Rule of Law EGM

Knowledge RoL

Any measure related to levels of understanding related to processes or skills of justice actors and society, including legal literacy

Beliefs attitudes and norms

Any measure related to the beliefs and attitudes of justice actors or individuals in society of the norms of justice institutions and society.

Behaviours RoL

Any measure related to a change in the behaviour of justice actors, institutions or member of society. Including the adoption of improved techniques and processes by justice system and service actors or increased seeking out and use of justice services by society members.

Participation RoL

Any measure related to the participation of individuals in activities, groups or processes created to support justice institutions and services

Efficiency RoL

Any measure related to the time or cost required to conduct processes within the justice sector

Integration RoL

Any measure related to the level and quality of integration and interaction between the formal and informal justice institutions

Societal re-entry

Transparency RoL

Any measure related to the clarity and openness of justice actors, institutions and measures

Accountability of justice actors

Any measures related to the effects of accountability measures that are put in place in terms of changes in the number of issues reported, investigations made or the results of those accountability processes

Diversity and representation of minority groups

Any measures related to changes in the representation of women and minority groups working within justice institutions or in terms of the creation of laws that protect them.

Solutions for justice problems

Prevention of justice problems

Security RoL

Economic growth and development RoL

Health and wellbeing RoL

Any measure related to physical or mental health

Education RoL

Any measure related to educational attendance or attainment

Human capacity development (formal sector)

Training and education (including curricula development and university courses) to strengthen the skills of formal justice actors to be able to perform their roles effectively and to qualify within the profession. Targets of training may include judges, lawyers, police and other actors that support the formal justice system. In addition to developing legal skills, programmes may seek to development a stronger culture of respect and appreciation for rule of law and human rights among justice actors.

Selection and certification process reform

Interventions to improve the selection process for justice actors to support transparent and rigorous vetting for those who can practice and be appointed.

Performance incentives (formal sector)

Incentives for actors in the justice sector to operate effectively and efficiently. For example, these may be based on increased pay related to performance or to career development.

Professional association capacity building

Provision of additional resources to support professional associations within the legal sector, such as  Judges’ Associations, Bar Association, Public Defenders’ Associations. For example, through strengthening of membership services or human capacity development or strengthening internal management infrastructure.

Support for underrepresented groups to access legal careers

Provision of support to women and to minority groups to access careers in the legal sector. For example, interventions that support women, specific ethnic or religious groups, and people with disabilities. These might be through mentorship schemes, training sessions or quota systems that provide places in legal education institutions to specific groups.

Promoting participation and human rights standards

Reforms of laws and systems to align with inclusive, participatory, protection and human rights standards. This includes:

• Transition to oral/accusatorial systems: Interventions to shift from inquisitorial systems (judges attempt to determine facts while representing the interests of the state) to oral or accusatorial systems (the two sides are presented to an independent judge)
• Participatory law reform: Engaging affected communities in the creation or reform of laws that affect them
• Review and reform of laws by justice system actors to meet international human rights standards: Changing laws so that they meet the standards in human rights treaties. For example, interventions that seek to implement the Convention of the Rights of the Child in national law.
• Review and reform of laws by justice system actors that protect or support access to justice for particular marginalised groups: Changing laws to specifically support the protection or access to social justice for marginalised groups. For example, changing laws that would allow juvenile migrants to access education in their host country or to protect girls from defilement

Case management systems reform

This may include: 

• Creation of improved infrastructure for case management: Interventions to create and reform administrative systems to support more efficient case management and processing within the formal or informal legal institutions. This can include the creation of systematic processes or the development of infrastructure including digital software.
• Problem-centred approached for case management: Approaches for engaging justice seekers in the processing of their case.

Participatory constitutional development

Creating of transparent and participatory processes for all citizens to feed into the creation and amendment of constitutions, particularly following regime changes.

Transitional justice processes

Legal proceedings designed to take into account previous human rights abuses, often after civil wars or following authoritarian regime change.

Creating and supporting informal non-state justice mechanisms

This may include:

• Restorative justice mechanisms: Provision or support of non-formal restorative justice mechanism that often include dialogue, relationship building, and communication of moral values.
• Alternative dispute resolution mechanisms: Informal mechanisms for resolving disputes and sharing information related to those disputes. These methods may include arbitration and mediation, using in person or online mechanism.

Linking formal and informal institutions

Creating or supporting linkages between formal and informal institutions. This may include: 

• Creation of advanced level curricula, training and education on traditional and customary law: Education and training on traditional and customary law for legal actors. This can help to support them to operate within and between both systems
• Strengthening of relationships and referral mechanisms between actors across the formal and non-formal systems, including through MOUs: Interventions designed to create linkages between informal and formal justice institutions and actors by building relationships and referral mechanisms between informal community-based dispute resolution arbitrators and formal justice sector actors. Examples include, memoranda of understanding or other written agreements.
• Legal harmonization: Amending state laws to redress conflicts between the statutory and customary law. Also referred to as establishing a hybrid system.

