A Closer Look at Access to Justice Around the World 

WJP is taking a closer look at access to justice with the just-released WJP Justice Data Graphical Report Part I which offers country-level justice gap estimates and analysis for 104 countries. 

The new graphical report is the first to measure how more than 60 countries are performing on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 16.3.3 indicator. The data shows that in seven out of 10 countries, more than half the population (62%) who needed access to a dispute resolution mechanism did not find it.  Measuring and tracking this data is an important step towards achieving the UN Goal of “access to justice for all” by the 2030 target.  

Other key findings show that legal problems are prevalent and can co-occur or trigger each other at high rates.  Barriers to solving these legal problems include inadequate information to solve them and lack of appropriate assistance and representation.  Even those who were able to conclude the legal process faced challenges such as believing the process was unfair, taking more than one year to complete the process, and struggling to afford the costs incurred while trying to solve their legal problem.  

Later this year, WJP will release Part II of the graphical report which will dig deeper into the gender and wealth-based disparities in justice outcomes, the effect of COVID-19 on access to justice, as well as the capacity and integrity of justice institutions.  

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