Access to justice is often used as a term for access to the formal institution of the legal system by those in search of a remedy either individuals in a particular civil or criminal case or collectively in a group of action or constitutional challenges. Rule of law is meaningless without access to justice. Access to justice means to reach justice easily by legally proceedings in appropriate time.
According to The Rule of Law Unit in the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General, access to justice is a basic principle of the rule of law. In the absence of access to justice, people are unable to have their voice heard, exercise their rights, challenge discrimination or hold decision-makers accountable.
CDWD communities are often disadvantaged by their inability to access justice. For instance, in Europe, Roma women lack knowledge about institutions, on how to file a complaint or receive assistance or support for their children. This has its roots in their marginalisation, traditional prejudices and stereotypes, resulting in them often being victims of domestic and gender-based violence.
The lack of trust in state institutions and lack of information and knowledge about their rights and the mechanisms of complaint is a common feature of how CDWD communities perceive the system around them. This, together with their low degree of inclusion and development and the high degree of their vulnerability renders them unable to access legal protection in general.
In his paper on Justice in an Unequal Relationship? Negotiations Between the Quilombo Bombas and the Upper Ribeira State Touristic Park, Brazil, Kjersti Thorkildsen of the Department of International Environment and Development Studies of the Norwegian University of Life Sciences argues that exclusionary practices and discourses were used by the Brazilian state apparatus, hampering the recognition of a Quilombola identity, land rights, and access to infrastructure development.
According to the publication Challenges for Dalits in South Asia’s Legal Community brought out by the American Bar Association’s Centre for Human Rights, Access to justice in Bangladesh is fraught with various issues, including restrictive laws, prohibitive costs, and delays, which disproportionately impact its 6.5 million Dalits who have a history of bearing socio-political discrimination and, most importantly for this report, lack proper access to justice and representation in the legal community.
Dalit rights are significantly hindered by structural constraints within the legal and political system of Bangladesh, which are further exacerbated by social biases.
In Somalia, minority groups such as the Sab, Midgan, Tumal and Yibir suffer daily violence and persecution and minorities across the country experience denial and abuse of the whole range of basic human rights, including subjection to hate speech, limited access to justice and education and employment. There is no state protection for minorities in Somalia, including in Somaliland and Puntland.
The murder of a Roma teenager in Greece on November 11, the third such incident this year, has once again highlighted how the Roma population continues to face discrimination
European Union Member States must formally recognize and acknowledge the existence of discrimination based on work and descent as a distinct form of discrimination that deserves the attention of the international community and that affects communities around the world including among others, the Roma in Europe, a report titled ‘Status of Communities Discriminated on Work…
Crimes against Dalit people rose by 177.6 per cent and crimes against people from tribal communities rose 111.2 per cent between 1991 and 2021. Dalits and Adivasis together account for almost 32 per cent of all prisoners in Indian jails. How are Institutional discrimination and social exclusion related to crime? Data points to a vast…
About 10.1 million children aged between 5 to 14 work in India. Recent deaths in factories in Delhi, home to the country’s capital city points to the enslavement of children in risky factories. A total of 59,262 children were reported to go missing in India in 2020, according to the National Crime Records Bureau’s ‘Crime…
This study attempts to draw attention to the current existing policies on land, higher educationand skill development for employment. The study is carried out in 4 South Asian countries ofBangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. We have under taken this study to create an evidencebase on the existing gaps in policy and budgetary frameworks on…
