Abstract

 


 



Legal Empowerment of the Poor: Innovating Access to Justice


Maaike S. De Langen


United Nations - Development Programme (UNDP)

Maurits Barendrecht


Tilburg Law School; HiiL Innovating Justice

March 8, 2009

THE STATE OF ACCESS: SUCCESS AND FAILURE OF DEMOCRACIES TO CREATE EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES, Gowher Rizvi and Jorrit de Jong, eds., pp. 250-271, Washington D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2009

Abstract:     
In this essay, we begin with some general observations on the state of access to justice. Because access to justice is hard to measure and data on such access are scarce, we give a description of the barrieres to justice and mechanisms of exclusion and analyze how these work out for the poor in developing countries. Next we describe various strategies to improve access to justice, focusing on the innovative bottom-up approaches highlighted by the UN Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor. We then discuss the agenda for access to justice in terms of what we know and what we do not know yet. We conclude by stressing the need for an innovative approach to the delivery of justice: combining insights from academic research, smart innovation processes, sustainable "business models", and know-how from practical experiences.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 24

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Date posted: March 9, 2009  

Suggested Citation

De Langen, Maaike S. and Barendrecht, Maurits, Legal Empowerment of the Poor: Innovating Access to Justice (March 8, 2009). THE STATE OF ACCESS: SUCCESS AND FAILURE OF DEMOCRACIES TO CREATE EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES, Gowher Rizvi and Jorrit de Jong, eds., pp. 250-271, Washington D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2009. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1355446

Contact Information

Maaike Sanne De Langen
United Nations - Development Programme (UNDP)
United States
HOME PAGE: http://www.undp.org
Maurits Barendrecht (Contact Author)
Tilburg Law School ( email )
P.O. Box 90153
NL-5000 LE Tilburg
Netherlands
0031134662298 (Phone)
HiiL Innovating Justice ( email )
Warandelaan 2
P.O. Box 90153
Tilburg, 5000 LE
Netherlands
HOME PAGE: http://www.hiil.org
Feedback to SSRN (Beta)


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