UNDP Rule of Law: - how it relates atrocity prevention

Sheelagh Stewart, Director Rule of Law

and Governance, Bureau of Crisis Prevention and Recovery, UNDP.

Washington DC 10th October, 2013.

ort 2011

Define: Rule of Law

• Set out the UN approach to Rule of Law;

• Consider the relevance of this to Atrocity Prevention;

In this presentation

Define: Rule of Law

• Find three key principles reoccurring

• First, a government by law – or no arbitrary use of power

• Second, no one is above the law regardless of wealth or position;

• Third that everyone is equal before the law regardless of their ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation and class

• These three principles were reaffirmed by the Resolution of the HLF in September, which noted that “all persons, institutions and entities, public and private, including the State itself, are accountable to just, fair and equitable laws and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law…”

Numerous Definitions of Rule of Law

Define: Rule of Law• Is highly contested.

Issues around rule of law – for example inability to negotiate for marginalised communities legally, and inability to get redress are correlated with conflict;

• Discrimination – over a long period of time associated with genocide.

Implementation of these principles …

Define: Rule of Law

• The legal system frames and contains the use and abuse of power and records this in the form of constitutions, legislation etc;

• Implements this through policing, judicial systems, corrections;

• The RoL is critical to the staying power of political settlements – and therefore stable societies because it is only if inclusive laws are enforced and impunity is eroded, that peace will “hold”.

Our Approach to RoL underpinned by a focus on inclusive political settlements

Define: Rule of Law• Transitional justice refers to the set of judicial and non-

judicial measures that are implemented to redress the legacies of massive human rights abuses. These measures include criminal prosecutions, truth commissions, reparations programs, and various kinds of institutional reforms

• They are critically about acknowledging, recording and punishing abuse;

• A history of unaddressed abuse can ead to cyclical recurrence of violence in various forms and further abuse (ICTJ 2012);

• Critical to the recording of genocide, SGBV and atrocity that makes it visible and less likely to reoccur.

Dealing with the legacy of violence

Define: Rule of Law

• Bringing in external legal support to conduct cases against the most horrific abuses (Sierra Leone);

• Global visibility of atrocities and genocide;• But very expensive and low rate of cases;• More importantly, support the development of

local capacity to deal with crimes;• Sends a critical message about the view of

atrocities and about the capacity to prosecute (Rwandan Grass Courts).

We work with country governments in two ways

Define: Rule of Law• If people don’t feel safe they do not invest in their futures. “Human

development depends on investing in the future, whether it is education, infrastructure of productive assets” (Beall and Fox 2011);

• Our focus is “the everyday security of individuals and the communities in which they live rather than the security of states and borders” (Mary Kaldor, 2007);

• Community security is both about the end state – where communities feel safe and secure – and the process by which communities are helped to identify and address their own security needs;

• The focus on the process builds confidence, improved security generates a stake in the community and at least in the local government. Safety is also the first step down the road to economic productivity;

Citizen safety and security

Define: Rule of Law• South Sudan – a new country emerges from a history

of gross oppression, genocide and abuse into a future where there are huge amounts of natural resources;

• Wishes to leave the old structures behind. Involves, drafting altogether new legislation, from constitution to administrative law;

• English common law system, not Islamic;• Needs to be done quickly and cheaply;• Needs to be legitimate – i.e. needs to reflect will of the

people.

And means that we need expertise, but more importantly the ability to understand

how to build a legal system

Define: Rule of Law

• Equality before the law begins with access. Even this is vast and ambitious, so the focus is on types of disputes – and communities where marginalisation has contributed to conflict;

• Institutions supported with these objectives in mind, look different;

• And when they access justice they need to get a fair hearing and a fair outcome;

• SGBV is an enduring problem and a key focus here.

Increasing access to justice, particularlyfor groups historically marginalised

Define: Rule of Law

• Will be critical to the delivery of these objectives;• The different UN Agences involved bring key

skillsets to the table. Together we bring the range, from engaging with government politically to providing expertise in the specific justice delivery areas, to a focus on human eights norms, to an ability to monitor crime data globally;

• It is impossible, for example, to deal with the legacy of violence without appropriate corrections facilities;

• Nor can we assess progress without good data.

The Global Focal Point on Rule of Law