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What Does Justice Mean to You?

This resource explores the question, what does justice mean to people? In doing so, it unpacks the concept of people-centered justice. It aims to demonstrate that people-centered justice is a viable approach for closing the global justice gap and enabling the achievement of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals.

Five protesters holding up linked arms walking down a city street.

“Access to justice for all and effective, inclusive, and accountable institutions is a critical enabler for other SDGs.” UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutierrez

What does access to justice mean? The Justice for All report makes it clear that access to justice is more than access to courts and formal legal systems. It is about the ability of people to prevent and resolve their most common justice problems, using a range of formal and informal justice systems and actors. Closing the global justice gap requires us to put people at the center of justice.

Every day, people around the world experience challenges related to violence, disputes over land and property, with neighbors, within family, or related to employment, money, or debt. They face challenges in accessing basic services like health, education, housing, sanitation, water, electricity, legal identity, or benefit payments. Rising conflicts, climate change, and economic hardships have only exacerbated these. Access to justice is essential to empower and support people to address their most pressing needs and to remain resilient in challenging times.

Ensuring equal access to justice for all is essential advancing the global development agenda. This series explores the question, what does justice mean to people? In doing so, it unpacks the concept of people-centered justice. It aims to demonstrate that people-centered justice is a viable approach for closing the global justice gap and enabling the achievement of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals.

What Does Justice Mean to You?

In the first of a series of videos on people-centered justice, Pathfinders for Justice asks people around the world what justice means to them, why it is important, and what they think it would take to make Justice for All a reality worldwide.

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Global Development Agenda

Inclusion