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.

Colombia

In Colombia, UNDP, in cooperation with national authorities, improved access to justice and truth for 306,082 people. This number includes 3,092 individual victims and 300,000 members of ethnic groups appearing before the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP); 1,759 beneficiaries of ordinary justice services at the local level, and 1,231 ex-combatants.

UNDP supported the JEP in enabling direct or indirect participation of victims in the judicial processes within the seven current macro-cases under investigation. This includes individual representation in judicial processes as well as collective representation for victims who belong to indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombian communities. UNDP ensured the implementation of differential approaches (ethnic, gender and territorial) in litigation methodologies respecting indigenous worldviews and the rights to self-determination guaranteed by the indigenous law. Furthermore, in joint work with the JEP, 933 amnesty resolutions were issued, leading to the legal security of 1,231 former FARC combatants in reintegration processes, thus contributing to non-recurrence and reconciliation.

Over 45,600 victims of the armed conflict (25,090 women and 20,528 men) could exercise their right to reparation through the implementation of measures within collective reparation, return and relocation plans in joint work with the Victims’ Unit of the Government of Colombia. Most of the measures, implemented under the leadership and with active participation of victims, included the restoration of small community infrastructure, recovery of historical memory, and provision of equipment and goods for artistic and cultural development.

In coordination with the Ministry of Justice, the capacities and knowledge of 422 civil servants and members of 40 grassroots organizations (45 percent women) in 22 prioritized municipalities were strengthened to solve land use and ownership conflicts through alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. In addition, capacities of 22 Family Services Offices (Comisarías de Familia) were diagnosed and action plans for improvement set in place to provide access to justice services at the local level. This led to an improved response to cases of gender-based violence (GBV) and domestic violence in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jointly with the Comprehensive System for Truth, Justice, Reparation and Non-Recurrence (SIVJRNR), UNDP contributed to setting up a Unified Risk Monitoring Mechanism to protect participants of the transitional justice processes who face the risk of violence. Taking into account geographical and time factors, this tool enables visualization of security threats that may affect victims of the armed conflict, persons in reintegration processes and civil society organizations (CSOs) which participate in the transitional justice system. The monitoring mechanism alerts CSOs and responsible authorities about the possible occurrence of violations of the rights to life, physical integrity, liberty and security that could affect individual or collective participants of the transitional justice processes throughout the country.

Together with the U.S. Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) and the National Police of Colombia, UNDP implemented local development projects that involved police officers and community members in six prioritized municipalities. Through these projects, community infrastructure and technical assistance to small and medium enterprises benefited over 9,000 people. Such joint initiatives resulted in the increased level of public trust in the Police Directorate of Rural Security (DICAR), from 44 percent to 95.4 percent, and the perception of mistrust decreased from 22.7 percent to five percent over a two-year period.

La Gabarra Collective reparation measures
Collective reparation measures in the township of La Gabarra, municipality of Tibú, Norte de Santander.Photo: UNDP

Key Results: Colombia

Improved access to justice and truth for 306,082 people in the framework of transitional justice processes carried out by the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP). This number encompasses 3,092 individual victims and 300,000 members of ethnic groups appearing before JEP; 1,759 beneficiaries of ordinary justice services at the local level, and 1,231 ex-combatants whose legal situation had to be resolved.

Based on 990 UNDP-conducted surveys, following the implementation of local development initiatives, levels of public trust to and recognition of the National Police (DICAR) at the community level in six municipalities in three departments of the country (Antioquia, Caquetá and Putumayo) increased from 44% in 2019 to 95.4% in 2021.

45,618 victims of the armed conflict (25,090 women and 20,528 men) could exercise their right to reparation through the implementation of measures within collective reparation plans.