strengthening rule of law and access to justice for the disadvantaged groups and marginalized...

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Women

sRights

LegalA

id

Marginalized Communities

NationalHumanRightsInstitutions

Gend

erMains

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Acces to JusticeRule of Law

Legal EmpowermentVictim Support

Persons Living with HIV/AIDSDisadvantaged Groups

RightsofMinorities

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entaryDevelopment

StrengtheningRule ofLaw

andAccess to Justice fortheDisadvantagedGroups and

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Annual Rule of Law and Access to Justice Regional Community of Practice Forum 2011

UNDP REGIONAL CENTRE FOR EUROPE AND THE CIS

Empowered lives.

Resilient nations.


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StrengtheningRule ofLawand Access to Justice for theDisadvantaged Groups andMarginalized Communities

Annual Rule of Law and Access to JusticeRegional Community of Practice Forum 2011

Izmir, Turkey

September 2011

R E P O R T


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Acknowledgements

Author: Jasmina Mujkanovi

With special thanks to colleagues from UNDP Country Offices for providing information and updateson DGTTF projects for the peer review (in alphabetical order): Andrei Brighidin, (Moldova),Violeta Liovi(Croatia), Nera Nazei (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Selim Selimi (Kosovo), Natalia Stupnytska (Ukraine)

Lessons Learned Series: Rule of Law, Justice and Human Rights

UNDP Regional Centre for Europe and the CIS

Copyright 2013By the United Nations Development Programme

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval systemor transmitted, in all forms by any means, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise withoutprior permission.

The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarilyrepresent those of the United Nations, including UNDP, or their Member States.


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Tableofcontents

Abreviations and Acronyms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

1. Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2. Strengthening Rule of Law and Access to Justice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Country presentation: Turkey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Rule of Law presentation: Kosovo1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Country presentation: Tajikistan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

CONCLUSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

3. Making Justice Work for the Disadvantaged Groups and Marginalised Communities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Women and the Rule of Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

UN Women Global Report 2011 Progress of the Worlds Women (In Pursuit of Justice)

and Regional Challenges: Taking forward the Recommendations

challenges and opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Success story: SEESAC Support for Gender Mainstreaming in Policing:

The Women Police Officers Network in South East Europe (WPON). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Modernise and Rebalance the Justice System for Victims and Law abiding Majority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Rule of law, Justice and Security from a gender perspective: Success story:

Victim and Witness Support Croatia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Regional Initiative: Victim and Witness Care in the Western Balkans in light of UNDP-EU

partnership and Possible Replication in other Sub-regions?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

4. Legal Empowerment from the Regional Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Connecting the Dots: Promoting Social Inclusion through Legal Empowerment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Local context: Ukraine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Local context: Albania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

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1 Hereafter referred to in the context of the UN Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999)


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5. The Role of the Civil Society Organizations in Strengthening Access to Justice

by the Disadvantaged Groups and Marginalized Communities Road Map for the Future . . . . . . . . . . 31

Access to Justice and CSOs: Regional Issues, Programming Opportunities

and Functional Strategies findings and recommendations

from the Thematic Working Groups sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Thematic Working Group on Minorities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Thematic Working Group on People Living with or Affected by HIV/AIDS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Thematic Working Group on Gender Issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

6. ANNEX I: DGTTF Peer Review report:

Advancing Rights and Justice through innovative and catalytic projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Peer Review of the ongoing DGTTF projects in the region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

7. ANNEX II: Annual Rule of Law and Access to Justice Regional CoP Forum 2011

Evaluation Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

8. ANNEX III: CoP AGENDA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

9. ANNEX IV: LIST OF PARTICIPANTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

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RoL Rule of Law

SEE South East Europe

SEESAC South Eastern and Eastern Europe Clearinghouse for the Control of the Small Arms

and Light Weapons

SEPCA Southeast Europe Police Chief Association

SG Secretary-General

TTF Thematic Trust Fund

UNAIDS Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS

UNCT United Nations Country Team

UNDAF United Nations Development Action Framework

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

UNFPA United Nations Population Fund

UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

UNICEF United Nations Childrens Fund

UNODC United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

UPR Universal Periodic Review

WHO World Health Organization

WPON Women Police Officers Network

WVS Witness and Victim Support

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Promoting the rule of law at both the national and

international levels is at the very heart of the United

Nations mission. The principle that everyone from

the individual right up to the State itself

is accountable to laws that are equally enforced

and independently adjudicated is a fundamentalconcept. It drives the UNs work in all areas and

at all levels from the maintenance of peace and

security to sustainable development.

Dr. Asha-Rose Migiro,UN Deputy Secretary-General and Chair of theRule of Law Coordination and Resource Group

In the past decade equitable and accessiblejustice has increasingly been recognised as keycomponent in promoting good governance,rule of law and poverty reduction. Transitionpositioned justice sector reform as a priority for

many countries in Europe and the CIS whichhave succeeded to a large extent in creatingeffective and efficient governance systems thatrespect the rule of law and human rights. Many

countries in the region have established lawsand institutions, such as judicial bodies, nationalhuman rights commissions or ombudsmanoffices, which protect human rights and ensure

access to justice.

However, some of those initial reform initiativeswere undertaken without adequate andappropriate consultation with the beneficiaries,

particularly marginalized and disadvantagedgroups. A balanced, multi-level approachin improving access to justice and human rightswas missing from the regional discourse.2

Discriminatory practices, biases within

institutions, and inadequate legal frameworksstill produce social exclusion.

Almost all countries in the region underwentUniversal Periodic Review the UN HumanRights Council process in the past threeyears, with Moldova and Tajikistan beingscheduled for October this year. Someimportant issues that can be derived from the

UPR recommendations concerning rule of law

and access to justice with a special focuson disadvantaged include:

There is a substantial difference betweenwhat law establishes and what happensde facto. Similarly, disadvantaged people

often have grievances (e.g. forced eviction,rape, torture) that they do not feelempowered to address through the legalsystems, particularly where laws do not

provide specific protection;Formal justice systems have generally notreached out to most disadvantaged people,who are generally not able to access those

systems;Although formal legal ways to access justicemay exist, these are usually not utilised bydisadvantaged people partly due to distrust,alienation and lack of knowledge.

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Background

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2 Regional Human Development Report: Beyond transition, towards inclusive societies:http://europeandcis.undp.org/home/show/BCBE0C20-F203-1EE9-B455A13AB9956F84


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According to the 2009 UNDP BRC3 Report onthe UNDP access to justice survey in Europe and

the Commonwealth of Independent States4,

the highest percentage amongvulnerable/marginalized groups in Europeand CIS belongs to that of women and

children, both groups at 64.3 percent. Othersinclude the elderly, persons with disabilities,persons with HIV/AIDS, ethnic minorities,persons of a non-heterosexual orientation,refugees, largely in the countries of the

Western Balkans, migrant workers andasylum seekers.

The UNDP (Europe and the CIS) has initiateda number of justice sector projects in various

countries in the region; supporting reformprocesses and finding ways in which the

judiciary would be more effective, transparent

and responsive in delivering services to peoplewith a special focus on disadvantaged groups.

The events in 2011 Sub-Regional Training onStrategic Planning and Communication for theNHRIs in South-east Europe/Western Balkans inZadar (4-6 May 2011), Regional Conference on

Human Rights and Social Justice for the Personswith Disabilities in Ashgabat (2-3 June 2011),Regional Policy Dialogue on LegalEmpowerment in Kyiv (21-22 July 2011) areclear evidence of increasing recognition for theimportance of social inclusion within a broaderUNDP human rights and justice agenda.

