Effective and efficient justice systems and access to justice are crucial pieces of the institutional foundations underpinning inclusive economic growth, sound democracies, and a thriving investment climate. Justice helps to protect the social contract, uphold the rule of law and foster citizens’ trust in public institutions. Despite significant advances in justice system reform in OECD Member and partner countries in recent years, improvements have been uneven among and within countries. According to estimates by the Task Force on Justice, more than 5.1 billion people worldwide still lacked meaningful access to justice in 2020.
This gap has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout. With rising legal needs and increased pressures on justice systems, waves of social movements across the globe have revealed concerns over their limited effectiveness, responsiveness and accessibility. They have also highlighted uneven trust in justice as the guarantor of people’s rights, with the potential of undermining trust also in other public institutions and, ultimately, democracy. As such, rebuilding trust between institutions and the citizens they serve will be important to build back better from the crisis and deliver on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 on Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.
In this context, the OECD Framework and Good Practice Principles for People-Centred Justice aim at supporting countries in implementing access to justice commitments under SDG 16, charting a way forward to bring justice closer to people.
The Framework and Principles are part of the OECD Reinforcing Democracy Initiative and build on nearly a decade of justice research and exchanges among governments, international actors, experts and civil society during the OECD Roundtables on Access to Justice and other forums. This work was also acknowledged in the 2018 Riga Statement “Investing in Access to Justice for All” and the 2021 Riga Justice Agenda “Transforming justice for a vibrant social contract”. The document was approved by the OECD Public Governance Committee via written procedure on 3 December 2021 and prepared for publication by the OECD Secretariat.
The more people-centred a justice system is, the more responsive it will be to the legal and justice needs of individuals, contributing to fair outcomes and helping build just societies. Moving forward, shifting the focus to the people’s perspective and making justice systems more accessible, effective and transparent will thus be essential for rekindling the bonds that hold our societies together, and for strengthening trust between people and public institutions.