Impact by Regions, Countries & Territories

UNDP’s Global Programme supports crisis-affected contexts across all regions to strengthen the rule of law and human rights. In this section, we present five regional overviews, detailing our priorities and approach depending on the context, as well as feature select country and territory results from 2021.

Five contexts from the list (Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Mali and Yemen) illustrate the achievements of the Global Focal Point for the Rule of Law (GFP). In peacekeeping missions and transition settings, UNDP’s Global Programme works through the GFP to deliver integrated assistance with our UN partners.

GFP Global Focal Point Highlights

Guinea-Bissau

In Guinea-Bissau, UNDP expanded the work of the Access to Justice Centres (CAJ) and developed the capacity of their staff members to apply alternative dispute resolution methods. The Access to Justice Centres provide legal aid and promote conflict resolution through mediation and counselling. As of 2021, there are seven Access to Justice Centres: two in Bissau (Bairro Militar and Bissau Velho), and five in the regions. In 2021, 4,073 people (52 percent men and 48 percent women) benefitted from their services. To promote the work of the CAJs and draw people to use their legal aid services, UNDP designed and held awareness raising campaigns on human rights, access to justice and dispute resolution.

To enhance the human rights protection mechanisms in Guinea-Bissau, UNDP supported the Human Rights Commission in its development as a fully-fledged National Human Rights Institution (NHRI). In October 2021, UNDP organized a workshop enabling the Commission to process the proposals to amend relevant pieces of legislation and ensure that the new law regulating the work of the Human Rights Commission is aligned with the Paris Principles. Due to UNDP’s expert and technical assistance, the members of the Commission and civil society actors became better equipped to address legislative and procedural gaps and achieve progress towards the Commission’s accreditation. Additionally, UNDP worked with the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights to give more visibility to human rights issues and advocate for allocating resources for human rights protection and promotion in the country. In 2021, the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights of Guinea-Bissau started the development of its first National Human Rights Action Plan to enhance national coordination and efforts to better protect human rights.

To improve the quality of justice services in Guinea-Bissau and make them more accessible, UNDP worked with the Ministry of Justice to expand and capacitate its personnel. The judicial system in the country is understaffed, with only 70 judges and about a 100 prosecutors throughout the country while the estimated needs are 150 judges and 190 prosecutors. In 2021, UNDP supported 39 new magistrates and 157 notary officers to get the necessary training. UNDP also assisted the Ministry with the recruitment process of these staff members.

Access to justice in Guinea-Bissau is further impeded by poor infrastructure. With low quality roads, lack of public transport and high fees, people in remote areas experience difficulties to reaching state institutions, including courts. In 2021, UNDP equipped the sectorial and regional courts of the country with motorcycles so that judicial officials could visit remote communities and provide the required services.

Training on GBV
Training on preventing and addressing gender-based violence (GBV) for professionals dealing directly with GBV survivors. Trainings were organized by Fundação Ana Pereira with UNDP support.Photo: Fundação Ana Pereira/UNDP

Key Results: Guinea-Bissau

39 new judges (28 men and 11 women) and 157 new clerks (98 men and 59 women) received the initial training and were recruited by the Ministry of Justice allowing for reopening of seven courts that did not function due to the lack of staff. 89 lawyers (68 men, 21 women) were trained and registered with the Bar Association.

To ensure access to justice in remote areas, 30 motorcycles were provided for the Ministry of Justice to be used by justice officials of the regional and sectorial courts.

Eight networks to prevent and address gender-based violence (GBV) were developed with civil society to assist women victims of violence.