Furthermore, one of the key outcomes of theRegional Legal Empowerment Policy Dialogue

was agreement to connect and partner withUNDP practices in supporting justice and relatedsystems so that they work for those who arepoor and disadvantaged. Inclusive growth,as one of the key elements of sustained povertyreduction, is strongly connected to law and

development, particularly when it comesto ensuring access to justice for the poor and

vulnerable. Rule of law, legal empowerment andlegal institutions, which are inclusive andaccessible to the poor and disadvantaged, are

imperative to ensure the rights of participation,especially for those most likely to be excluded,thus contributing to achieving objectives of the

inclusive growth.

Forum Objectives:

1. Promote policy and programming discussion

about challenges faced by disadvantagedgroups and marginalised communities, witha special focus on women and minoritiesin accessing justice system;

2. Present lessons learned and good practices

in use of mechanisms for facilitating accessto justice for disadvantaged groups and

marginalised communities (from the UNprogrammes, CSOs and governmentalor independent institutions);

3. To provide a forum for the members of theRegional Community of Practice (CoP)to meet and discuss specific challenges,issues and lessons learned in designing andimplementing DGTTF5 projects to better

inform future initiatives maximising cross-practice approach, wherever possible.

Apart from showcasing the good practices andidentifying challenges for UNDP developmentprogramming in the region, the Annual Ruleof Law and Access to Justice CoP Forum featuredpresentations from experts in the field of rule

of law, access to justice, gender, minority, andother issues.

The event was divided into four major thematicsessions:

1. Strengthening Rule of Law and Accessto Justice

2. Making Justice Work for the DisadvantagedGroups and Marginalised Communities

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3 UNDP Regional Centre for Europe and the CIS, often reffered to as Bratislava Regional Centre - BRC4 http://europeandcis.undp.org/uploads/public1/files/access%20to%20justice%20.pdf5 UNDP Democratic Governance Thematic Trust Fund

http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/democraticgovernance/democratic_governancethematictrustfund/


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3. Legal Empowerment from the RegionalPerspective

4. The Role of the Civil Society Organizations

in Strengthening Access to Justice by theDisadvantaged Groups and MarginalizedCommunities Road Map for the Future

5. Advancing Rights and Justice ThroughInnovative and Catalytic Projects Peer Review

The CoP Forum in Izmir was expanded to includepeer review of relevant Human Rights and Accessto Justice DGTTF projects. This was to create

further synergies with some of the catalyticinitiatives being implemented at the country level.Findings and recommendations of the review

panel are contained in the DGTTF Peer Reviewreport:Advancing Rightsand Justice through

innovative and catalytic projects (Annex III).

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UNDP has used many different entry points intoaccess to justice programming in the region.One of UNDPs most visible strengths isidentifying gaps/niches in developmentprogramming and designing appropriate

interventions/projects to address them.

The specific objective of this session was toinform the design of future programmes andto identify replicable/catalytic approachesand/or innovative examples.

Country presentation:Turkey

Turkey became an associate member of theEuropean Union in 1999. Turkeys efforts towardsaccession to the European Union and theobligations to harmonize legislation with theAcquisof the EU and its Member States havedriven extensive reforms in the judicial, law

enforcement and corrections sectors. On itsaccession path, Turkish Government is activelyfollowing National Programme for the Adoptionof theAcquis. However, apart from European

Union membership process, the judicial reformin the new millennium is also driven by variousother factors. Since 2001, Turkish economy hasbeen one of the strongest in the world. Fast

growing and developing economy as well associal, cultural and technological developmentswere positive contextual factors that influenced

judicial reform efforts over the past decade.On the other side, increasing demand from thepublic for more freedom and democracy, non-

confidence crisis experienced in the judicial

system, and demands and expectationsof international community pushed the judicialreform agenda at the front of overall democraticreform efforts in the Country.

Judicial Reform Strategy and Strategic Planof the Ministry of Justice (2009 2014) weredeveloped as the two main strategic documentsunderpinning the judicial reform process.

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Human resources, physicaland technological infrastructure in lightof thejudicial reforminTurkey

in the newmillennium6

In the last decade:

Total number of judges and prosecu-tors was increased by 26%, and thenumber of auxiliary staff by 75%;Budget for judicial services wasapproximately doubled and was notaffected by the global economic crisis;

Justice Academy of Turkey wasestablished in order to meeteducational needs of justice systememployees;Modern penal institutions wereestablished, and those penalinstitutions that failed to meet theinternational standards were closed;In this period, 143 courthouseswere built.

6 Presentation by Alpaslan Azapagasi, Judge, Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Turkey


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Reform activities undertaken to date includedstructural changes and changes of legislativeframework, but have also affected human

resources, physical and technologicalinfrastructure.

However, further efforts are needed in orderto achieve objectives contained in the Ministryof Justice Strategic Plan. UNDP Turkey togetherwith the Ministry of Justice is implementingseveral projects in support of the judicial reform

initiatives of Turkey for increased access tojustice and enhanced efficiency of the judiciary:

Support to Improvement of Practice ofMediation in Criminal and Civil Justice System

the project aims to support theGovernment of Turkey to improve practicesof alternative dispute resolution in criminal

and civil justice system in Turkey. The projectwill achieve this through capacityenhancement and awareness raisingprogrammes;Development of Preventive JusticeProgrammes for Legally Empowered Citizensand Increased Access to Justice for All

inTurkey the project aims to support theendeavours of the Government of Turkey,within the scope of the ongoing justicereform, for legally empowered citizens whohave enhanced access to justice. The projectwill achieve this through activitiesfor institutional and individual capacityassessment in the justice sector, and through

activities for public awareness on legal rights.

Judicial reform in Turkeywithin the wider context of the ruleof law and access to justice

NATIONAL JUDICIARY

INFORMATICS SYSTEM UYAP

UYAP has been designed in order to improve thefunctioning and efficiency of the judiciary and to

create an effective and less bureaucratic judicialsystem for the concerned institutions andindividuals. Its main features are:

As a central network project it includes allof the courts, public prosecutors services,prisons, other judicial institutions and other

government departments in Turkey; All judiciary processes, case management,

trials, correspondence and transactions were

transmitted into the electronic environmentwhich enables paperless office structure;

It is now possible to access electronicallyevery kind of data which is needed duringboth civil and criminal proceedings - all

legislation, regulations, circular letters,template texts, holdings of the courts,

jurisprudence, studies, exemplary texts,sample decisions;

The SMS judicial information system provides

an outstanding service for the citizens andlawyers: they can be instantly informed by SMS

about any kind of legal event related to themwithout going to courts ongoing cases,dates of court hearings, the last change in thecase and suits or debt claims against them;

Lawyers and citizens can examine all their files,deposit their case fee, submit any documentorclaim and file a case to any court ofTurkeythrough the Internet, by using their e-signature;

Decision Support System - in every stage ofinvestigation, especially during the hearings,the system may suggest some proposalsto the users whenever they request, or maywarn the users in order to prevent basic

judicial errors; Video conferencing systemswere set up in

225 criminal courts across the Country, and

the mobile video conference vehicles are alsoabout to be introduced;

Todays number of UYAP users exceeds60.000 with almost 40.000 average systemlogins per day.

