Legal Empowerment Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

This chapter argues that a deep change in approach is needed to alter the basic conditions of those who experience persistent human rights violations. Legal empowerment—led by the grassroots, with lawyers and other professionals in supporting, rather than leading roles—is a crucial part of the justice transformation that is needed. When rights-holders directly engage institutions affecting their lives, they demand that systems become more accessible and responsive to the daily challenges of the people. And when the law and legal systems are actively harming marginalized and oppressed peoples, a critical form of legal empowerment can ensure they are the authors of their own liberation and demands transformation of the law. Human rights advocates should embrace this reality by becoming reliable partners to movements led by the communities experiencing grave rights deprivations. Human rights advocacy should support community justice workers such as paralegals, community-based monitors, and movement organizers. They should ensure that strategic litigation is rooted in the most pressing concerns articulated by communities, collectivities, and movements. And they should take their cue in law and policy reform efforts from communities who seek to shape the law into a more accurate reflection of the justice they seek. Such transformations aim to make human rights advocates reliable allies in efforts to shift power toward those most directly affected. To achieve this shift, accurate terminology is also needed, to distinguish technocratic, development-focused, and sometimes top-down forms of legal empowerment from the more thorough-going kind, which seeks to build the power of movements to change the way societies organize themselves. In this paper, I suggest that human rights advocates should embrace a ‘critical’ form of legal empowerment, using insights from movement lawyering to reflect on our role in transformational work.

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- Social Movements, Human Rights Law, Human Rights, Environmental Law and Human Rights

Since 1994, the Papua New Guinean non-governmental organization, People and Community Empowerment Foundation Melanesia, has delivered dispute resolution training aimed at strengthening customary justice systems in Bougainville. Research was conducted in 2010 to assess whether and to what extent such training has been successful in enhancing the legal empowerment
of marginalized groups such as women. The research focused on six access to justice indicators: participation and satisfaction in dispute resolution; protection of legal rights; mitigation of power
asymmetries; operation of neutrality and bias in decision-making; balance of individual and community rights; and the influence of women in dispute resolution decision-making. The research
found that the training increased the participation and satisfaction of both men and women users of the dispute resolution system. However, by neglecting to address issues of substantive legal rights and power asymmetries, the intervention failed to enhance legal empowerment to the extent it might otherwise have done. Further, while the intervention improved the justice experience of
women disputants in almost every area, it had a neutral effect on the satisfaction gap between men and women. The intervention was most successful where it transferred dispute resolution skills to women and created opportunities for them to become mediators. This enabled them to engage more effectively in internal dialogue processes and challenge the interpretation and application of discriminatory customary norms.

- by Stephen Golub
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- International Development, Human Rights, Legal Empowerment

Aturan dasar Dana Desa dari Kacamata Undang - Undang, Variasi Program Pendanaan Desa di Berbagai Negara, Analisis 6 Faktor yang Mempengaruhi Partisipasi Masyarakat, Problematika dan Pengawasan Program Dana Desa dari Hulu Ke Hilir,... more

- by Scerd 2017 and +4
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- Legal Empowerment, Ekonomi Pembangunan, Dana Desa, Partisipasi Pemberdayaan Masyarakat

