For information only – not an official document Promoting the rule of law Promoting peaceful and inclusive societies and Women still face barriers as claimants, victims, providing access to justice for all is the aim of witnesses or offenders. Ensuring access to justice Sustainable Development Goal 16. Governments, for women, particularly those from more civil society and communities need to work together marginalized sectors of society, is a means of to achieve peace, justice and inclusion. implementing women’s rights and is central to sustaining peace and the rule of law. Access also A culture of lawfulness embodied in the Doha contributes to combating impunity for crimes Declaration against women, combats poverty and exclusion and In the Doha Declaration adopted at the 13th UN protects women from economic exploitation and Crime Congress, Member States expressed their abuse. commitment to promoting a culture of lawfulness UNODC, in cooperation with UN Women, the UN based on the protection of human rights and the Development Programme (UNDP) and the Office of rule of law while respecting cultural identity with the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), particular emphasis on children and youth. The has developed a toolkit aimed at ensuring that Declaration also recognized the importance of justice systems are non-discriminatory and education for promoting a culture of lawfulness. inclusive. UNODC also has increased its activities to The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), under support countries in strengthening access to justice its Global Programme for the Implementation of the for women. Doha Declaration, has launched two related Access to justice in the context of human trafficking initiatives – Education for Justice and Line Up, Live is critically important and requires clear and early Up on youth crime prevention through sport. Line identification of victims. Negative consequences of Up, Live Up is focused on using sport as a vehicle to failing to properly identify victims include a denial train children and youth in social and life skills and of rights, a failure to investigate and prosecute address important risk factors for crime and offenders, removal from a country in which the violence. The Education for Justice initiative is victim has no right of residence and in certain cases, focused on education on the rule of law, crime the charging and prosecution of victims for crimes prevention and criminal justice in the primary, that they were compelled to commit as victims. secondary and tertiary education levels. Legal aid is an important component of access to Access to justice for all justice. It means access to justice for the poor, Access to justice refers to the ability of people to marginalized and disadvantaged and when seek and obtain a remedy through formal or provided at no cost, protects those who are informal institutions of justice in conformity with detained, arrested or imprisoned, suspected, rule of law principles and human rights standards. If accused of or charged with a criminal offence, as justice is not accessible, people are unable to well as victims and witnesses. exercise their rights, challenge discrimination or Restorative justice is a key measure of increasing hold decision-makers accountable. access to justice. The criminal justice system’s The right of equal access to justice for all has been processes are often entirely centred on the recognized by the international community. offender. Restorative justice gives an opportunity to Members States have also expressed their all those affected by the crime to take part in commitment to using law to uphold the equal rights addressing and repairing the harm caused by it. of women and secure their empowerment and full UNODC has produced a Handbook on Restorative access to justice. Justice Programmes which was recently updated. Effective, accountable, impartial and inclusive institutions accountable to citizens, defending institutions human rights and educating the public. Corruption continues to taint many criminal justice Education for the rule of law institutions and persists in many forms and at many levels. It undermines objective decision-making, Integrating the rule of law into all levels of education enables young people to become positive public trust and access to justice. agents of change and play a role in the promotion The UN Convention against Corruption provides a of a culture of lawfulness. This should begin at the comprehensive framework for States to build primary level with values-based education and skills effective and strong institutions free from development, moving on to discuss more specific corruption that operate on the principles of topics during secondary education. Universities integrity, accountability and transparency. Such have a key role in providing in-depth knowledge to institutions are also central to achieving Sustainable future professionals and it should not be restricted Development Goal 16. to law schools or humanities courses. The principle of judicial independence is the UNODC’s Education for Justice initiative has bedrock of an accountable judiciary. UNODC’s developed and disseminated education tools and Global Judicial Integrity Network creates materials for primary, secondary and tertiary opportunities for judges to network, helps education, reaching more than 417,000 information-sharing and responds to existing and beneficiaries, both students and educators, from emerging challenges related to judicial integrity. more than 180 Member States. Criminal justice practitioners must maintain Accountability superior standards of personal integrity and ethics. The Network has developed a comprehensive Criminal justice institutions must be accountable for package of judicial ethics training tools. More than the protection of society, in adherence to the principles of the rule of law, justice, peace and 40 jurisdictions worldwide have already begun security. At the same time they must be testing the new tools. accountable to individual members of society who With social media playing an important part in the seek fair administration and delivery of justice, life of many people and communities, its use by particularly victims of crime, people accused of public officials may raise specific questions. The committing a crime and people at high risk of abuse Global Judicial Integrity Network has developed and exploitation including women, children, the non-binding guidelines on the use of social media by poor and minorities. judges. The guidelines address the risks and opportunities in judges’ awareness and use of social Promoting the rule of law should not be seen as the media, identification on social media, content and sole responsibility of law enforcement and justice behaviour, online friendships and relationships and institutions or governments. This also moves closer training. to the vision expressed by Member States in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Partnerships with civil society organizations in crime Goals and targets are interdependent and the prevention and criminal justice are a key ingredient importance of partnerships and the principle of to achieving justice and the rule of law. Civil society leaving no one behind are embedded in the Goals. plays an important role holding criminal justice .