Reflecting on UNDP’s focus on Rule of Law, Security and Human Rights: What has worked well and what hasn’t?

Moderators

Giorgia Tortora

Sofiene Bacha
Policy Specialist

Nicholas Booth
Programme Advisor

Roqaya Dhaif
Policy & Program Analyst

Clement Hamon
Programme Specialist

Gloria Manzotti
Especialista de Programa Justicia , Seguridad Ciudadana y Derechos Humanos

Lorena MELLADO
Rule of law specialist

Yagiz Oztepe
Programme Officer

Welcome!

This discussion room is a space for you to share your feedback on UNDP’s work in the area of Rule of Law, Security and Human Rights (especially the Global Programme on Rule of Law and Human Rights), to review its impact and effectiveness since its establishment in 2008.
Whether you are a current partner, donor, or an independent civil society activist, thematic expert, journalist or academic specializing in rule of law and human rights and advocating for security or justice reform , we want to hear your thoughts on what we have done well and what we could improve upon. We are particularly interested in reflecting on UNDP’s impact, scope, and partnerships but welcome your views on areas that may fall outside of this.

View the 2019 Highlights of the Global Programme.

Please introduce yourself and offer your perspective.

Guiding Questions:

Identifying current and emerging trends on the rule of law and human rights:

What is UNDP doing well in Rule of Law, Security and Human Rights? Where can we improve? Identify new horizons and policy developments?
If you are from a UNDP Country Office or UN entity, and you have received support from the Global Programme; has this assistance been able to accelerate rule of law and human rights programming and catalyze broader support on the ground? Were you satisfied with the level and quality of support provided? What could be improved?
Has UNDP been able to effectively work at the humanitarian-development-peace nexus and offer integrated solutions on the rule of law and human rights? Has the Global Programme assisted these efforts? Can more be done?
How can we better support Transitions in peace operations settings?
Has the UNDP Global Programme remained sufficiently flexible in support to UNDP Country Offices and UN entities in addressing emerging needs and also in staying committed to prioritizing support to crisis-affected contexts?
Do you consider the Crisis Bureau or Rule of Law, Security and Human Rights team as a key partner in your work? What works and where can we do better?
Has the UNDP Rule of Law, Security and Human Rights team been sufficiently effective in “serving the UN system?” How can we better orient ourselves to this aim and strengthen our partnerships?

Objective: To gather feedback from UNDP and a broader constituency on the impact and effectiveness of the UNDP’s focus on rule of law, security and human rights to inform the design of the next phase. To provide a space to help us identify what areas of work require more engagement from the UNDP and UN rule of law, security and human rights community and the challenges and opportunities to advance justice, security, and human rights over the next 5 years.

Outcome: A summary of discussions will feed into UNDP’s policy and programme formulation on the Future We Want to See: Reimagining the Rule of Law, Security and Human Rights and the Inclusive Social Contract.

Comments (10)

Sofiene Bacha • 6 days ago Moderator

Welcome to this discussion! My name is Sofiene Bacha and I will be the moderator of this room alongside Roqaya Dhaif for the first week. Nicholas Booth, Giorgia Tortora, Gloria Manzotti, Clement Hamon, and Yagiz Oztepe will accompany you during the rest of the consultation. This segment of the discussion deals with your feedback on:

The scope and impact of UNDP's contribution to strengthening the Rule of Law, Security, and Human Rights in Host Countries;
The outcomes and the effectiveness of the UNDP Global Programme on the Rule of Law and Human Rights. For more information on the last achievements of the Global Programme, please see the 2019 Highlights of the Global Programme and the 2018 annual report. This programme is under review and the outcome of this discussion will also inform the design of its next phase (2022-2025).

We are very delighted to welcome your feedback, comments, questions, and thoughts on the ongoing partnerships –including the Global Focal Point on the Rule of Law and other global Task Forces and initiatives– as well as on your experience, good practices, challenges, etc., both in the field and on policy development. We hope also that this interaction will help you connect with other experts from the greater rule of law, security, and human rights community around the world.

We look forward to our interaction and exchange of views, ideas, recommendations, and forward-looking thinking. Thank you!