The last decade has seen significant positive legal developments in relation to indigenous peoples’ land rights on the African continent. Strategic litigation programmes such as the one led by Minority Rights Group International (MRG) have played an important role in supporting indigenous communities to seek recognition and legal redress and in influencing the development of progressive human rights law standards for indigenous peoples in East Africa. Indigenous peoples in Africa share a similar and longstanding history of eviction and/or lack of access to their ancestral lands. A series of state decisions and legislative reforms adopted in the period post-independence until the late 20th century resulted in these communities being deprived of their ancestral lands, livelihoods and led to multiple violations of their human rights. In Tanzania, Maasai people are currently using national courts to seek land restitution and compensation. After many years of legal empowerment and consultations they are hopeful that their claims will be heard. In Kenya, after failed attempts at national level, indigenous communities resorted to the African Commission and Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which both ruled in favour of indigenous peoples’ land rights, ordered that measures be taken for land restitution and compensation and declared Kenya had violated the human rights of the Endorois and Ogiek indigenous peoples. The Endorois have been pressing for implementation of the African Commission’s decision since 2010. The Ogiek, who very recently won their case before the African Court (May 2017), are looking forward to seeing words put into action. This evaluation reflects on the impact of strategic litigation and legal empowerment work in East Africa over the past 15 years, with a view to identifying learning points potentially useful for the orientation of future programmes. In particular, the review report will be used by MRG and potential partners in Niger to assess the ‘replicability’ of the work to support litigation of land rights cases related to slavery in Niger. The review report analyses the material consequences, the legal and political impact, and the social changes that could at least partially be attributed to the implementation of strategic litigation programmes. The views of community members are put forward as a powerful and useful lens to assess the value of strategic litigation programmes.

- by Jeremie Gilbert
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- Indigenous Peoples, Public Interest Litigation, Legal Empowerment

This thesis analyzes the relations between legal empowerment and human rights-based approach to development through historical research, literature research, and comparative research. It analyzes the history of theories on international development from the “law and development” movement, the rule of law orthodoxy, to the concept of legal empowerment. It demonstrates the advantages of legal empowerment as a human rights-based approach to development: the characteristics of legal empowerment fit the basic principles of human rights-based approach to development; the four pillars and two conditions of legal empowerment address some main human rights problems in the process of development facing the disadvantaged; the approach of legal empowerment overcomes many limitations of other development approaches. Finally, there are two main strategies to promote legal empowerment in the framework of human rights-based development. One is to involve all legal empower participators, to integrate the resources of lawyers, politicians, economists, communities, civil society, and states. Another is to enhance the foundation of legal empowerment, to promote the development of democracy, civil society, and human rights.

- by Charles Qian Cheng
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- Development Studies, Human Rights, Legal Theory, Legal Empowerment

This contribution approaches the theme of access to justice from an EU law perspective and deals with the question: to what extent can the preliminary reference procedure serve as an empowering tool for individuals and civil society? The first part of the contribution deals with the structure of the EU legal system and the theoretically empowering function of preliminary references. Based on interviews with litigants and their counsellors, the second part deals with this notion from a sociological and empirical perspective. The analysis reveals the practical obstacles to realising ones rights by preliminary references, and thus nuances the empowerment thesis found both among legal- and political sciences theories as well as in the legitimating rhetoric by propagators of the EU legal system.

During the period of civil conflict
in Bougainville (1989-1998), the
formal justice system was essentially
inoperative, leaving the population
with few tools to manage conflicts
and stem escalating violence. Since
the new Bougainville Constitution
and Autonomous Government was
created in 2005, central authorities
have been slowly building their capacity
and legitimacy, but continue to rely
heavily on civil society and customary
institutions to maintain peace, order,
and security.
In Melanesia, gender-based violence
and prejudices against women
are severe and widespread. Some
customary norms tolerate it. For
example, in most Melanesian
communities, violence against women
is not seen as a serious issue worthy
of community-level adjudication. Rape
is conceptualized more in terms of
damage to a woman’s reputation,
potential marriage prospects and dowry
implications than as a criminal act
or a violation of basic human rights.
Where customary systems are open
to dealing with such complaints, there
are few opportunities for women to
participate in the hearing or resolution
of their grievance, and the penalties are
normally mild and unduly exonerate
perpetrators.
Despite the challenges faced by
women in accessing justice through
the customary fora, research in
Melanesia has shown that women
largely support localized systems, even
if they feel that some aspects should
change to become fairer to them. For
these women, empowerment does not
require a rejection of custom, but a reexamination
of norms and processes so
that they support, rather than victimize
women. While this is the preferred
solution, challenges arise in devising
a methodology that is appropriate to
serve this objective.