PROBATION SERVICES

Probation and Assistance Service in Turkey wasestablished in 2005. To date, Probation andAssistance Centre Branches were founded

in 134 regions, and are connected to the ChiefPublic Prosecution. Duties of the TurkishProbation Service are:

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Supervision and follow up of the offendersAfter-care and reintegration services services provided to 3.063 offenders releasedfrom prisons between 2006-2011

Assistance services for victims supportprovided to 553 victims between 2006-2011

Assistance to courts 33.959 socialinvestigation reports were prepared between2006-2011

TURKISH JUSTICE ACADEMY

Turkish Justice Academy was established in 2003with the following duties:

In Service Training activities more than3.200 judges, prosecutors, lawyers andnotaries received training in the periodfrom 2004-2010;

Consultancy and advisory services the Academy provides consultancy servicesand delivers opinions concerning nationaland international law and justice andprofessional matters;Review, research and publications the

Academy issues Law and Justice ReviewJournal, Human Rights Journal, and Journal

of Justice Academy of Turkey;Documentation services the library of theAcademy contains over 15.000 documents,publications, and pieces of legislation;Pre-service Training and Internship morethan 3.900 trainees received initial trainingin the period from 2003-2010.

Ruleof Lawpresentation: Kosovo

The reform of the judiciary is a part of thenormative and institutional changes neededto bring Kosovo in line with international normsand standards. In support of these changes,

UNDP Kosovo is implementing a justiceprogramme which consists of the twomain pillars.

The first pillar, theRule of Law institutionalcapacity building, aims to provide support

to capacity building of justice institutionsin Kosovo, as well as support to professionalismand reform of overall practices in the sector.Continuous improvement of the skills of judgesand prosecutors remains a primary concern.In order to achieve it, there is need toestablishcontinuous legal education in the form of a long

term capacity building for judges, includingwomen judges. In that respect, UNDP Kosovois working closely with partner institutions

to implement the following activities:

Ministry of Justice organizationof trainings for potential Bar Exam candidates;support to legislative activities;

and strengthening the capacitiesof the Probation ServiceKosovo Judicial Institute supportto implementation of a long term andsustainable training programme for judges

and prosecutorsKosovo Chamber of Advocates provisionof expertise for the continuous legaleducation programme for lawyers in Kosovo,including expertise in gender-basedprogrammes.

The second pillar, Access to Justice, focuseson capacity development of expanding servicesin the area of legal assistance and information

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The current number of judges andprosecutors serving actively in Turkeyis 14.009. Among these, only 2.801 judgesand prosecutors (20%) are women.

However, considerable developmentis being experienced in this field: thecurrent rate of women judge andprosecutor candidates in the EducationCentre of Justice Academy is 60%.7

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awareness in order to enhance both demand andsupply of justice services especially to vulnerablegroups including minorities and women.

The main challenges for the access to justicein Kosovo:

Lack of public trust and confidencein the formal justice systemLarge case backlogsInability of people to exercise their civil and

political rightsGeneral lack of fulfilment of economic andsocial rights, especially among women andother vulnerable groupsInadequate quantity and quality of services,

government and civil society alikeLimited legal awareness and educationamong the general population.

While the Rule of Law project is oriented at theinstitutional capacity building at the centrallevel, the Access to Justice project involvesactivities at a grassroots level and is workingto support the citizens in their access to justice.It supports the process of Legal Empowerment

to facilitate a systemic change through whichthe marginalized and excluded become able touse the law, the legal system, and legal servicesto protect and advance their rights and interests.

Country presentation:Tajikistan

The presentation from Tajikistan was focusedon findings and recommendations of therecently published UNDP Regional HumanDevelopment Report:Beyond Transition, Towards

Inclusive Societies9.

The main purpose of the Regional Human

Development Report (RHDR) was to assess the

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8 Data from September 20119 Regional Human Development Report: Beyond transition, towards inclusive societies: http://www.undp.org/content/dam/

undp/library/Democratic%20Governance/Beyond%20Transition-%20Towards%20Inclusive%20Societies.pdf

KosovoRuleofLawProjectachievements to date8:

53 judges and prosecutors weretrained and appointed at all levelsof judiciary in Kosovo;40 specialized training sessions for cur-rent judges and prosecutors in Kosovo

were organized in the past three years;the project trained more than 500candidates for Bar Exam, whereas215 were women;the project supported 100 newlawyers to complete their internshipas a precondition to undertake the BarExam, whereas 40 were women.

Kosovo Access to Justice Projectachievements:

Legal aid outreach was improvedthrough expansion to 5 more Legal

Aid Offices;During one year of implementation,legal aid services were provided to1.100 people with 35% being womenand 27 % being ethnic minorities;

Technical Assistance provided for draft-ing of the national Law on Legal Aid;Legal awareness was improvedthrough use of mass media providinginformation on legal aid services

in 3 languages;In order to bring services closer to thecitizens 7 regional offices of theKosovo Chamber of Advocates wereestablished and made fully opera-tional. They are closely cooperatingwith the regional Legal Aid Offices;A secretariat for supporting the func-tions of the Mediation Commissionand Ministry of Justice mandated

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situation in the post-socialist countries in Europeand Central Asia in the context of socialexclusion and the transformations that havetaken place in these specific countries.

It is important to note that the report integratedhuman development and social inclusion as two

complimentary, people-oriented concepts that,unfortunately, until now were evolvingin parallel. Human development has beenrecognized as the goal of development, and thesocial inclusion, at the same time, is the meansto get there, while social exclusion identifies theobstacles that need to be removed in order

to achieve that goal.

The goals of the RHDR:

Understandthe dynamics of social exclusion,inclusion and human development in theregion since 1991.Provide instrumentsfor evaluation of levels

and intensity of social exclusion detecting itsmain reasons and related risks.Identifykey social exclusion factors indifferent dimensions.Develop realistic, sound political measuresat the central and local levels to effectivelyresolve exclusion issues.

The RHDR revealed that social exclusioninTajikistan is the most acute, with 72 percentof the population found to experience nineor more deprivations, and with the intensityof social exclusion of 46 percent, where sociallyexcluded people face on average

11.1 deprivations out of 24:10

Key issues:

During transition to market economyinTajikistan many people did not getsufficient attention. Reform efforts are not

always helping to improve quality of livesbecause there are no proper mechanismsin place to ensure that the reform agenda istaken from the central level to the local level.Anyone could be excluded Everyone isat risk to be excluded from society, not onlythe marginalized groups, if no properconditions and policies are in place to ensure

social inclusion.Income is not all what is needed in orderfor an individual to be part of the society.One would also have to have access to socialservices and equal opportunities.Condition of local economy and politicsmatters Policy reform efforts in just one area

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10 Ibid.11 Ibid.

Magnitude of social exclusion

A. Social exclusion headcount 32% 40% 12% 19% 72% 20%

B. Average number of deprivations experiencedby the socially excluded

40.5 11.0 10.8 10.8 11.1 10.4

C. Intensity average number of deprivations experi-enced by the socially excluded percentage of total (24)

44% 46% 45% 45% 46% 43%

Multidimensional Exclusion Index (MEI) = (A) * (C) 14 18 5 8 33 9

Kazakhstan

Moldova

FYRMacedonia

Serbia

Tajikistan

Ukraine

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are not enough to eliminate exclusion policy should be comprehensive enoughto address multiple social exclusion issues.

