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.

State of Palestine

UNDP’s Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People (PAPP), through the Joint UNDP, UN Women, UNICEF Sawasya II Programme,1 facilitated digitalization of key justice processes using the Mizan II case management technology,2 which allowed for greater connectivity and the development of citizen-centred applications over the past 20 years. Among others, the digitalization of the process of alimony payment reduced the disproportionate impact on women and released critical court resources, particularly at the level of enforcement departments. Since 2021, alimony orders have been transferred from the courts directly to the banks making it easier for claimants, usually women, to receive the money. Before that, claimants had been expected to present proof of their right to alimony and liaise with financial institutions. In addition, digitalization helped curtail instances of payment failures or delays by allowing for the automatic recording of incidents that can inform the timely corrective measures to the benefit of women.

Strides made on the digitalization front also increased the capacity of the High Judicial Council and the Ministry of Justice to produce automated reports to monitor and stipulate progress towards achieving the targets set up by the Justice Sector Strategy.

Important policy measures were introduced in 2021 to guarantee access to justice and equality of arms in court, with the milestone decisions to form legal aid bodies in front of both Islamic and Ecclesiastical family courts for the provision of free legal aid services to individuals who cannot afford representation by a private lawyer. This takes forward the support provided by the Sawasya II Programme to the work of the National Legal Aid Committee in the area of family law. In parallel, over 28,700 Palestinians accessed legal aid and in-person awareness raising sessions across the occupied Palestinian territory in partnership with civil society organizations. Women accounted for 73 percent of this number, with the vast majority of them seeking to bring complaints into family justice systems.

In the context of a degraded political, humanitarian and operational environment, demand for legal aid services for children supported by Sawasya II increased by 100 percent in 2021, particularly in East Jerusalem. In parallel, 2021 was marked by the rollout of key diversionary measures for children in contact with Palestinian criminal justice as set out in the Juvenile Protection Law of 2016. This resulted in a four percent increase in the number of children who could access mediation services as compared to 2020. This achievement was underpinned by the adoption of dedicated guidelines by the Attorney General’s Office, the Palestinian Civil Police and the Ministry of Social Development and the identification of 14 mediators. The mediators were selected through a robust process over the course of which they were trained and identified from among 72 candidates based on their theoretical and practical knowledge of mediation, including of domestic and international child justice instruments.

An-Najah National University working session
Working session at the An-Najah National University legal clinic which provides legal aid services to vulnerable Palestinians. Nablus, State of Palestine.Photo: Sawasya
  • 1 “The Sawasya II Programme: Promoting the Rule of Law in Palestine” seeks to support the Government of Palestine in building a progressively functioning and increasingly inclusive rule of law system that respects, protects and fulfils human rights and gender equality and, in parallel, promotes peace and security.
  • 2 Mizan II is the State of Palestine-owned case management system utilized by the enforcement departments of regular courts and family courts.

Key Results: State of Palestine

Over 28,700 Palestinians accessed legal aid and in-person awareness raising sessions across the occupied Palestinian territory.

More than 71,000 individuals received access to information about alternative justice mechanisms for dispute resolution, such as mediation and arbitration services.

Four percent increase in the number of children in conflict with the law who accessed mediation services as compared to 2020.