Fairness and Access to Justice

Work towards an equitable justice system by ensuring fairness in law and process.

Fairness programs include non-discrimination law fair trial standards, effective administrative law systems to guard against arbitrary government action, and observance by all justice system actors and institutions of international treaties and customary law.

Support monitoring and advocacy by justice sector NGOs, including strategic lawyering, trial monitoring, and policy dialogue.

Improve equitable access to justice through increasing the quality and quantity of state and non-state justice services, with a particular focus on women, youth, the poor, LGBT persons, and other marginalized or vulnerable groups.

This includes access to state and non-state dispute-resolution fora; court re-distribution; mobile courts; the removal of language, gender, cultural, sexual orientation, gender identity and physical barriers; circulation of laws and legal decisions; alternative dispute resolution systems; and expanding access to legal services (e.g., public defenders offices, legal aid and legal services, labor law services, justice or legal resources centers).

This also includes programs to educate the citizenry about their rights, how to access services, and how to encourage change.

Programs primarily focused on trafficking in persons should be captured under PS.5 and programs focused on alien smuggling under PS.4.