In Tajikistan most of the efforts in the areaof social protection and human rights are rather

donor driven then nationaly owned (given thepoverty reduction is top priority on the GoTagenda). Internatinal organizations are playingimportant role by working with the pouplationand teaching them about their rights and how

they need to excercise them and demandfor provision of relevant services by the Stateto address the gaps.

On the more positive side, there is a new

mechanism in Tajikistan called DevelopmentForum that brings both the Government anddevelopment partners together, and where,

based on the national strategies and prioritiesidentified by the State (national developmentstrategy, poverty reduction strategy) and thecomitments that are already made by thedonors, the planned activities are being revisitedto address poverty in the Country and to ensure

development as well as to identify theopportunities for alining donor assistance andthe needs in the Country.

UNDP Tajikistan does not have a stand-aloneinitiative for access to justice and rule of law.

Office of the High Commissioner for HumanRights in Tajikistan is having more extensive roleon the issues of human rights and the ruleof law. However, a project proposal was recentlyprepared in the frame of the UNDP CPR Mine

Action Programme, more precisely its VictimAssistance initiative. The aim of the project isto help the Government, in light of the adoptionof the Law on People with Disabilities andProtection of their Rights, to prepare the strategy

on ratification of the Convention on the Rightsof Persons with Disabilities. This is clearly an areaconcretely linked to access to justice and rule of

law. Also, there are many opportunities for UNDPto become more involved in the rule of law andaccess to justice activities, especially at thepolicy level, to ensure, for example, that somepolicies at the national level are beingimplemented at the local level, taking into

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12 Ibid.

Socialexclusionandtheruleoflaw12

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

-1,20 -1,00 -0,80 -0,60 -0,40 -0,20 0

Rule of law

SocialExclusionIndex

Tajikistan

Kazakhstan

Serbia

Moldova

FYR Macedonia

Ukraine


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consideration the international practice andexperience from other countries that could be

potentially replicated in Tajikistan.

Conclusions

In support of rule of law promotion efforts, judicial

reform has become a central component ofoverall democratic reform processes in manycountries. Rule of law is a vital part of the UNDP

mandate to reduce poverty and strengthendemocratic governance. UNDPs special niche inthe field of access to justice and strengtheningof the rule of law is to provide technical assistance

on institutional capacity-building based on itsglobal experience and technical expertise inproviding country experiences in restructuring of

judicial systems for strengthening the rule of law.

The experience has shown that for the judicial

reform to be successful the following should be

taken into account:

The reform requires an integrated approach

and a strong commitment by the leaders

of the judiciary;

The reform needs to ensure participation

not only of legal professionals (judges,

prosecutors, lawyers) but also of all segments

of the community;

It should be approached with a long-term

point of view and in a strategic manner;

It should take into consideration international

developments;

The reform should beSystem-oriented

instead of Problem-oriented.

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Within the broad context of justice reform,UNDPs specific niche lies in supporting justiceand related systems so that they work for thosewho are poor and disadvantaged (Accessto Justice Practice Note, UNDP, 2004). The

Specific Objective of this session was to explorepossibilities of strengthening UNDPscomparative advantage with a view to optimiseexisting resources through cross-practicecollaboration within UNDP.

WomenandtheRuleofLaw

Today, international standards require from

governments and public administration systemsto assume an obligation to be diligent aboutrights protection and about rights recognition in other words, it is not enough to just have goodlaws or good institutions but the responsibilitygoes beyond making a standard legislation or

implementation. It goes to place where systemsare particularly responsive to gender needs andto the gender intricacies of the societies they livein. One of the main findings of the Committee on

the Elimination of Discrimination against Womenover the years has been that the most importantbottleneck in realizing the equality and the rightsin reality is access to justice.

Quoting the well known legal expression -justice delayed is justice denied. But, inaccessiblejustice is injustice. And inaccessible justice iswhat women of the world many times are facedwith. It should therefore be kept in mind that,

when talking about legal reform, law reform andjustice accessibility, for women who constitutehalf the population of the world and in allsocieties it is a gender sensitive, genderresponsive reform that is needed.

UN Women Global Report 2011 Progress

of the Worlds Women (In Pursuit of Justice)

and Regional Challenges:

Taking forward the Recommendations

challenges and opportunities

The UN Women Global Report 201113

(hereinafter: the Report) contains extensive

analysis and statistics, and some very compellingstories, but the focus of the presentation wason the key Report findings andrecommendations in the context of the useof these recommendations in UNDPs futureprogramming what are the lessons learned

and what should be done in the future to makemore impact and more results.

Generally, there has been a significant progress

especially in relation to womens legaland political rights, especially taking intoconsideration that 100 years ago there were onlytwo countries in the world where women had

voting rights, while nowadays there are almost140 countries guaranteeing gender equalityin their constitutions. Indeed there was a moveahead and that move has been made throughlegal reforms including constitutional ones more than half countries of the world have

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13 UN Women Global Report 2011 Progress of the Worlds Women (In Pursuit of Justice): http://progress.unwomen.org/pdfs/EN-Report-Progress.pdf


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changed the constitution and that includedaccommodation for gender equality andwomen empowerment. But more significant and

substantive changes, according to examplespresented in the Report, have actually beenmade through bringing cases to courts and

some precedent setting cases, which havein a number of cases been result of womeninitiative, women persistence or womenorganization intervention.

Positive facts are demonstration of the moveforward, but even though there have beenpositive changes in a number of countries,

the number of women who are still out of reachor not affected by these legal changes is very

significant.

In many countries, for example, family laws,which are mainly affecting women and theirposition in the society, are most likely to be thesubject to legal plurality, but even if they are not

the tradition very often prevails over the law.Moreover, it is obvious that, in some countries,there is a discriminatory attitude by serviceproviders, unfortunately very sensitive service

providers like police and judiciary, whichis affecting the number of legal steps and theability of women to actually bring the case

to the courts, which is again something that cannot be disregarded. Furthermore,in implementing different reforms and in making

efforts to increase access to justice for womensometimes the barriers that women face dueto social norms, poverty, lack of awareness orinformation, are not taken into account and thenconsequentially the implementation gaps are

getting bigger and bigger, and the actual legalreform does not result in practical changesor changes on the ground.

Encouraging news is coming from the donor

community. Out of $126 billion that the WorldBank has allocated in the past decade for publicadministration, law and justice, only $7.3 million

were directly allocated to the gender equalitycomponents in the projects. However,in December 2010, $49 billion was pledged forthe poorest countries with gender equalityas one of the four special focus areas. Giventhe aforementioned it is visible that a certainprogress exists and the donor community and

international organizations are becoming moreand more aware of the multiplier effect ofgender equality and women empowerment andthe need for further intervention in that field.