Alvaro Herrero • 4 days ago

Hola, mi nombre es Álvaro Herrero y soy especialista en temas de justicia y estado de derecho. Quisiera destacar que la contribución del PNUD en la región de América Latina y el Caribe ha sido muy importante. Por su despliegue territorial y su capacidad de brindar apoyo técnico, ha logrado generar una agenda coherente de reformas del sector justicia. No hay otros organismos en la región con esa ventaja comparativa. En tal sentido, ha tenido un rol destacado en la promoción de una agenda integral de acceso a la justicia, tema prioritario en la región, apoyando proyectos innovadores como el Hospital de Derechos, las redes de Centros de Acceso a la Justicia, y los cuerpos de abogados especializados en violencia de género. También ha apoyado la justicia de paz y ha trabajado para llevar la justicia a áreas remotas de muchos países. También ha diseñado estrategias para utilizar el acceso a la justicia en contextos de multiculturalismo

Vale destacar que hay dos áreas en las que PNUD tiene trabajo activo pero donde se abren muchas oportunidades adicionales en el contexto post-COVID19. La primera es fortalecer las capacidades de los poderes judiciales para impulsar procesos de innovación dentro del sistema de justicia. Esto servirá además para consolidar los avances repentinos implementados en el marco del COVID-19. Pero también son necesarias reformas de justicia abierta (transparencia, datos abiertos, participación ciudadana), uso de nuevas tecnologías (inteligencia artificial, aprendizaje de máquinas, automatización) economía del comportamiento. La segunda oportunidad se refiere a generar capacidades en materia de datos acordes a los nuevos desarrollos tecnológicos e institucionales (gobernanza de datos, explotación, etc.), la inclusión de políticas basadas en evidencia y seguir consolidando los esfuerzos para producir datos estadísticos de calidad.

Kenta Inagaki • 4 days ago

Hi Alvaro Herrero thanks so much for your comment. As you touched upon the innovation in the justice sector, which was a theme of Session 5 of the Annual Meeting, I’d like to draw your attention to an excellent example of virtual courts of Bangladesh shared by Sharmeela Rassool in the room 1. https://www.sparkblue.org/comment/24032

I’m too interested in the application of behavioral economics in the rule of law programming. If you know any good examples of that, please share with us. Thank you!

Alvaro Herrero • 4 days ago

Kenta Inagaki

Hola Kenta!

Muchas gracias por la información del caso de Bangladesh!!

Respecto a las experiencias de economía del comportamiento, hay una experiencia pionera y valiosa del PNUD en Chile, trabajando con fiscales para usar behavioral economics para mejorar la permanencia de los casos por violencia del género en el sistema judicial. El problema que deseaban atacar era que muchas veces las mujeres abandonan los casos por recibir "señales no amigables" de los funcionarios judiciales, malos tratos, duración del proceso o falta de información.

Link: https://www.cl.undp.org/content/chile/es/home/presscenter/articles/Noti…

Por otra parte, a finales de 2019, el Behavioral Insights Team (del Reino Unido) junto con el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo lanzaron una iniciativa para usar ciencias del comportamiento también para apoyar a mujeres que fueron víctimas de violencia doméstica. El proyecto buscar lugar más apoyo y mejor trato a las mujeres por parte de los sistemas de justicia y de salud y otros actores estatales que participan en la atención a las mujeres que sufren violencia por parte de sus parejas (intimaste partners).

Link: https://www.bi.team/press-releases/the-behavioural-insights-team-and-th…

Espero sean de utilidad!

Sofiene Bacha • 3 days ago Moderator

Thank you very much Alvaro Herrero for the valuable feedback on the role that UNDP is playing in the LAC region, especially on access to justice and the justice reform. Thank you also for the interesting suggestions to strengthen our engagement in innovation, open justice, and data exploitation, taking advantage of the COVID-19 opportunities.

I am also very happy to see the exchange between you and my colleague Kenta Inagaki, bringing the point on behavioral economics on top of the discussion. The examples in Chili and in LAC are very inspiring and I am sure that bringing this dimension in our programmes will improve the impact of our activities on the population.

Please continue to follow the discussion and to bring in your inspiring thoughts.

Kenta Inagaki • 3 days ago

Dear Alvaro Herrero ,

Thanks so much for quickly responding to my question! I found the initiative by UNDP Chile very interesting as I was working as a prosecutor before joining UNDP. From my experience dealing with SGBV and DV cases, I strongly feel that, as well as laws and institutions, we also must look at people's bias and perceptions which are playing a big role both in the violence itself and the judicial process afterwards. I believe that behavioral insights will tell us a lot how we can change people's mind-sets towards the elimination of such violence. In this regard, I look forward to reading the BIT report. Thanks so much.

