​People-centered justice is pivotal in addressing the multifaceted global crises we face today. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has emphasized that "access to justice for all and effective, inclusive, and accountable institutions are critical enablers for other SDGs." To truly ensure ‘access for all’ there is a need to go beyond solely reforming justice institutions to refocus attention on supporting marginalized population groups to access dispute resolution mechanisms for everyday justice problems. Despite this recognition, the goal of achieving universal access to justice remains underprioritized, underfunded, and inadequately addressed within the broader SDG framework.

Recent UN progress reports on Agenda 2030 reveal that the attainment of the SDGs is significantly off track due to a "poly-crisis" comprising the global COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical conflicts, the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, the cost-of-living crisis, food shortages, increased levels of human insecurity, and various other challenges. Specifically, progress towards SDG 16, which aims to promote peaceful and inclusive societies, is slow, with some targets related to access to justice even reversing. In the Asia Pacific Region, at the current state, the SDGs are estimated to be achieved in 2062, significantly behind the ambitions of the 2030 Agenda.

In 2023 there was a decline in civil justice, particularly in the Global South, where billions of people lack meaningful access to justice. This enormous “Justice Gap” and overstretched justice mechanisms create a significant demand and supply gap, where the need for justice services far exceeds the available resources and capacity to deliver them. This discrepancy results in many people, especially those from vulnerable and marginalized communities, being unable to access the justice they need.

Everyday justice issues, such as those related to land use, environmental harm, debt, family relationships, employment, and access to basic services, disproportionately affect women and marginalized and vulnerable communities, exacerbating challenges related to social inclusion, health, education, and livelihoods. Women have roughly the same number of unmet justice needs as men, but the nature of these needs reflects women’s experience of disadvantage, exclusion, discrimination, and violence. Social norms and stereotypes that discriminate against women can materialized as legal discrimination or can obstruct the implementation of laws seeking to protect women’s rights.

Addressing these issues is at the core of rebalancing power at the local and national levels between rights-holders and duty-bearers and enabling them to seek and obtain adequate judicial remedies for their grievances. However, despite global commitments to strengthen justice for peace and sustainable development, allocations of official development assistance (ODA) for core justice functions are decreasing, and support for access to justice remains insufficient. Injustice is also costly: it costs people in terms of lost income, increased risk of conflict, increased social vulnerabilities, and impact on health. It also weakens public trust and reduces GDP.

SDG16, which includes targets related to access to civil justice and to environmental justice, is one of the goals with the lowest available data. Justice systems and their institutional actors have often relied on administrative data and been ineffective in generating and using necessary data to inform effective policy-making and justice outcomes: weak justice data clearly impedes a compelling business case for investing in the justice system. Data-driven policy making is critical to ensure better targeting policy making, including investment in disaggregated data.

In the Asia and the Pacific, access to justice, particularly for women and individuals facing intersecting vulnerabilities, encounters numerous obstacles. These include limited availability of legal aid, high legal costs, language barriers, geographical and technological barriers, lack of inclusivity, limited judicial independence, and poor legal empowerment. Concerns about judicial integrity, fair trials, and due process of law contribute to elevated incarceration rates, especially among women. Additionally, the region encounters regression in SDG 13, climate action, presenting considerable hurdles for environmental and climate justice, as well as the protection of environmental rights activists especially indigenous peoples and women environmental human rights defenders. This is despite some favorable developments, including enhanced national legal, policy, and justice frameworks for climate-related litigation. The region also faces a projected 15.6 million forcibly displaced and stateless people, where two complex situations are major causes of forced displacement and statelessness: Afghanistan and Myanmar.  All these issues erode trust in institutions, exacerbate grievances, and elevate the risk of political instability and violent conflict.

Against this backdrop, there's a growing international consensus to prioritize people in the promotion of the rule of law, human rights, and justice. This shift from a state-centric model, which often only serves a select few, to a people-centered approach, places the rights, needs, and aspirations of individuals at the forefront. Key entities such as the Task Force on Justice, the Justice Action Coalition, and the G-7+ advocate for prioritizing people-centered justice as a central component of achieving Agenda 2030. Initiatives like the SDG16+ Forum and the inclusion of a people-centered indicator (SDG 16.3.3) have operationalized commitments to ensure justice for all. Additionally, the UN Secretary-General’s "Our Common Agenda" (2021) and "New Vision for the Rule of Law" (2023) reaffirmed justice as an essential dimension of the essential role of the rule of law, human rights, justice, and security in renewing the social contract, committing to a people-centered approach to the rule of law and justice.

According to the Justice Action Coalition, a multi-stakeholder alliance including UNDP, UN Women, and the World Justice Project, people-centered justice is pivotal in addressing the world's intersecting crises and fostering fair, open, accessible, participatory, and inclusive legal systems. This approach prioritizes understanding and addressing individuals' justice needs, making services accessible by breaking down barriers to justice, which have both social and economic benefits. It fosters data-driven initiatives and innovation to guide evidence-based policies and interventions, fostering social trust and preventing conflict while bolstering public trust. Additionally, this approach transcends geographical and identity-based barriers, aiming to serve all individuals, especially those in vulnerable situations. It enables countries and funders to better allocate resources into justice solutions that are effective, scalable, and sustainable.

The "Justice for All" report emphasizes that while improving the quality of justice is essential, it must be accompanied by efforts to scale justice to reach everyone. Focusing solely on quality without considering scalability means that the justice system may be fair and equitable for those who can access it, but many will still be left out due to limited capacity and resources.
To bridge this gap, considerations could be given to promising levers for scaling justice while also ensuring its quality.

 

These include:

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• Technology: Utilizing digital platforms and tools to provide legal information, facilitate communication, and streamline case management can significantly increase access to justice.

• Prevention: Implementing measures that prevent conflicts and legal issues from arising can reduce the burden on justice systems.

• Decentralization: Bringing justice services closer to communities by decentralizing decision-making and resources can make justice more accessible and responsive to local needs.

• Standardization: Establishing consistent procedures and practices can improve the efficiency and fairness of justice delivery.

• Financing for Justice: Securing adequate funding for justice initiatives ensures that resources are available to maintain and expand justice services.

Utilizing these levers is not aimed at replacing the existing justice system but is envisioned to free up resources, making caseloads more manageable and allowing justice providers, currently overwhelmed with work, to offer quality services in line with best practices.
Crucially, people-centered justice is integral to achieving the SDGs by 2030, promoting Leave No One Behind, advancing human rights, and fostering peace.