Recommendations of the Report relevantto possible UNDP intervention:

Support womens legal organizationsThe report argues that a significant impact and

change have come from certain womens legalorganizations and through strategic litigationcases. Womens legal organizations arean avenue that has so far demonstrated a lotof impact and should be taken into accountduring the programming process;

Support one-stop shops and specializedservices to reduce attrition in the justicechain As an example, in Thuthuzela care

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Progressrecordedso far14:

125 countries have outlawed domesticviolence

115 guarantee equal property rights117 passed equal pay laws28 countries have reached or surpassedthe 30 percent mark for womensrepresentation in parliament

19 women are currently serving aselected Heads of State or Governments117 countries outlawed sexual harassment186 Member States worldwide haveratified CEDAW the Convention

on the Elimination of All Formsof Discrimination against Women

14 Ibid.


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centre in South Africa the conviction rate forrape cases which were supported by this centrereached 89 percent as compared to the average

of 9 percent at the country level. So thereis definitely a need for one-stop shops as a formof direct assistance to women to go through

numerous hurdles and steps in the legal processand to be able to access justice;

Implement gender sensitive law reformIn Montenegro, for example, the Law on Free

Legal Aid stipulates that victims of family crimeor domestic violence are immediately eligible forfree legal aid. This has also been the case with45 percent of countries which immediately offerthe support in the cases of domestic violence;

Use quotas to boost the number of womenlegislators There is a correlation between theincrease of women representation and the new

laws being passed advancing womens rights.That correlation should also to be taken intoaccount in the programming process;

Put women on the front line of lawenforcement Globally, women average only9 percent of the police, and only 27 percentof judges;

Train judges and monitor decisions This is about monitoring the impact andwhether the training actually results in a differentapproach, in more access to justice. One of the

recommendations refers to systematicmonitoring of judicial decisions as criticalto track performance of courts in terms

of enabling womens rights.

Success story: SEESAC Support

for Gender Mainstreaming in Policing:

The Women Police Officers Network

in South East Europe (WPON)

In all the countries of the Western Balkans andthe South-East Europe the women have joinedthe police services quite lately. For instance, inSerbia this process started in 2002. While a lot ofprogress, in terms of quantity, has been achievedsince, one of the biggest concerns is the fact thatonly 8 percent of women occupy managerial

positions in the police service. WPON SEE isa newly established network of the women

police officers of the South-East Europe, initiatedby the UNDP SEESAC16 project after severalattempts to establish similar networks at nationallevels. The main reasons for establishing thenetwork were to provide for the mutual support,improve working conditions and conditions

for career building, improve professionalcompetencies, integrate into the service betterand faster, fulfil the individuals full potential, anddevelop the police service consequently.

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15 Ibid.16 South Eastern and Eastern Europe Clearinghouse for the Control of the Small Arms and Light Weapons; http://www.seesac.org/

TheReport also revealed that15:

In 17 out of 41 countries, a quarter ormore people think that it is justifiablefor a man to beat his wife603 million women live in countrieswhere domestic violence is not

considered a crime2.6 billion women live in countrieswhere marital rape has not beenexplicitly criminalizedBased on information from83 countries, ILO reports that womenare generally paid between 10 and30 percent less than men600 million women, more than ofworlds working women, are in vulner-

able employment, insecure jobs, out-side the purview of labour legislationGlobally, women average just9 percent of the police and average27 percent of judges worldwideIn 23 out of 52 countries, less than of women and men surveyed haveconfidence in their countrys

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The project was initiated by the research basedon the sample of around 4.000 respondents Ministry of Interior staff from 8 countries/politicalentities in the region: Albania, BiH Federation,BiH Republika Srpska, Bulgaria, Croatia,Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia. The sampleincluded: women police officers, men police

officers, managers women and managers

men. The areas of the research were18

:

Recruitment and hiring of women lawenforcement officers,Selection issues,Education and training,Career development issues,

Gender and policing skills,Legislation issues,Discrimination and threats in the working

place, andPossibilities for networking.

The research came up with 16 concrete

recommendations among which the followingcould be highlighted:

The need for strategic approach to enrolmentof women in the police service

Introducing a transparent system of humanresources managementRaising awareness with all interested partiesabout their own responsibility for a successful

integration of women in police service

The recommendations created a solidframework and starting point for definingWPONs activities and the work plan. In the

future, WPON plans to develop the guidelineson gender-sensitive police work (recruitment,enrolment and selection criteria, and mentoringsystem). The research is also an excellent basefor further analysis and research that can bedone in this field.

The most important thing that followed afterthe establishment of the network is that therepresentatives of all the countries haveinitiated some work in the national policeservices of the region which was the mostimportant reason for the establishment of the

regional network. This is a very positive stepbecause the experience has shown that all thegood things that have come in the areaof womens rights in particular and womens

access to justice have been initiated atsupranational levels and in that sensea regional approach certainly appears to bea productive approach.

However, in spite of the progress achievedso far at both regional and national level, thenetwork will have to face a great numberofchallenges. Existence of the regional networkhas most certainly encouraged and sped up

the process of creation of similar networks atthe national levels, however, this was only thefirst step towards putting women on the frontline of the law enforcement. The process oftransforming the women from desk-officersto intelligence and investigation officers wouldrequire a clear strategy, but also a careerdevelopment system in place and a moretransparent human resources system.

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17 South East Europe Police Chiefs Association; http://www.sepca-see.eu/18 Establishing the Southeast Europe Women Police Officers Network: Research Findings, http://www.seesac.org/uploads/

studyrep/WPON_ENG_web.pdf

WPONs mission:

To provide a platform for the exchangeof experience and knowledge acrosspolice services in the region on the

status, needs and priorities of policewomen in South East Europe;

To facilitate the advancement of theposition of women in police servicesand promote gender sensitive policingpractices in SEPCA17 police services;

To advocate for the implementationof gender equality and democraticprinciples in policing within SEPCApolice services.


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Conclusions

There have been a lot of cases mentioned in theReport which have argued that the state is notonly responsible to have the laws and to try toimplement them. Equally important is ensuring

governments responsibility for the impact of thelaw. There needs to be a continuous investmentin securing that all the steps have beenundertaken and in an adequate manner so thataccess to justice is really there.

For example, employing a woman, according toa lot of cases presented in the Report, does notimmediately result in an impact. There needs

to be subsequent investment in terms

of resources, training and real positioning of thatinstitution or this woman in the institution.

Furthermore, monitoring and evaluation arecrucial components of every reform effort.

Tailoring the intervention and defining a way

forward require a constant feedback andanalysis. Moreover, monitoring, tracking anddata collection related to what is happeningas a consequence of a reform is important

for measuring the impact of that reform.

It is also important to take into account the needto scale up investment in gender equality and

women empowerment meaning more money,more targeted interventions and moreprominence of this issue, having in mind itsoverall impact on the MDG319. Integratedapproach and partnerships in the contextof UNDP mean that there is a need for cross-

practice cooperation as well as for closer workwith civil society organizations, especially

womens organizations. In addition, there are lotsof opportunities for partnership with differentinternational organizations who are very activein these areas.

Finally, as mentioned above, it is of utmostimportance to have proper systems of data

collection in place for the purpose

of monitoring and evaluation not onlyfor gender programming but for theprogramming in general.

Moderniseand Rebalance

theJusticeSystemforVictimsandLawabiding Majority

This panel focused on specific projects that lookto assisting victims and witnesses in criminal

procedures.

Victims and witnesses are often the parties thatare most injured but have the least influencein the process and they are in many cases

women, for example in domestic violence andsome other cases, and although they are partof the system they often get re-victimised by it.

In the context of the justice sector reform thereis a tradition to focus reform efforts on judgesand prosecutors, and increasingly over the past10 years there has been greater recognition ofthe need to focus on defence lawyers andon legal aid and legal representation. The

missing parts of that equation have been victimsand witnesses and those in the process bywhom justice is supposed to be owned.