There is a danger that the Rule of Law Assistance Unit of the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission will employ the same dominant but problematic paradigm that the international development community has pursued across the globe. This top-down, state-centred paradigm, sometimes known as ‘rule of law orthodoxy’, stands in contrast to an alternative set of strategies: legal empowerment. Legal empowerment involves the use of legal services, legal capacity-building and legal reform by and for disadvantaged populations, often in combination with other development activities, to increase their freedom, improve governance and alleviate poverty. It is typically carried out by domestic and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs), but also by governments and official aid agencies. This alternative approach focuses directly on the disadvantaged and integration with other development activities, which means it often operates under the de facto rubric of social development. Legal empowerment strategies vary among countries and NGOs. But their impact includes reforming gender-biased, non-state justice systems in Bangladesh; ameliorating the legal system's corruption in post-conflict Sierra Leone; keeping the human rights flame burning in post-conflict Cambodia; advancing natural resources protection and indigenous peoples' rights in Ecuador; and strengthening agrarian reform in the Philippines. Addressing such priorities can help alleviate poverty, ameliorate conflict and prevent chaos or repression from dominating the disadvantaged, particularly in conflict or post-conflict societies.

Post-cold war geopolitical transformations have affected the ways armed conflicts manifest and develop. Although overall more men than women continue to die as a result of conflict, the nature of warfare is changing in ways that increasingly endanger women and girls. Besides suffering from the general brutality inflicted by violent conflict, women also suffer particular attacks whose form is defined by distinct notions of female sexuality.
For that reason, it is unequivocal the need to draw attention to violence against women and girls in the context of the diverse armed conflicts. However, the ironic fact must be recognized that the upheaval of a conflict can break down social barriers and traditional patriarchal patterns, providing opportunities to integrate international legislation against gender discrimination into the domestic system. Such legislation, if implemented, will serve as a basis for the reconstruction of a more just and equitable society in the post-conflict phase.
Land is more than often identified as the basis of wealth, social status and power. It is the primary source for shelter, food and economic activities. Right to housing cannot be fulfilled if there is no access to land. Consequently, equal rights to access land are fundamentally important to the potential of building balanced gender relations in post-conflict societies and to integrate women to their new reality.
At the international level, land rights are contained in numerous international treaties and declarations. Broadly speaking, these human rights instruments do not directly articulate the right to access land and related rights, but create the obligation of non-discrimination and equal enjoyment of all rights for all people regardless of sex. UN instruments and documents interact and combine to constitute a legal and political base for the protection and enforcement of women’s land rights and must be considered holistic.

- by Majida Rasul
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- Human Rights Law, Women's Rights, Lebanon, Palestinian refugees

This paper was written as part of The Syrian Refugee Empowerment Project (SREP), initiated and funded by the Open Society Foundations in Jordan and implemented by the Arab Renaissance for Democracy and Development (ARDD) and Tamkeen. It was never published by ARDD as OSF decided not to involve them in following phases of the project. However, the paper may still prove useful to other practitioners who wish to explore a community facilitator model in Jordan or other locations. The report is based on data collected through work carried out by ARDD and Tamkeen but all opinions expressed are that of my own, and not of OSF, ARDD or Tamkeen. Other ARDD staff members carried out the initial implementation of the project phase and data collection, while others also supported in proofing and providing comments for the paper.

Adopting a comparative analysis, this article examines some of the recent cases of litigation which have focused on indigenous peoples' rights across the African continent. The aim is to explore the potentials but also the challenges and limitations of litigation as a tool for supporting the rights of indigenous peoples. The article explores to what extent a specific African jurisprudence is emerging on issues that are essential to indigenous peoples such as non-discrimination, self-identification, land rights and development. It also focuses on the practical issues that arise when engaging with litigation to explore to what extent it could contribute to the legal empowerment of some of the most marginalised indigenous communities in Africa.