I'm flagging this conversation to Ainura Bekkoenova as this point relates to some of the questions asked in the Discussion 3 where she's moderating this week.

Many thanks,

CIDP NGO Sindh Pakistan • 4 days ago

Me Sattar from Community Initiatives for Development in Pakistan-CIDP NGO , as discussed role of law is very important subject and develop societies and countries is follow the role of law but in those countries have not control their boundaries. So many national and international mafias develop influence on the society to no have any role of law, many examples are in Pakistan and other countries. Like in Pakistan, no any follow traffic role, no any follow buildings construction role, no any follow food items quality, no any follow transport quality, no any follow transparency. Govt. developed nice SoPs. But need to proper implement of law from law and force institutes. UNDP Pakistan is working with Government closely since many decades for betterment role law. I think after development strategy with Govt. UNDP should building capacity of direct institutes who are involved in role of law. Second Civil Organisation role is reduced in the UNDP and UNO interventions so I suggest that role of CSOs must be added in the UNDP projects otherwise Govt. and UNDP developed many strategies and output will be zero as here is showing.

UNDP doing very good work in the role of law some links UNDP doing work in Pakistan on role of law.

https://www.pk.undp.org/content/pakistan/en/home/projects/SRLP.html; https://www.pk.undp.org/content/pakistan/en/home/presscenter/pressreleases/2019/undp-pakistan-and-government-of-japan-agree-for-capacity-buildin.html

Sofiene Bacha • 3 days ago Moderator

Thank you very much CIDP NGO Sindh Pakistan for your feedback on the experience of the civil society in Pakistan. I totally agree with you that our efforts should be oriented to the people and that the institutional reform and capacity building should have a positive impact on people's lives. This is something that UNDP is calling for through what we call "people-centered justice and people-centered security" (please refer to the summary of UNDP Administrator during the Annual Meeting on Rule of Law and Human Rights on Monday 29 June in the comment of my colleagues Sungeun Choi https://www.sparkblue.org/comment/24040).

I could not agree more with the need to engage with civil society in our programmes. Alvaro Herrero mentioned some examples in his feedback on legal aid and access to justice centers in Latin America (https://www.sparkblue.org/comment/24150) and Juan Pablo Gordillo also mentioned citizen security (with a lot of interesting documentation) as a programmatic framework in Latin America also for improving the security of the population by bringing together all the actors, including the civil society, to better understand the causes of the security/justice problems and shape the right solutions (https://www.sparkblue.org/comment/24186).

I invite you to continue the reflection and the discussion in this forum and maybe give more details on the challenges and the perspectives of the collaboration between UNDP and the civil society in Pakistan so that we can adjust our programmes in the country and elsewhere. Thank you.

Juan Pablo Gordillo • 4 days ago

Hi, I´m Juan Pablo Gordillo from RSCLAC, about the question on ¿What is UNDP doing well in Rule of Law, Security and Human Rights?, it is important to remark UNDP´s work on Citizen Security and Peaceful Coexistence in Latin America and the Caribbean region.

A broader view of security and justice, integral, based on the citizen´s expectations and freedom of fear , Rule Of Law principles, and Human Rights based, it was developed jointly with 24 countries (CSOs-governments) for more tan 15 years, and today many governments have a Citizen Security and peaceful coexistence policy. This idea of a public Good, co-responsible among citizens and the state still is reliable, adaptative to different emerging challenges and points at those who may be left behind because of different vulnerabilities and risk factors.

Some key resources:

Sofiene Bacha • 3 days ago Moderator

Thank you very much Juan Pablo Gordillo for your feedback on the citizen security pogramme in LAC. The documents you've shared give a very good idea about this programme and its impact on the security in the region. Your work and the work of your colleagues and your predecessors are very inspiring for UNDP future vision on security. Actually, at the global level, we are working on updating UNDP vision and policy on the people-centred approach and linking it to the progress on the SDG16+.

Gloria Manzotti, Lorena MELLADO, Juliet Solomon and other colleagues are engaged on that and we look forward to continuing this conversation with you and other colleagues working on citizen security, to feed in the policy update that we are starting this year, especially with the new challenges posed by COVID-19. Please continue the reflection with us. Thank you!

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