercrimes.

UNDP also supported the deployment of 650 soldiers to MINUSMA, through the capacity reinforcement of the Training and Peacekeeping Operations Centre (CEOMP), and the organization of training sessions needed for such deployments, including on human rights principles and civil-military relationships.

In cooperation with General Direction for Civil Protection at the Guinean Ministry of Security and Civil Protection, UNDP trained 100 young volunteers between the ages of 18 to 30, amongst them 41 women, from N'Zérékoré region in first aid techniques to compensate for the lack of medical facilities. This will enable citizens to save lives in situations where first aid is required. The experience will be replicated in the regions of Kankan, Labé and Kindia.

Workshop participants
Participants of the workshop organized by UNDP to raise awareness about the Civil Code among civil regional registrars, August 2021.Photo: UNDP

Key Results: Guinea (Conakry)

To enhance registration of civil acts, 174 civil registrars, including 36 women, from rural communities in the regions of Labé, Mamou and Faranah and local civil society activists were trained on the new provisions of the Civil Code to ensure that they will implement new provisions related to birth, death, and wedding certificates.

UNDP conducted two studies to identify shortcomings and propose recommendations to modernize the methods of the technical and scientific units of the national police.

As part of the fight against the proliferation and illicit circulation of small arms and light weapons, UNDP together with OCWAR-C, the «West African Response on Cybersecurity and Fight against Cybercrime», collected 39 individual firearms, 12 grenades and 2,708 rounds of automatic weapons in région forestière in the Southern part of the country.