Jennifer Smith, ILF: Over the past year, the ILF has been working with the Campaign to Decriminalize Poverty and Status, civil society organizations, and independent experts around the world to elevate this important expert meeting as an opportunity to meaningful advance Equal Access to Justice for all and to advocate that a key focus of the meeting should be on discrimination in justice systems, as a key barrier to justice.
This International Human Rights Day, I was honored to join experts from 26 countries around the world at the Ministry of Justice in Brazil to discuss urgent action needed to tackle inequality, discrimination, and other barriers to equal access to justice in criminal justice systems. The expert meeting was called for by the first-ever resolution on Equal Access to Justice for All adopted by the UN General Assembly. This historic resolution, introduced by Canada at the 32nd session of the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ), highlights the critical importance of ensuring that all individuals have equal access to justice and that no one is left behind. It addresses the need to dismantle structural and systemic discrimination and address inequities within criminal justice systems.
Also, in advance of the expert group meeting, the ILF and our partners at the African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum, Penal Reform International, and Women Beyond Walls hosted a meeting of independent experts including judges, prosecutors, legal aid lawyers, advocates, researchers, and persons with lived experience at the offices of the Public Defender’s Office of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The purpose of this meeting was to draft a set of international principles and guidelines for addressing discrimination in law enforcement and criminal justice systems. The meeting resulted in the drafting of more than 20 principles that provide a concrete framework for addressing discrimination and inequity
I was happy to see that our collective advocacy had an impact. Discrimination was the first topic on the agenda, and civil society, public defenders and other independent advocates were nominated to attend the expert group meeting. Civil society was also given the opportunity to make recommendations to the expert group virtually on the first morning of the meeting.
Read full blogpost: Equal Access to Justice for All: A Fundamental Human Right
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