The Economic and Legal Empowerment panel at the World Justice Forum IV explored how civil society, government, and private actors can work in concert to empower vulnerable and poor citizens through a robust rule of law.
Panelists focused on modern methods of legal empowerment such as government programs that raise awareness of vulnerable citizens’ constitutional rights; safeguards and regulations that ensure access to justice; the right to counsel; and access to formal business and financial mechanisms. The discussion also highlighted innovative solutions to closing the gap between passing a law in the halls of parliament and the reality of that law as experienced by the poor.
Moderator
Zaza Namoradze, Director, Budapest Office, Open Society Justice Initative (Hungary)
Panelists
Yasmin Batliwala, CEO, Advocates for International Development (United Kingdom)
Stephen Golub, Lecturer, School of Law, University of California, Berkeley (USA)
As part of a multidimensional project funded by the Canadian Embassy in Mexico, WJP has produced a new report that seeks to increase the visibility of Indigenous mediation programs. It comes as a growing number of governments, donors, and communities are embracing a paradigm shift to people-centered justice. That global movement prioritizes identifying people’s legal needs and fostering accessible solutions to address them, rather than primarily investing in established institutions that are missing the mark.
Authoritarianism and weakened justice systems continue to erode the rule of law globally–but not universally. Taking cues from the communities resisting these trends can pave the road forward, according to the World Justice Project (WJP) Executive Director Elizabeth Andersen.
On March 13, Andersen addressed judicial, legal, and academic leaders at the National Judicial Conference’s symposium on “Democracy’s Last Line of Defense: Preserving an Independent Judiciary.”
The World Justice Project (WJP) is pleased to announce that WJP Mexico Country Office Director Alejandro González Arreola has been named the global organization’s next Chief Engagement Officer. In his new Washington-D.C.-based role, Alejandro will build, strengthen, and support WJP’s global network of rule of law stakeholders; lead global policy engagement, advocacy initiatives, and campaigns on rule of law topics; and spearhead WJP’s work to advance the rule of law through strategic convenings, including the World Justice Forum.