Regional Centre in Bangkok

Normative Protection

Below are some resources on addressing access to justice issues through revising the normative framework and ensuring normative protection of disadvantaged groups.

General References "Anand, A.S. 2002. ""Domestic application of international human rights norms."" Paper presented at the First South Asian Regional Judicial Colloquium on Access to Justice organised by Interrights in collaboration with the Commonweatlth Secretariat and the National Law School. 1-3 November 2002. New Delhi, India. " http://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/jc/papers/jc_2003/background_papers/BP_Anand.pdf Part of the colloquium on Access to Justice this paper discusses the application of human rights norms in the national context. Examples are provided from the Indian context. "Budlender, G. 2003. ""Justiciability of the Right to Housing: The South African Experience."" Paper presented at the Judicial Exchange on Access to Justice organized by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. 14-16 November 2003. Mumbai, India." http://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/jc/papers/jc_2003/judges_papers/budlender_housing_ms.pdf "The paper discusses the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cutural Rights' comments on the intersection of human rights and state obligation in terms of South Africa's housing rights policies. It outlines how 'justiciable' housing rights is in terms of how respected, protected, promoted and fulfilled it is by the country's judicial system. " "Bulloven, H. P. 2002. "" Cultural and legal barriers to justice in Guatemala."" UNDP Guatemala. Part of UNDP conference on UNDP's Role in Access to Justice. March 3-6 2002. Oslo, Norway." http://www.undp.org/governance/cd/document/34.pdf "The paper relays UNDP Guatemala's experience in implementing judicial reforms in a post conflict environment. It discusses the role of Mayan customary law and the new opportunities for reform created by the Guatemalan Peace Accords of 1996. The paper concludes with a list of barriers to accessing justice and an outline of complementary projects to UNDP judicial system capacity strengthening measures, e.g. support of civil society and customary law as a low conflict solution, and radio programming to answer legal questions. " "Department For International Development. 2002. ""Better Livelihoods for Poor People: The Role of Land Policy."" Consultation Paper. DFID, UK." http://www.eldis.org/static/DOC11008.htm "This DFID consultation paper examines the importance of land, land rights and land reform in developing countries, and considers how land policies can contribute to poverty reduction and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. It advocates a rights-based approach to land through advocacy and representation of the poor in land management, and suggests a series of recommendations." "Department For International Development. July 2002. ""Safety, Security and Accessible Justice: Putting policies into practice."" DFID, UK." http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/safesecureaccjustice.pdf "Meant for advisors, managers and officials, this guide offers a series of suggestions on how to implement the Safety, Security & Accessible Justice (SSAJ) policy to make the justice system work better, particularly for the poor and vulnerable. Information and examples are given to establish user perspective, sector breakdowns, to further identify linkages and entry points, as well as outlining of common problems faced." "Espine-Villaluz, S. ""Legislative development in Asia: Some Trends and Issues."" Paper presented at the Policy Dialogue on Legislative Development conference. November 2002. Brussels, Belgium." http://www.undp.org/governance/docspublications/policy_dialogue/07_Regional_Trends_in_Asia.ppt "A presentation sharing the lessons and experience of a Philippines-based NGO working on legislative development in Asia. The presentation focuses on the need for strengthening oversight capacity, of building capacity of members and staff, the need to focus on policy analysis and research, and to encourage engendering legislatures. " "Faundez, Julio. 2001. ""Legal Reform in Developing and Transition Countries"", in ""Comprehensive Legal and Judicial Development: Towards an Agenda for the 21st Century,"" Puymbroeck, R, ed. The World Bank, Washington, D.C." http://www4.worldbank.org/legal/legop_judicial/ljr_conf_papers/Faundez.pdf "From the proceedings of a World Bank Conference held in Washington, D.C., June 5-7 2000. The article addresses obstacles to and models for legal reform. It acknowledges that the legal reform now encompasses a broader dimension that in prior years and insists on the importance of building institutional infrastructure and contextualizing the systems. Also outlined are the influences of external factors, ownership issues (technical and legal)." "Ghai, Y. 1999. ""In traditional societies the jury is out on legal reform"", UNESCO courier. " http://www.unesco.org/courier/1999_11/uk/dossier/intro21.htm "The article notes the increasing tendency of viewing the formalization of legal systems as a cure all and serves as a warning to the idealization of that movement. It outlines the costs and problems involved and continues on to note the usefulness, at times, of customary law." "UNDP. July 1999, ""A concept paper on Legislatures and Good Governance""." http://magnet.undp.org/docs/parliaments/concept%20paper%20revised%20MAGNET.htm "The paper outlines the role of legislatures in good governance. Discussion is held on legislative operations, construction, influences upon, problems, as well as legislative development program lessons. " "Yrigoyen, R. ""Criteria and guidelines for coordination between indigenous law and state law"" " http://alertanet.org/dc-ryf-criterios.htm "Yrigoyen, R. ""El Debate sobre el Reconocimiento Constitucional del Derecho Indígena en Guatemala"" " http://alertanet.org/ryf-americaindigena.htm Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. http://www.humanrightsinitiative.org "The website offers links to a variety of education materials on Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative's (CHRI) principles. Its access to information campaigns which includes links to its no restriction to information (RTI) site, on the necessity for constitutional principals, as well as links to election monitoring in the Commonwealth. Its access to justice campaign links to pages on police reforms, prison reforms, and CHRI's fact finding missions."