As with the need to address the fear of crime,there has been a shift in recent years in thethinking of European criminal justice agenciesaway from just focusing on arresting and

convicting criminals, to the provision of bettertreatment and services for the victims and

witnesses of crimes, in order to enable themto cope better with their victimisation andregain faith in the criminal justice systems abilityto protect them.

Experience elsewhere has suggested that

providing better care for victims and witnessescan deliver many important benefits for boththe victim or witness themselves, and theeffectiveness of the criminal justice system.

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19 Millenium Development Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women


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Rule of law, Justice and Security

from a gender perspective: Success story:

Victim and Witness Support Croatia

Everyone reacts differently to their experienceof crime or attending court and, for some, being

a victim or witness of crime can create realproblems for them and their families. In additionto coping with the experience, there are oftenmany practical matters to attend to, and, if a caseis investigated by the police or goes to court,worries about dealing with the procedures and

processes of the criminal justice system.Attending court to give evidence, either asa victim of crime or a witness, can be a traumaticand worrying experience. In the past, many

criminal justice systems have treated victims andwitnesses who attend court insensitively, whichhas produced a general decline in confidence inthe criminal justice system and a reluctance on

the part of some victims and witnesses to attendcourt or give evidence.

It is clear that the handling of the court casebrings back emotions and disturbing memories.However, especially the voice of witnesses and

victims should be heard loud and clear: theydeserve a central place in the court proceedings.

To do justice to their role, witnesses and victimsneed support. There are two major aspects asto why this should be taken very seriously:

1. Moral aspect: Making witnesses and victimsunderstand what the procedures are (andexplaining them how a court works), while

giving them personal and emotional supportto cope with the incident is the right thingto do in a moral sense; The administration

of justice in a modern constitutional State isabout people: procedure in the interest of thecitizen, not the other way around;

2. Practical/court efficiency aspect: Witnessesand victims who are aware of their rights and

who know what to expect will feel lesspressured and less uncomfortable, thusgiving exact and useful statements, addingto justice being done.

Prior to the UNDPs Witness and Victim SupportProject there was no institutionalized servicein Croatia for providing general witness/victim

support in courts and no coherent policyfor strategic approach to this important segmentof criminal justice system.

The project supported establishment of theWitness and Victim Support (WVS) officesin several county courts in Croatia with

the following purpose:

Provision of emotional support prior, duringand after the trial;Provision of practical information logisticsupport;Standardisation of the procedures;Selection, education and coordination

of volunteers;Cooperation with civil society and NGOs;

Cooperation with Support servicesin the Region.

UNDP also initiated and supported theestablishment and capacity building of theGovernmental Committee for Monitoring and

Improvement of Witness and Victim SupportSystem. The Committee is responsible forstrategic development of the system. UNDPsupports the development of National WVS

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20 Data from September 2011

WitnessandVictimSupportinCroatiain numbers20:

7 offices in 7 county courtsMore than 7.500 witnesses and victimsreceived support from May 2008 to date6.021 witnesses requested the supportby the telephone14 employed court professionals217 volunteers with 4.098volunteer hours


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Strategy in terms of sharing expertise,experience and best practice. Furthermore thenew Directorate for Probation and Victim andWitness Support was established in the Ministryof Justice clearly indicating Governmentscommitment to adequately address the needsof witnesses and victims within the Croatian

justice system.

Achievements of the projectin a broader context:

The project has been recently recognised ashighly successful as on 26 January 2011

Council of Europe Parliamentary Assemblyadopted Resolution 1784 (2011)21:Theprotection of witnesses as a cornerstonefor justice and reconciliation in theBalkans, and Recommendation 1952 (2011);

The creation of what is now a nationwidenetwork of seven support offices, andestablishment of the National Committee to

coordinate further expansion of witness and

victim support, have made Croatia a regionalleader in this vital area of the justice system.

The model developed in Croatia has beenrecognized internationally as a success storyand a model for other countries.

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21 RESOLUTION 1784 (2011): The Assembly further acknowledges the work of the United Nations Development Programmein Croatia in establishing witness support programmes which provide support and advice for witnesses in four pilot courts.It welcomes the fact that the Croatian authorities have taken over responsibility for these programmes. It regrets, however,that these kinds of programmes have not yet been institutionalised in the majority of courts in the region and encourages

the authorities of the countries concerned to extend these programmes to all courts trying serious crimes.The Assemblytherefore calls on: the competent authorities in the states and terr itories concerned to provide funding for and establishwitness support programmes, using those that have been set up by the United Nations Development Programme in Croatiaas a model, in all courts dealing with witnesses in serious crimes;

REFFERALS

Social Welfare Services, Healthcare, NGOs, Legal Aid, Peer Support Groups,Victims Associations, Mental Health Services

Regional Coordinator

FocalPoint(s)

Police

SupportOffices

Prosecution

SupportOffices

Courts

Witness protection Services

Victim / Witness Support

Albania

BIH

Croatia

FYROM

Montenegro

Serbia

Source: Presentation by Thomas Osorio, Chief Technical Advisor in Justice and Security Cluster, UNDP Bosnia and Herzegovina


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Regional Initiative: Victim and Witness Carein the Western Balkans in light

of UNDP-EU partnership and Possible

Replication in other Sub-regions?

Even though criminal procedures are led by legalprofessionals (judges, prosecutors and attorneys)its effectiveness significantly depends on the

timely and fair participation of citizens, especiallywitnesses and victims. Despite the fact that some

protective measures have already beenestablished, the criminal justice systems in theBalkan region provide insufficient supportto witnesses, victims or other participantsin thecriminal procedure.

It is therefore critical to provide support andtechnical assistance to already existing initiativesin order to enhance their effectiveness. Taking intoaccount similarities in the cultural background and

legal tradition, witness support system in Croatia,Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYROM, Montenegro andSerbia can only be organized through state

owned programmes and in collaborationwith civil society.

At the same time, it is necessary to diversify andstrengthen the development of a new systemof support to witnesses and victims in the criminalprocedure, and to support governments in their

development of a clear policy promoting highstandards of protection of human rights.Institutionalized witness support can significantly

speed up trials, contribute to the reduction of casebacklogs and, therefore, increase the institutionalcapacity of the judiciary as well as raise the levelof human rights protection. The witness of a crimeis invariably at the centre of the investigation andtrial. Therefore, it is of the greatest importance

toassure the highest standards of witness andvictim support across the region.

The regional initiative is about replicating the

horizontal communication not only to have therepresentation at the level of the court and theappeals sentencing but to bring it back to thebeginning and develop horizontal

communication from the police through theprosecutor services to the courts and post-trial.Support provided for witnesses in the region hasoften neglected post-testimony period. Yet this isprecisely where the risk of secondary victimizationis most prevalent and witnesses are often left

feeling (re)exploited, which can have the effect ofdiscouraging other potential witnesses. The regionis characterised by the lack of, at least, awarenessand knowledge about referral mechanisms thatare in place and at disposal of victims andwitnesses. Furthermore, these services often lackmoney, capacity and strategic approach and needto be supported in that sense.

Support to victims and witnesses needs a holistic

approach. It is about ensuring that supportservices exist in each stage of the process, throughthe focal points, coordinators and the court

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Source: Presentation by Thomas Osorio, Chief Technical Advisor in Justice and Security Cluster, UNDP Bosnia and Herzegovina

Crime Post TrialAppeals

SentencingCourtProsecutorPolice

v/w Focal Point

Witness protection and referrals to psycho-social services

Coordinator Court Support Services

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support services, and equally as important are thereferrals: social welfare, healthcare and NGOs.