Introduction of new mechanisms to increase access to justice

This may include:

• Legal aid and public defenders: Interventions that provide free legal aid in terms of formal legal advice or representation to those who cannot otherwise afford to use the formal legal system.
• Court fee payment or waivers: Interventions that provide Funds or waive fees related to court cases.
• Adapting services to meet the needs of people with physical disability: Provision and adaptation of services to help people with physical disabilities to access services such as though wheel-chair friendly buildings, information in sign language etc.
• Phone and online applications for legal advice or documentation: The provision of legal advice, often as a low cost, using digital approaches instead of traditional face-to-face advice. In addition to advice of rights and procedure , these may provide online templates for contracting. They can be based on specific legal issues or maybe provide advice on multiple areas of law.
• In-person one stop centres for justice: The creation of legal service centres that combine a range of different legal services in one place. These can facilitate access in remote areas. For example, they may house judges, prosecutors, public defenders, police officers and the court in one place.
• Victims’ and citizens’ rights clinics: The creation and resourcing of physical clinics to provide advice to populations, including those who believe they may be victims of crime or rights abuses.
• Support to navigate plural legal systems: Provision of information, advice or streamlining of processes, whether in person or virtually, on how to navigate plural legal systems
• Improving accessibility of legislation: Creating databases or other centralised locations for laws, providing updated versions and amendments to increase understanding of legal obligations

Policing strategies and tactics

Capacity building and system reform of police. This includes interventions such as:

• Concentrated/hotspot policing: Directing police resources to areas where crime is known to occur frequently.
• Problem-oriented policing: The process of problem-oriented policing focuses on analysing data to determine what problems are, there they occur and how to determine a most effective response.
• Data-driven policing: This may include the use of digital technology to collect and examine data.
• Community-oriented policing: Police officers seek to make contact with communities (whether the general population or specific actors such as business owners) and create linkages. This may include meetings or written communications where police and residents make plans and share information. It may also include informal and opportunistic contact to find out citizen concerns.
• Strengthening the ability of law enforcement personnel to tackle specialised issues: For example, supporting them to tackle issues of anti-corruption, organized crime and gender-based violence.

Deterrence mechanisms

Interventions other than policing that seek to improve areas that are badly looked after in order to deter crime, for example by removing graffiti and signs of damage. May also include increased presence of video surveillance in crime prone areas.

Diversion

including arrest and pre-trial diversion programs that share the objective of diverting these populations out of the criminal justice system and into behavioural healthcare and other more appropriate services.

Crime prevention

This may include:

• Economic interventions: Targeting groups or individuals who are potentially vulnerable to engaging in crime, including in gangs or drugs or in other crime, with economic interventions such as employment training programmes. These are designed to provide alternatives to crime.
• Mental health and psychosocial support: Targeting groups or individuals who are potentially vulnerable to engaging in crime, including in gangs or drugs or in other crime, with MPSS support. For example, Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), Anger Replacement Therapy (ART) and family counselling-based initiatives, etc.
• Education or school-based programming: Targeting groups or individuals who are potentially vulnerable to engaging in crime, including in gangs or drugs or in other crime, with education interventions or school-based programming to promote alternatives to violence and crime.

Rehabilitation and reintegration programmes for ex-offenders

This includes:

• In-facility rehabilitation: Interventions to support prisoners to integrate effectively into society. These may include vocational training, life skills provision or psycho-social support and may take place in order outside of correctional institutions.
• Out-of-facility reintegration: Interventions to support ex-offenders to integrate effectively into society. These may include vocational training, life skills provision or psycho-social support and may take place in order outside of correctional institutions.

Social services for victims of crime and violence

This may include:

• Support for victims referred by an actor or organisation that is part of the justice system or services: The creation and resourcing of services and interventions that can provide crisis intervention, emergency treatment, and referrals for services (physical or mental support) to adult and child victims that have been referred by a relevant justice actor or institution. This could include court-ordered placement of children into social services or mental health support for crime victims referred by a Victims’ Advice Bureau.
• Problem solving approaches to case intake: The use and strengthening of approaches that engage the person involved in working on addressing the problems, specifically in relation to social care.