- by Jeremie Gilbert
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- Human Rights, Africa, Indigenous Peoples Rights, Maasai

Framing health as a human right has specific
repercussions on people’s everyday lives. It means,
first of all, that everyone must be ensured access to
essential care regardless of their gender, ethnicity,
economic status, sexual identity, age and so on. The following article describes
Nazdeek’s strategy, fusing training and community mobilisation with public interest litigation and
advocacy.

- by Adriana Ruiz-Restrepo
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- Law, Constitutional Law, Sociology of Law, Participatory Research

The article investigates the origin and developments of the theory of alternative empowerment. The employed method consists in the bibliographical research of Kelsen’s and Merkl’s writings on the subject. The analysis of these author’s texts supports the view that the theory of alternative empowerment is the product of a collaboration between them and present the steps that were taken to the formulation of its definitive version.

- by Matheus Pelegrino da Silva
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- Hans Kelsen, Legal Empowerment, Adolf Julius Merkl

This paper aims at an analysis of the necessity to identify foreigners and to be identified as such in the early modern period, in a context where recording the identity was also a mean to assign membership. Firstly, I will analyse decrees and letters exchanged between diplomats and consuls in order to underscore the role played by consuls in the diffusion of legal procedures of identification and registration. Secondly, I will focus on the procedures of identification, interpreted as a method to assign and recognise membership in registration practices. I will present several case studies that involved large claims between migrants from the Greek-speaking islands of Venice and Ottomans officials. This article concludes that, far from being a firmly established practice, in the early modern period the identification of migrants was a matter of local justice that required an ongoing negotiation between sovereignty, governmental, and non-governmental actors.

- by Simon Robins
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- Law, Human Rights, Transitional Justice, Grassroots Movements

This case study is part of the Overseas Development Institute’s (ODI’s) work on the politics and governance of public goods and services in developing countries. As a case study of successful pro-poor legal mobilisation in Bangladesh, it contributes to the effort to document approaches and ways of working that make a difference in terms of achieving development results. In many countries, marginalised groups and their allies use the law and justice systems to contest and improve their access to rights, goods and services. This is the essence of legal empowerment. Taking a claim to a dispute resolution mechanism, such as a court or community mediation forum, is one way poor people can use the law. Yet there is no automatic link between litigation, or other forms of legal action, and improved outcomes for poor people. The success of legal mobilisation depends not only on a favourable legal ruling or decision. It also requires the enforcement or implementation of rulings in ways that r...

- by Tam O'Neil
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- Constitutional Law, Refugee Studies, Social Justice, Justice

This article critically examines the concept of legal empowerment as it has been used with reference to transitional justice, mapping its rise and impact based on a selection of case studies. In recent decades, international transitional justice advocacy has evolved dramatically, with practice increasingly emphasising the centrality of criminal accountability for violence, precisely as more holistic approaches have emerged that have broadened the remit of transitional justice. Post-conflict justice advocates have thus become professionalised transitional justice entrepreneurs working on issues such as democratic transitions, rule of law and human rights. A legal empowerment discourse has emerged in a number of scholarly debates that discuss legalistic and normative issues related to the implementation of retributive and restorative justice mechanisms. In theory, the concept of legal empowerment addresses the issue of social exclusion in transitions, increasing the rights of the marginalised. In practice, however, legal empowerment has disappointed and raises several issues around its performance that are scrutinised in this article. Drawing on case studies in Nepal, Tunisia and Bosnia-Herzegovina the authors analyse issues related to agency, institutions and structure, and argue for a needs-centred, participatory approach in place of the rights-based legal empowerment concept.

- by Arnaud Kurze and +2
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- Human Rights, Transitional Justice, Grassroots Movements, Victims
- by Adriana Ruiz-Restrepo
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- Development Economics, Ethics, Poverty, Sociology Of Waste