The process itself will take a lot of encouragementand procedures, having in mind specificitiesof legal frameworks of different countries in the

region. However, there are a number of greatexamples in Bosnia and Herzegovina andin Croatia and this is where the communication

will have a great role. In order to ensuresustainability and inclusion this message needsto be passed onto both professionals andpractitioners in the support chain.

Conclusions

It is necessary that the court in every momentisable not only to protect the rights of all citizensthrough objectivity, impartiality andprofessionalism, but also to demonstrate thisattitude through the work of every judge and

every court official. The projects presented havehelped practitioners to recognise the necessity ofsupporting victims and witnesses but at the sametime of granting protection to the accused person.

The sensitive line of respect and protection of the

rights of the accused should never be crossed andthe presumption of innocence should never beforgotten. All the steps undertaken in connection

to victim and witness support must respect at thesame time the rights granted to the accused in thecriminal proceedings.

There is a greater understanding nowadays of the

critical nature of ensuring that victims andwitnesses have access to justice, protection, links

to social inclusion, to social programming andsocial services in general. However, these are noteasy issues to address. On one side there is a softcomponent of this issue, which is how to ensurethe services are provided and that the attention

is paid and that the justice system is responsivetothe needs of victims and witnesses.There is alsoa hard side to the equation which is about actuallyprotecting victims and witnesses from retribution,which can be technically demanding cross

boarder organization and cooperation can bequite difficult in many of the societies in theregion. However, it should also be clear that the

two work together: protection and support buildthe system. One should not be supplanted for theother. Protection and support are very important

elements to overall system and sometimes,although not always, if the soft side exists, if thesupport and the referral to the appropriate

services and the guidance throughout the processare in place, it can be less likely to need the hardprotection side. If there is a programme in thecountry that is looking into harder forms ofprotection there should also be a simultaneous

initiative to provide softer and referral sides ofvictim support and victim advocacy.There isalways a balancing act that has to be made in all

justice processes between the role of theprosecution and the role of the justice system

toenforce the law on one side, and the individualsinvolved in that process and their desires on the

other side, and that balancing act and the choicesthat are made are ones of law and policy whichthe state makes.

From the gender equality perspective, many statesnowadays make the choice that domesticviolence should be prosecuted regardlessofa victim saying they no longer want that

prosecution, often because of societal pressure, ora fear of retribution, or a lack of knowledge aboutthe potential to live free of violence, particularlywhen it comes to women who are victimsof domestic violence.This policy reflects theexperience that many societies now recognizethat women who are victims of domestic violencehave very little opportunity to be free of that

violence and that they will often be coerced andsubject to societal pressure not to pursue a case.

These kinds of projects for women and othervictims with an independent individual fromwhom they can get the information and thesupport needed to better understand legalprocess, their rights, what they can access in terms

of social services and support help to facilitatethe State in addressing the cases in an appropriatemanner, in a way that victims and witnessesachieve justice either through the systemor through other means. The above said, together

with the catalytic, innovative and quick-impactnature of these projects should be taken intoaccount in future programming.

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Connectingthe Dots:Promoting SocialInclusionthrough Legal Empowerment

In July 2011, UNDP BRC sponsored the Regional

Policy Dialogue on Legal Empowermentto explore legal empowerment policy options,

programming challenges and opportunities for

the ECIS Region. This was the first UNDP

Community of Practice event organized

together with the Open Society Institute (OSI)

and the Renaissance Foundation in the region.

It was a very successful joint initiative which

attracted a lot of interest and a big numberof participants. During the discussions, some

interesting examples and experiences wereshared that illustrated UNDPs approaches

to social exclusion through legal empowerment,

either through existing projects (Montenegro,

Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine) or through planned

initiatives (Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia,

Montenegro, Serbia, and Ukraine). On the key

question of how to turn social exclusion into

social inclusion there was a clear

recommendation from many participants that

given that legal empowerment is such a broadconcept it has to be carefully defined and more

cross-practice linkages with other thematic

teams should be built. One of the expectations

is a joint leadership of poverty and governance

teams, working alongside other practices:gender and capacity development in particular.

In terms of partnership and broadening

knowledge base there was a strong

recommendation that UNDP should not onlylook at cross-practice and cross-cluster work but

also at inter-agency work. There are other UN

agencies that are doing similar work: UNHCR,

UNICEF, UN Women, UNODC, etc. Furthermore,

in addition to the reference for partnership with

CSOs and NGOs, UNDP has successfully

partnered with OSI in Ukraine, but there are

other organizations as well, ILD and IDLO forexample. On the other hand, organizations and

institutions such as World Bank and DFID have

a long standing involvement in both thematic

and geographical areas, but also others, such as

Asian Development Bank, and UNDP could

benefit greatly from their experience, knowledge

and expertise.

Local context: Ukraine

The presentation focused on a few concrete

examples how the recommendations

from the Regional Policy Dialogue on Legal

Empowerment, held on 21-22 July 2011 in Kyiv,

were taken forward by the UNDP Ukraine.

The discussion during the event resulted

in interesting suggestions on how to strengthen

the collaboration with CSOs. It was made veryclear that UNDP and CSOs have to work

together especially on the subjects such as legal

empowerment that require close cooperation

with all stakeholders.

In that respect, UNDP Ukraine has had very

constructive discussion with the International

Renaissance Foundation, which has an ongoing

project on legal aid. It has been decided

to harmonize the work on the newly startedLegal Empowerment project with the work

of the Foundation in at least one out of three

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regions covered by the project. There is a scopefor working together, not just in terms ofinformation sharing but on identifying concrete

actions and concrete deliverables that could beagreed together, and to join resources andefforts towards the achievement of these

deliverables. There is also scope for the advocacywork because it has to be recognised that theInternational Renaissance Foundation hasestablished a very constructive dialogue withthe Ukrainian Ministry of Justice and this is very

good in terms of using already existing avenuesto reach the decision makers through thepartners instead of always being the onesto break the ice with the government structures.Finally, this cooperation will clearly result in joint

ownership.

There have also been some developments with

regards to recommendation related to buildingmore cross-practice linkages. UNDP Sub-officein Crimea for instance has a very robust LocalGovernance portfolio which works across theCountry in all 25 regions, and has physicalpresence of UNDP staff in those regions. Thisprovides excellent opportunity not only to utilize

existing infrastructure, networks and knowledgeand to work through them but also to integratelegal empowerment dimension into the existingwork. Furthermore, dimensions of the rule of lawand access to justice are equally applicable.

Also, with regards to building on the networksand information that was exchanged, UNDP

Ukraine is now very keen to partner with UNDPMontenegro on the project which focuses on

illegal settlements and illegal constructions,and also to see how energy and environmentcomponent could be worked into theseprojects.

Lastly, there was a clear call to senior managers

from the Country Offices, during the Kyiv event,to come up with concrete actions for the nextmonths and with concrete recommendationshow UNDP could utilize the knowledge and

expertise that exist in this region, and possiblyform a working group or an expert group thatCountry Offices within the region could call

upon, and that could provide peer-to-peersupport among practitioners. Clearly, theexpertise exists at the country level and by

forming a regional expert group UNDP couldbetter use existing knowledge and supportCountry Offices in doing so.

