This document discusses strategies for improving access to justice in Pakistan. It notes that currently only 20% of disputes are handled by the formal justice system, while 80% are dealt with through informal mechanisms. This level of legal exclusion undermines the legitimacy and authority of the state. The document calls for developing a national narrative in support of reform, clarifying Pakistan's constitutional mandate to ensure inexpensive and expeditious justice for all, and creating strategies that engage communities and strengthen transparency, oversight, and the evidence base for improving access to justice. Key recommendations include legal awareness campaigns, empowering vulnerable groups through paralegals and clinical legal education, and collaborative problem identification and monitoring between stakeholders to reform the rule of law system.

1. Open Society Institute & International Development Research Centre
18 May 2015
Law & Justice
Commission
of Pakistan
Towards Legal Inclusion
– Incorporating the Citizen End User Perspective
Future Directions on Access to Justice Conference –Scaling
Access to Leave No One Behind

2. Why the “Justice Deficit”? –Politics?
• Art. 37(d), Constitution: The State shall ensure inexpensive and
expeditious justice
• Constitutionally guaranteed Bill of Rights: Fundamental Rights
(justiciable), Principles of Policy (non-justiciable)
• Provincial politics: Administration of justice, security
• Chief Justice of Pakistan first address: International Human
Rights Day (10 December 2016)

3. State failure - Service delivery,
Legal exclusion!
• Legal exclusion – “vast majority” justice needs not met
• “Informal” rule of law flourishes – jirgas, panchiyats, Shari’at
Courts etc.
• Formal rule of law, State authority is undermined, weakened
• “Cost”: Weak State legitimacy and instability, enhanced
fragility
• New solutions: engaging the other resources –State and non-
State

4. Developing a national narrative – creating the
demand for reform
• Develop a national narrative - shifting choices, resources (“political”)
• Strengthening State effectiveness: State-building, state-society
integration, social cohesion
• Fair laws:
“We need to appreciate the rule of law as a value and that laws have a
distributive effect. Do they meet the Constitutional imperative of creating
an egalitarian society? Hence, legal policy needs to be studied … to ...
Understand their probable and actual impact and to ensure that laws are
fair and impartial ...”
• Impartial implementation:
“And of course, ensuring laws are impartially enforced”

5. The Evidence - Demand for Justice
• CJP: “It has been estimated that the State justice sector caters for about 20% of
disputes and that 80% are dealt with by an unregulated informal justice sector
such as jirgas and panchayats”
• Compelling evidence for reform
• Lack of information of justice needs and outputs, weak policy evidence base
• “Annual demand for justice” – no benchmarks: weak information on justice needs
hence weak planning and evaluation
• Legal exclusion: nature, magnitude, impact, cost (of exclusion – not responding)?

6. Supplying Rule of Law –
Clarifying the Legal Empowerment Mandate
• “Wherein the principles of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance and social
justice … shall be fully observed” (Preamble)
• “Wherein shall be guaranteed fundamental rights, including equality of status, of
opportunity and before law, social, economic and political justice …” (Preamble)
• “The State shall ensure inexpensive and expeditious justice” (Principles of Policy,
art. 37(d)).
• Supply-side legal empowerment mandate – to proactively reach out to the poor
vulnerable

7. Rule of Law Demand –
Other Options, Creating Space & Reaching Out
• Legal awareness campaign – “Insaf Mera Haqq”
• Song, app, social media, videos
• Legal empowerment – Rights Safety Net, para-legals (poor/vulnerable,
students/youth), clinical legal education/law clinics
• Strengthening transparency and reporting
• Mandatory undergrad course on Fundamental Rights
• Engaging communities - Enhance capacities for socio-legal research,
montoring, lesson learning, policy analysis etc.
• Civic oversight, engagement policy, PGR – create feedback loops
• Rule of Law Index – service delivery based

8. Reforming the Rule of Law – a Strategy
• Shifting priorities and choices – “political” and policy
• Be smart – flexible, no reform by log-frame!
• Define the problem/challenge – with solid evidence
• Developing a national narrative – must be positive
“To ensure social cohesion, we need to proactively ensure that justice and security protection reaches
out to the poor and vulnerable, our approach has to be output-based, focusing on impact. Legal
inclusion must therefore be our national target that we will try to pursue as part of the SDG relating to
access to justice but Parliament and governments must proactively move to address … system
dysfunction”.
• Identifying champions – Chief Justice of Pakistan, Chairman Senate
• Joint/collaborative problem identification, formulating solution, joint monitoring and collaborative
lesson learning
• Scope: Finding partners, reinforcing policy –BISP, PPAF, HEC
• Demonstrating and celebrate success!!!

9. Thank you.