​Toolkit for Access to Justice and People‑Centred Justice Systems

1. The OECD Recommendation and Implementation Toolkit on Access to Justice and People-Centred Justice Systems

The OECD Recommendation of the Council on Access to Justice and People-Centred Justice Systems (hereafter “the Recommendation”) was adopted by the OECD Council on 12 July 2023 and aims to support Adherents in advancing access to justice and implementing core elements of people-centred justice. Its development involved extensive discussions within and outside of the OECD, including direct contributions from government representatives; stakeholders from the public and private sectors; academia; and non‑governmental, civil society and international organisations.

The Recommendation builds on the OECD Framework and Good Practice Principles for People-Centred Justice and all other OECD work in the area of access to justice since 2013. It enriches existing initiatives by countries, civil society and other international organisations in designing and delivering people-centred legal and justice services, and strengthening access to justice. It complements these international efforts through a whole-of-state and whole-of-society approach to access to justice that goes beyond the formal justice system and integrates the full range of legal and justice services. The Recommendation supports Adherents in adopting strategic approaches for people-centred justice and governance mechanisms for more responsive justice systems.

The Recommendation focuses on five main components that underpin people-centred justice systems:

1. establishing a people-centred purpose and culture in the justice system

2. designing and delivering people-centred services

3. establishing a governance infrastructure that enables people-centred justice

4. empowering people to make people-centred justice transformation happen

5. commitment to participatory and evidence-based planning, monitoring and evaluation.

Each component outlines the key relevant concepts and provisions to provide greater detail and support to countries in enhancing access to justice through the adoption of more people-centred approaches. Overall, the Recommendation underscores fundamental values that are common to many countries in relation to the existence of an independent and transparent justice system based on the rule of law, and the importance of achieving broader well-being and growth. It also highlights the potential of investments in access to justice to become a cost-effective driver towards other social goals, such as improved health, housing and employment.

Purpose and rationale for the Toolkit

OECD Recommendations are adopted by the OECD Council and are not legally binding on Member countries. However, they represent a political commitment to the principles they contain and entail an expectation that Adherents will do their best to implement them. To assist countries and justice actors to implement the provisions of the Recommendation, the OECD Public Governance Committee has the responsibility to:

• support the exchange of information and experience on access to justice to facilitate the implementation of the Recommendation, through a multi-stakeholder and interdisciplinary dialogue to continue to build the body of global best practices, activities and emerging trends on access to justice for all

• develop further guidance, indicators and an implementation Toolkit to support the implementation of this Recommendation, including through voluntary justice country reviews

• promote increased local, national and global harmonisation of the categories and methodologies for justice data collection to assess the implementation of this Recommendation and enable international exchanges, data sharing and co-operation, as appropriate, while accommodating local needs and avoiding duplication of data collection efforts.

The Toolkit for Access to Justice and People-Centred Justice Systems (hereafter “the Toolkit”) is a key part of the OECD strategy to support policymakers, justice actors and practitioners across all parts of the justice system to implement the Recommendation within their areas of operation and responsibility.

The Toolkit was developed over an 18-month period and has benefited from the sharing of information and country experiences – both successes and pitfalls – and the provision of good practice examples underpinning the elements and pillars of the Recommendation. More than 40 countries, non-governmental organisations, international agencies and experts have provided contributions to the Toolkit. Specific online workshops were conducted as part of the development of each of the pillars of the Toolkit, and these complemented insights gained in the annual OECD Roundtables on Access to Justice.

The Toolkit includes:

• a breakdown of each of the elements of the Recommendation into key “enablers” to better operationalise its elements

• accessible “checklists” to support justice systems to take action to implement the enablers (and thus the Recommendation), including:

  • “self-assessment” questions to enable users to check current progress and consider possible gaps and strategies

  • “key actions” that governments and actors across all justice systems might consider taking to implement specific parts of the Recommendation and enhance the people centricity of that part of the justice process

  • key “pitfalls to avoid” that have been identified through experiences of seeking to address access to justice in these domains

• good practice examples for each element from a diversity of countries that demonstrate how they are addressing reforms and transformations towards improving approaches to access to people‑centred justice.

As with the Recommendation itself, the approach taken in all parts of the Toolkit – self-assessment questions, suggested key actions, and, where possible, good practice examples – is people centred.

How to use the Toolkit

The Toolkit is intended to be used “hand-in-hand” with the Recommendation and closely follows the structure of the Recommendation to facilitate its use. Governments and justice system actors seeking to implement the various elements of the Recommendation can consult the corresponding section of the Toolkit to find the respective components and elements of interest expanded further into the key enablers necessary to implement those elements. They can then:

• ask themselves the self-assessment questions to assess their current status or progress towards implementation

• consider the list of suggested key actions in relation to their jurisdiction’s situation and adapt the suggested actions accordingly to their own context

• take note of the pitfalls to avoid to inform their subsequent initiatives and actions

• study the good practice examples.