Local context: Albania

National Human Development Report (NHDR)that UNDP Albania produced in late 2010 isexclusively dedicated to capacity development

for European integration, and one of its chaptersis dealing with social inclusion. With regardto social inclusion, apart from a system-wide

approach to capacity development within thepublic administration and civil service in Albania,NHDR emphasized the need to go beyond basicincome and consumption poverty whenconfronting social exclusion, and addressbroader issues of discrimination, stigma, lackof access to basic services and lack of full

participation in social life, and access to justice.

According to NHDR, capacities required arerelated to policy cycle function and skills in socialpolicies, and involve the following22:

Building capacities in line ministriesto analyze social exclusion, identify key

challenges, and review the existing policies;Promoting more cooperation at the inter-

ministerial level and broader understandingamong government departments;Data and evidenced policy making,and monitoring and evaluation;Practice competence in social inclusion isa problem because Albania lacks tradition

in social work and social administration, andadministration of social affairs this isthe new area that was born after democraticchanges in 1990.

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With regard toLegal support and LegalEmpowerment for Social Inclusion, UNDPAlbania has focused its work on the following:

(i) Gender equality and domestic violence the progress in this area includes:

Drafting of laws, such as the Law onProtection from Discrimination, or theGender Equality Law, which provides for30% quota; the establishment of

a national gender machinery, definitionsand sanctions for sex and gender-baseddiscrimination and harassment, equalityin labour relations and education, etc.;Reviewing the existing legislation from

the gender equality perspective makingamendments to align it better with thegender equality requirements of CEDAW,

Europeanacquisand the GenderEquality Law, etc;Specific emphasis was put on policydocuments, such as the NationalStrategy on Gender Equality andDomestic Violence;Amendments to the Domestic Violence

Law, establishment of a public shelterfor violence survivors, domestic violenceworkers/advocates respecting victimsconfidentiality, court emergencyprotection for minors and empoweredteachers and caretakers;

Training sessions for professionals: police,teachers, doctors, social service

providers, civil servants at centraland local level, judges and prosecutors,

bailiffs, lawyers and medico-legalspecialists.

(ii)Support to minority communitieswithspecial emphasis to Roma and Egyptians which includes:

Facilitating access of vulnerable Romaand Egyptian (children and adults)to basic social services by supporting

their civil registration;Providing legal/administrative/technicalassistance to register, as well as raising

awareness of both communities andpublic officials. This brings positiveeffects in registration at the employment

offices, economic assistance offices,public health providers, etc.

The other aspect which UNDP Albaniais dealing with isLegal Empowermentof the Poor (LEP).

Key issues:

Thousands of people are excluded fromthe rule of law. Their lives are guidedby informal systems that do not allow themto utilize legal frameworks to protect their

assets, homes or businesses or benefit fromlabour standards, property rights and landtenure systems;

They do not have the same access to socialprotection and other opportunities toimprove their quality of life by leveraginglegal frameworks and institutions thatfortify society.

Legal Empowerment of the Poor with its

emphasis on social justice and equalityis considered central in addressing structuralcauses of poverty and exclusion. UNDPAlbania, therefore, started the LegalEmpowerment of the Poor intervention withthe very successful project tripartitepartnership between the Government, UNDPand the Institute of Liberty and Democracy

(ILD). The initiative aimed to generate greaterawareness, knowledge and understanding

about obstacles and costs that prevent peopleand the state to achieve better socio-economic development.

A detailed diagnostic report was prepared forthat purpose. After two years of working in the

field, the report has revealed that Albaniasexisting legal framework contains regulatorybottlenecks, unpredictable norms and rules, andinadequate laws which force the majority of

people to operate outside the legal frameworkin the informal sector. Most Albanians cannotbuy, sell, or mortgage their property without

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going through extensive proceduresor without having to request expensive legalassistance to resolve their problems. Experts

and users consulted agreed that it is necessaryto hire surveyors to measure rural parcels andcorrect the register title before purchasing real

estate, because in most cases the dimensionsshown in the kartelas do not reflect thereality. In urban areas, for example, althoughregistration is legally mandatory, the diagnosisreport found out that the records even in the

most developed areas do not square withthe facts on the ground.

The report findings led to concrete policyrecommendations and institutional reforms

to provide a greater legal protection andrecognition of peoples assets.

With the most up-to-date and accurate pictureof the pluses and minuses of the Countryslegal system and with awareness of the currentefforts to reform it in hand, with a group oftalented and well-trained Albanianprofessionals already in place, the Countryis now ready for the next step: working on the

solutions to push forward the current reformefforts and implement them. Taking intoaccount the progress made by theGovernment following the findings of thereport, especially in the field of businessformalization and the outstanding challengesin the property sector, a second phase of thisproject can specifically look into the property

issues with regard to the illegal construction,restitution, and compensation issues of the

property to and from the original owners.

However

UNDP Albania is currently in the negotiations

stage with the Government and donors for thesecond phase of the project. This is due to thefact that $1.5 million was spent on theproduction of the diagnostic report in the first

phase, and it is highly likely that significantfunding will be needed for the secondphase as well.

Conclusions

Several points emerged from the discussion asto the UNDP approach to legal empowermentin the region and the UNDP contribution to thisprocess which involves many actors:

More inclusion of civil society into UNDPwork in the context of legalempowerment, civil society organizationsoften serve as the catalyst, the bridgesbetween the poor on the demand side, andthe governments and internationalorganizations on the supply side. In termsof assessing the countries and their needs

for legal empowerment, a lot of work has

already been done and the great deal ofit has been done by NGOs as they arebecoming more and more specialized indifferent issues, like evaluation, assessment,statistics, etc. Using their experience andexpertise is one of the things that should be

taken into account in the future work.Measuring legal empowerment is importantbut as equally important are monitoring andevaluating legal empowerment initiatives

on the ground.Universities and scientific society have alsodeveloped evaluation tools and researchmethodologies, which are often being used

by NGOs and other stakeholders to studythe legal needs of the country. In thisrespect it would be useful for UNDP to thinkabout being a facilitator of this process inthe countries, in order to promote the useof these already developed research and

evaluation tools to study the needs in thejustice sector including the legal aid needs

both internally, meaning capacitating thegovernment institutions and ministriesof justice, and externally working with thecivil society organizations to use the alreadyexisting tools, in order to ensuresustainability to it.On the question of who will do it to make it

more sustainable, it is important to build the

structure of doing analysis and evaluationon a permanent basis and this can be doneby introducing and integrating above-

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mentioned mechanisms and tools withinthe government structures, the ministry of

justice for instance, or the court system, and

developing their evaluation and statisticalresearch and analysis to the advanced levelsof this sphere. The UNDP should facilitate

this process. The support should also beprovided to NGOs, both those NGOs that aredoing analysis and evaluation work, andthose that are working on the delivery sideof helping to improve human rights of

individuals.

Universities and academia are not the onlysource of current, up-to-date advancedmethodologies and very useful researchtools. Some international organizations have

also developed special tools for the for thecivil society and NGOs to study, for example,

the perception of justice and specific legalneeds in the country, independent from theevaluation conducted by the government.

This should also be taken into account withinthe framework of building partnerships andbroadening knowledge.

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strengthening rule of law and access to justice for the disadvantaged groups and marginalized...

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