Protection RoL

This may include:

• Protection for at risk legal actors: Interventions that seek to protect either justice actors or justice seekers from harm that may be posed by their attempts to seek justice for themselves or others
• Protection for political prisoners: Interventions to support the fair trial and safe treatment of political prisoners
• Witness protection services: Interventions to ensure that witnesses do not come to harm for their willingness to provide evidence

Public awareness and outreach on legal literacy

This may include:

• Public legal education campaigns: Using different forms of media to share information and increase awareness about laws, rights and services to the general population.
• Targeted legal education campaigns: Using different forms of media to meet specific populations with local information of direct relevance to their group.
• Translation of legal material for marginalised groups: Translating information about laws, rights and services to people who may find traditional forms of relaying information difficult to understand. For example, this may relate to provision of information into different languages or providing illustrations or videos for adults or children who cannot read.
• Creation of simplified guides to support understanding of specific areas of law: Creation of simplified guides to help lay people understand aspects of the law for the specific problems that they face. For example, the creation of guides on child custody arrangements.
• Support to community justice advocates: Training and resources provided to community justice advocates to share information and raise issues.

Legal registration

This may include:

• Legal registration campaigns for citizens: Birth or citizen registration for individuals to support their ability to access services.
• Legal registration for non-citizens: Interventions that support providing a form of legal identity to non-citizens, such as settled status for refugees.
• Legal registration for business: Interventions to support legal registration of businesses and other entities.

Appearance notification systems

Notification systems to remind people to attend court appearances and other proceedings in the legal process. These could be physical or digital, such as technology-based alerts, letters or in-person reminders to attend legal processes. 

Society-led crime prevention and reporting initiatives

This may include:

• Neighbourhood watch schemes: Systems-led or created by citizens to support reporting and prevention of crime in their locality.
• School or community anti-crime or violence campaigns: Locally-led campaigns to promote anti-violence and anti-crime values.
• Reporting and referral by non-legal service providers: Strengthening the ability of actors in no-legal services who come into contact with victims of crime and abuse to notice and report issues. For example, teacher trained to recognise child abuse in pupils.

Support to civil society and the media

This may include: 

• Civil society strengthening to support justice for all: Supporting civil society organisations to monitor, report and advocate for effective and fair rule of law through trainings, networks and resources.
• Media strengthening to support justice for all: Supporting media to monitor, report and advocate for effective and fair rule of law through trainings, networks and resources.

Legal empowerment

Legal empowerment approaches to accessing quality services or address human rights abuses. This may include:

• Approaches using right to information requests: Training justice seekers to file right to information (RTI) requests and advocate using that information to achieve justice in access to quality services
• Citizen-led approaches using laws and legal frameworks: The use of laws and legal frameworks by citizens (often with the support of paralegals) to redress problems encountered with accessing quality services, especially for vulnerable and marginalised groups. These typically focus on redressing individual grievances.
• Strengthening public interest litigation: Use of judicial review to address issues of human rights and equality, particularly for minority or disadvantaged groups or individuals

Community monitoring

Community monitoring of formal and informal justice and legal institutions: Interventions to support social accountability initiatives to monitor, assess and hold actors within the justice institutions and services to account. For example, through the use of community scorecards, community observers, social audits, participatory budgeting and other feedback loops etc.

Human capacity development (informal sector)

This includes training and education for actors who are working within the informal justice system to be able to perform their roles more effectively. Targets may include paralegals, traditional chiefs, religious leaders and others who support varied forms of informal justice. Training and education may focus on understanding the law and human rights but also developing personal skills such as building confidence and conflict resolution.

Also includes provision of specific support for paralegals from legal professionals to enable them to perform their roles effectively.

Transparency, monitoring, and accountability initiatives

Creation and strengthening of monitoring, transparency, oversight and accountability mechanisms for formal justice institutions and actors. This includes interventions such as:

• Strengthening of procedural justice approaches: Procedural justice approaches focus on ensuring that organisational processes are fair and impartial. This has often been approach used to ensure that policing is fair.
• Public complaints mechanisms: Interventions to gather and respond to complaints from external actors. For example, though phone, online, complaints boxes.
• Strengthening of ombudsmen capacity: Provision of additional resources or human capacity support to strengthen ombudsmen
• Independent audits: Professional external audits.
• Internal reporting and accountability systems: These may include internal governance mechanisms such as reporting and accountability systems, the creation of good governance champions, whistle blowing systems, and body cameras for police
• Publication of resources, process and outcome information to the public: Interventions to provide information on the internal functioning and decisions made within the justice system. This may include information on budgets, spending, court cases and decisions.
• Strengthening of monitoring and evaluation processes: Systems that monitor and support improved performance in the justice sector

Court devolution and specialisation initatives

Creating and strengthening devolved and specialised courts and chambers. This may include: 

• Devolved courts: The creation of formal courts that function at lower administrative levels. For example, the creation of local courts that deal with issues formally but at a community level.
• Mobile courts: Supporting mobile courts that can bring formal justice courts to people in remote areas that are underserved by legal infrastructure.
• Specialised courts and chambers: The creation of formal courts that deal with specific issues. For example, the creation of small claims courts or that focus on specialised areas of law including: anti-corruption, organised crime, drugs, youth, gender-based violence, family law, or commercial law.