Access to Justice in The Hague
(
Local / Regional Government
)
#SDGAction43314
Description
The city of The Hague is known as the city of peace and justice, where many organizations on a daily basis work towards a better and more just world. We are active on two levels: that of strengthening the SDG16 ecosystem and of supporting the people of The Hague.
The first level is to continue building, maintaining and strengthening an ecosystem in The Hague, consisting of government institutions, international organizations (such as Europol and International courts), ngo’s or not-for-profit’s (such as HiiL), businesses (including the Hague Security Delta) and knowledge institutions (renowned institutes such as Asser and Clingendael as well as universities). They are all active in building a just, peaceful and safe world. The Hague tries to organize working coalitions of these parties to enable them to invest in an more innovative approach contributing this world. The second level on which the city of The Hague is active is that of the people of The Hague. How do they experience living in a city of peace and justice?
We therefore have asked ourselves the following questions: how is the access to justice for the people of The Hague? Do they experience difficulties, and if, how can we improve this?
The Hague is home to HiiL whose mission is to help prevent or resolve 150million justice problems by 2030. HiIL are an evidence-based organsiation and have developed a tool that assess the effectiveness of justice systems and the seriousness and prevalence of ordinary people’s justice problems.
The city of The Hague has therefore, in cooperation with HiiL, started a research about the access to justice of people living in The Hague.
This project is data driven. We ask citizens of The Hague about their judicial issues, we use the Justice Needs and Satisfaction survey (JNS), developed by HiiL and adapted for the purposes of this specific city-wide study. The process will produce a deeper understanding of people’s justice needs in the city of The Hague and verified findings ‘from the bottom-up’.
Step 1 consists of carrying out the JNS, followed by focus groups. The focus groups are used to explore the problems experienced by different target groups in The Hague. Step 2 is about prioritizing the legal issues, formulate the concrete challenges and then connecting them to important stakeholders to explore best practices. Step 3 is all about connecting solutions with the legal issues, and the last step will be the implementation of these solutions in order to contribute to a better delivery of SDG 16.3 for the citizens of The Hague.
The data is the starting point; as the process facilitates effective working groups and ownership of the justice problems that emerge as priority areas.
Being the City of Peace and Justice, many organizations are doing amazing work and contributing to SDG 16.3. To use this expertise already present in The Hague, an important step is to identify all the different organizations and other actors working on similar topics, and to involve all these relevant stakeholder’s to combine all the present knowledge and ideas. The stakeholder engagement process has been tried and tested by HiiL around the world with pleasing results.
This project aims to accelerate SDG implementation by assessing justice needs of the citizens of The Hague. What makes this research unique is specifically the focus on access to justice in The Hague. Adopting the parameter of successful access to justice as being: ‘leave no one behind’, we are focusing on target groups who’s access justice is considered vulnerable (status-holders, low-income families and women).
Our approach is focused on mapping out and journeys to resolve legal issues, but also very much on the prevention side. If people understand what their rights are, where they can go for information, and have access to legal aid, more people will get a fair solution to their legal problems. This all starts with access to justice.
The challenges to access to justice can vary in every city. By mapping out what the specific challenges are concerning access to justice in The Hague, solutions can be implemented to fit these specific challenges.
This research will be followed by using innovative solutions to increase the access to justice in The Hague. Different organizations working on the topic of access to justice will be involved. Together, solutions, whether new or already existing, can be applied to the judicial issues detected in the research.
SDGS & Targets
Goal 16
Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
16.1
Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere
16.1.1
16.1.2
16.1.3
Proportion of population subjected to (a) physical violence, (b) psychological violence and (c) sexual violence in the previous 12 months
16.1.4
Proportion of population that feel safe walking alone around the area they live after dark
16.2
End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children
16.2.1
Proportion of children aged 1–17 years who experienced any physical punishment and/or psychological aggression by caregivers in the past month
16.2.2
16.2.3
Proportion of young women and men aged 18–29 years who experienced sexual violence by age 18
16.3
Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all
16.3.1
16.3.2
16.3.3
Proportion of the population who have experienced a dispute in the past two years and who accessed a formal or informal dispute resolution mechanism, by type of mechanism
16.4
By 2030, significantly reduce illicit financial and arms flows, strengthen the recovery and return of stolen assets and combat all forms of organized crime
16.4.1
16.4.2
16.5
Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms
16.5.1
16.5.2
16.6
Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels
16.6.1
16.6.2
Proportion of population satisfied with their last experience of public services
16.7
Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels
16.7.1
Proportions of positions in national and local institutions, including (a) the legislatures; (b) the public service; and (c) the judiciary, compared to national distributions, by sex, age, persons with disabilities and population groups
16.7.2
16.8
Broaden and strengthen the participation of developing countries in the institutions of global governance
16.8.1
Proportion of members and voting rights of developing countries in international organizations
16.9
By 2030, provide legal identity for all, including birth registration
16.9.1
16.10
Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements
16.10.1
16.10.2
16.a
Strengthen relevant national institutions, including through international cooperation, for building capacity at all levels, in particular in developing countries, to prevent violence and combat terrorism and crime
16.a.1
16.b
Promote and enforce non-discriminatory laws and policies for sustainable development
16.b.1
SDG 14 targets covered
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- Europe
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Contact Information
Charlotte de Jong, Policy Advisor International Affairs
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