HiiL | Innovating Justice Forum 16 April 2012, 7AM, The Hague, The Netherlands Presentation Towards Basic Justice Care for Everyone

1. Towards Basic Justice Care for Everyone
16 April 2012
Innovating Justice Forum

2. Do people get justice?
• Trends in legal problem surveys and NGO reports
allow very rough estimates
• 1.000 adult people have 300 serious problems/year
– Just as health problems: some life threatening, some very
serious, some with less impact
– Ten most frequent and urgent problems come with our
most vital and close relationships: family, at work, using
land, with local government ….

3. Our World ....

4. At least
1 billion
new
problems
each year!

5. 50% not
solved
or not
solved
fairly

6. 20% more
can be solved
with current
best practices

7. 200 million
unnecessary
problems
each year! 20% more
can be solved
with current
best practices

8. That is a lot of injustice …
and the price is high:
– Stress for people involved
– Health problems
– Disturbed relationships
– Lack of trust
– High economic costs
Sustained feelings of injustice
can lead to violence!

9. Courts and legal aid
cannot close this gap !
• Only 5% of problems ever reaches a court
– Even in high income countries
– Too formal, not always solving problems
• Traditional legal aid programs not sustainable
– Trained lawyer for each problem too expensive
• Governments have trouble to develop good
strategies

10. 30%: more
Innovation innovations
needed
is needed
to close
the gap!

11. How do people solve problems?

12. Talking, settling, negotiating …..
– Assisted by friends, family, local helpers, NGOs, paralegals,
lawyers, mediators, community justice centres, websites,
police … and many more
Asking third parties to decide …..
– Tribunals, informal courts, juries, arbiters, judges, local
leaders, media, government officials, committees … and
many more

13. So promising strategies tend to ….
Strengthen capabilities of people
– to communicate, settle, negotiate …..
and
Improve options to ask third party to
decide …..
– More choice, less reliance on cooperation
opponent, lower cost, faster, more transparent

14. 7 strategies
for closing the Access to Justice Gap

15. Strategy 1
Specialisation, terms of reference and
monitoring
• Specialised courts and legal services are more
effective
Land conflicts, neighbour conflicts, divorce, consumer
complaints ….
• Benchmarking and monitoring keeps everybody
on track, clients know better what to expect

16. Strategy 2
Legal information targeted on
needs of disputants
• Understandable, tailored to problem, arriving just
in time, sufficient, limited options, easy to put into
practice, giving assurance
• Criteria for fair solutions help: schedules for
compensation, child support guidelines, usual
remedies

17. Strategy 3
IT Platforms supporting negotiation
and litigation
• IT platforms supply tools for assembling legal
documents
• Online mediation, negotiation, information,
adjudication (ODR)
• Websites can support conflict resolution tasks
Ask questions, organise negotiation, supply legal information, bring
order in facts, involve a judge, mobilise community members ….

18. Strategy 4
Facilitators and Paralegals Working
Towards Fair Solutions
• Combine elements of the traditional roles of
lawyers, mediators and judges.
Local people … using global knowledge and skills
• Work for one party …. reaching out to the other
party

19. Strategy 5
Improve choice of third party
adjudication processes
• Create alternative adjudication mechanisms
• Plaintiff has realistic option of accessible adjudication
• Simple court procedures: fast, affordable, good
quality
Informal tribunal, ombudsman, religious court, specialised
tribunal, radio show, local leader, government agency …
Monitoring third parties always needed!

20. Strategy 6
Using Reputation to Induce Compliance
• Old, new and social media use reputation as
a ‘big stick’ can work even against powerful
defendants

21. Strategy 7
Sharing Practices and Evidence Based
Protocols
• Guidelines and good practices for domestic violence,
land conflicts, employment termination ….. are emerging
• Integrating negotiation and adjudication
• Practice and research provide knowledge on what works

22. Our input
• Trend Report summarising research
and good practices
• Seven promising approaches
• Issues for discussion and draft
Recommendations

23. Stategies in practice
Interview with experts

24. Strategy 1
Specialisation, terms of reference and
monitoring
Anton Shelupanov
Center for Court Innovation
Supporting innnovative, specialised courts in the US

25. Strategy 2
Legal information targeted on
needs of disputants
Martin Jones
Law for Life UK
The newest in public legal education

26. Strategy 3 & 5
IT Platforms & Improve choice of third
party adjudication processes
Chittu Nagarajan
Modria
Online dispute resolution serving millions of clients
eBay Resolution Centre and Community Court

27. Strategy 4
Facilitators and Paralegals Working
Towards Fair Solutions
Simeon Koroma
Timap for Justice
A state of the art paralegal program in Sierra Leone

28. Strategy 6
Using Reputation to Induce Compliance
• Old, new and social media use reputation as
a ‘big stick’ can work even against powerful
defendants

33. To think about and discuss
• How can the legal system
work with reputation?
• How to keep the balance
between transparency and
privacy?

34. Strategy 7
Sharing Practices and Evidence Based
Protocols
Naw Mugay
International Rescue Committee
Informal and formal adjudication in refugee
camps in Thailand

35. You are the experts
• We look forward to learn about your
experiences about what works
• We are eager to hear in which
strategies you believe.
• Please tell us what you recommend
stakeholders to do.

36. In a world where everyone has access
to Justice, we accomplish
Empowerment, Growth, Peace.
What can be done
to close the gap!

37. Working groups
• Each of you has been assigned to
participate in specific working groups.
• The left sticker on your name tag is
about the 1st round

38. Sharing best practices, Towards basic justice for everyone
?