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.

Iraq

In Iraq, UNDP commissioned a survey which reaffirmed that over 30 percent of the Iraqi people believe that supporting government efforts to reform the security and justice sector is one of the essential preconditions for people’s safety and security. The survey was conducted in the six priority governorates where UNDP implements its Security and Justice programme (Anbar, Baghdad, Basra, Karbala, Ninewa and Salah al-Din).

To respond to this demand, UNDP provided technical advisory support to the Government of Iraq (GoI) in the implementation of its Security Sector Reform Programme, including in the drafting of a new National Security Strategy. UNDP technical support allowed the drafting committee to produce the first draft of the strategy and initiate a wide-ranging consultative process involving government stakeholders and civil society organizations (CSOs). Similarly, and in support of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and the Second National Action Plan of the Government of Iraq on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), UNDP co-established the WPS 1325 Action Partners Working Group in partnership with the NATO Mission in Iraq.

UNDP supported the local police in the six priority governorates to build and promote its partnership with the communities. In 2021, UNDP supported the community-police partnership through 13 low value grants to 11 Iraqi CSOs to implement 13 Quick Impact Projects (QIP). The activities of these projects ranged from identifying local security and safety issues to raising community awareness and establishing joint community-police partnerships to address these issues. A total of 1,585 community members (1,268 men, 317 women) participated in partnership building.

UNDP undertook efforts to strengthen the capacity of local police and enable improvements to the quality of its service. In addition to the design of the local police service roadmap and the standard operating procedures (SoP) for criminal investigations, UNDP supported the training of mid-ranking police managers on crime prevention, criminal investigations, police management, homicide investigations and suspect interviewing. This has resulted in the increased trust of the population in the local police as shown in the 2021 survey: apart from Baghdad and Basra where the Iraqi Security Forces and the Army are the most trusted, the level of confidence in the local police in four other priority governorates increased from 62.3 percent in 2016 and 65.2 percent in 2018 to 76.7 percent in 2021.

UNDP enhanced social cohesion in Iraq through an integrated and multi-dimensional approach to the reintegration of former combatants. In 2021, 35 percent of the population in the six priority governorates believed that the presence of armed groups represented the primary reason for their unsafety. UNDP contributed to overcoming this challenge through the Community Security Integration Process, in partnership with its Social Cohesion Programme. Twelve-week vocational training sessions were organized for 103 disengaged former volunteer fighters (including 28 women) followed by business development training and a business start-up grant. UNDP supported two community security investment schemes in rehabilitating two primary schools in two localities in Qairawan, which will benefit approximately 1,500 boys and girls.

Training on improving the effectiveness participants
Participant of a training on improving the effectiveness of local police, Baghdad, Iraq. Capacity building for police officers, especially female, is a key component of UNDP Iraq’s Security Sector Reform/Rule of Law programme.Photo: UNDP Iraq

Key Results: Iraq

Public trust in the local police increased from 65.25% in 2018 to 76.75% in 2021.

1,032 mid–ranking police managers benefitted from UNDP-supported trainings (including training of trainers) on crime prevention, criminal investigations, police management, homicide investigations, and suspect interviewing. 556 officers (including 12 women) participated in direct training, and 476 officers received cascade trainings delivered by the Iraqi police trainers trained by UNDP.

89 male and three female judges, prosecutors, investigators, auditors, financial analysts, and other officers dealing with financial investigations received training on financial crimes investigations.