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
Political
Engagement
The rule of law is essential for sustainable peace and resilient economies, as well as for the prevention or recurrence of conflict. To prevent or address injustice, inequalities or democratic deficits, UNDP works with multiple stakeholders to operate in a way that is consistent with the rule of law and creates opportunities for all individuals to exercise their rights and access justice.
Institution
Building
The importance of strong institutions is more evident than ever as countries and communities respond to disruption, whether because of public health restrictions, climate change or political upheaval. Limitations on public gatherings and travel have revealed the need for institutions that are resilient to disruption.
Community
Security
2021 was a pivotal year that saw various developments affecting peace and security around the world. Civic space continued to shrink and the social contract between states and citizens was increasingly challenged, particularly during and after the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Facing distressing consequences of climate change, states and communities are forced to manage more cross-border conflicts, triggered by the displacement of people seeking increasingly scarce resources.
Human Rights
Systems
The scope of human rights challenges is widening, from eroded public trust and shrinking civic space to ongoing inequality and human rights impacts in the socio-economic repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, and emerging risks in the digital sphere. National human rights institutions (NHRIs), along with other human rights defenders, are facing rising and sophisticated forms of reprisals for carrying out their work.
Access to
Justice
Sustainable Development Goal 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) of the 2030 Agenda highlights the importance of access to justice for all for the development of peaceful and inclusive societies. Meaningful access to justice can only be achieved when people know their rights, have the opportunities, agency and capacities to claim them, and have access to independent, inclusive and people-centred justice systems that will respond in a timely, fair and effective manner.
Transitional
Justice
Without justice, there can be no lasting peace. In post-conflict, crisis-affected and fragile contexts, truth-seeking initiatives and reconciliation efforts are essential to bring peace to affected communities. The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down transitional processes as states prioritized their response to the health crisis and measures to support the economy.
Gender
Justice
In 2021, the continued erosion of democracy and the spread of authoritarian trends in politics in many parts of the world contributed to a backlash against women’s rights. The COVID-19 crisis has reversed some of the hard-won gender parity gains by exacerbating pre-existing inequalities and power imbalances. It has also caused a dramatic increase in sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). All these challenges have been particularly acute in conflict, fragile and crisis-affected settings.
Innovation
New ideas and new strategies are critical to building sustainable and effective development approaches that really meet people’s needs. Technologies and globalization raise new human rights concerns and threaten the rule of law. Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic continue to limit people’s access to basic services. UNDP connected expertise across the globe to learn and adapt. Creating a culture of curiosity and experimentation, these efforts ensured that local needs and expertise were combined with emerging models to bring strategic thinking to people-centred development goals.
Overview
New ideas and new strategies are critical to building sustainable and effective development approaches that really meet people’s needs. Technologies and globalization raise new human rights concerns and threaten the rule of law. Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic continue to limit people’s access to basic services. UNDP connected expertise across the globe to learn and adapt. Creating a culture of curiosity and experimentation, these efforts ensured that local needs and expertise were combined with emerging models to bring strategic thinking to people-centred development goals.
Innovations for environmental justice
Today’s triple planetary crises of climate change, nature loss and pollution constitute one of the greatest challenges to human rights in our era, fueling and amplifying conflicts, exacerbating tensions and structural inequalities, contributing to people being left behind and suffering from increasing injustices.
To better respond to these challenges, a new strategy has been developed to promote targeted innovations on environmental justice (including climate justice) under the Global Programme’s umbrella strategy. Building on current and past UNDP initiatives related to environmental rights and environmental law, UNDP’s strategy for engaging in environmental justice is an integrated and collaborative effort that brings together expertise and actions across its rule of law, human rights, governance, nature, climate and energy work.
The focus and the purpose are to promote justice and accountability in environmental matters, through the respect, protection and fulfilment of environmental rights, and the promotion of the environmental rule of law.
Environmental justice
In 2021, UNDP’s Global Programme laid the foundation for its policy work and country programming to promote and enable environmental justice:
A webinar on environmental justice in October 2021 promoted a discussion between Rule of Law, Governance, and Nature, Climate and Energy (NCE) work streams with the aim to identify good practices, lessons learned and recommendations for entry points for environmental justice work.
A technical paper titled “Environmental Justice: securing our right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment” was prepared to inform the elaboration of UNDPs three-pronged approach to advancing environmental justice through:
- Establishing enabling legal frameworks at national and international levels, to promote the respect, protection and fulfilment of environmental rights and other rights affected by the planetary crises.
- Strengthening people-centred and effective institutions, especially in the justice and human rights sectors, to ensure they are accessible and equipped to monitor, enforce and implement environmental law and protect the environmental rights of current and future generations.
- Increasing access to justice and legal empowerment in environmental matters, so that people can be active players in combatting the planetary crises by enforcing, claiming and defending their environmental rights, and contributing to policy change.
- In addition, the “Guidance Note: Promoting Environmental Justice Through UNDP Programming” was developed to guide UNDP Country Offices in developing and implementing innovative initiatives on environmental justice. The note provides resources and concrete examples of programming initiatives and good practices.
UNDP and its partners, including the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI), have actively advocated and engaged in international forums to promote the linkages between human rights and environmental issues; the recognition of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a human right by the Human Rights Council; and the integration of human rights in multilateral agreements (e.g. Post 2020 Biodiversity Framework).
At national and regional levels, UNDP supported constitutional reform processes which included considerations of environmental rights, for example, in The Gambia and Vanuatu; and worked with government institutions, municipalities and civil society to implement the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean ('Escazu Agreement'). This agreement, which came into force in April 2021, is the first international treaty in the region concerning the environment, and the first in the world to include provisions on the rights of environmental defenders, while also recognizing the right of current and future generations to a healthy environment and sustainable development.
In 2022, UNDP will support a number of seed initiatives to pilot integrated and innovative approaches to environmental justice and to further advocate for issues such as gender equality and environmental justice, and the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
UNDP Seoul Policy Center: new approaches to prevent and address sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV)
Over the last few years, the cooperation between the Global Programme and UNDP Seoul Policy Centre (USPC) shifted from ad hoc technical support and networking with international partners specialized in policing and addressing violence against women and girls, to a more strategic and longer-term partnership. In 2021, in addition to the joint events, strategic and technical discussions became regular to better synchronize seed fundings from the Global Programme and USPC at the country level so that the programmes are complementary and mutually reinforcing.
UNDP, through its Policy Centre in Seoul, Republic of Korea, has provided strategic knowledge-sharing and seed funding support to a select number of countries (Albania, Argentina, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Lebanon, Liberia, Senegal and Zimbabwe) to inspire and innovate measures to change the perception of public service providers and to improve service delivery mechanisms for victims of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), so that victims can access help without fear of secondary victimization.
The first point of reference is Korea’s award-winning ‘Sunflower Center’, an integrated one-stop service model that delivers medical, investigation, counselling and legal support in a single location with 100 percent government funding, providing an integrated service to SGBV survivors in an effective and sustainable manner.
In Indonesia, the UNDP Country Office and the Seoul Policy Centre worked with the city government, public health and social authorities, and the police force to create the Indonesian adaptation of Korea’s Sunflower Center, leading to the establishment of the Integrated Service Centre (Pusat Pelayanan Terpadu (PPT) Bunga Tanjung within the premises of public hospitals in Jakarta.
Inspired by the Korean model, PPT Bunga Tanjung secured strong government ownership with 100 percent public funding. Hence, even in times of COVID-19, the integrated service centre continued to operate in support of SGBV survivors. PPT Bunga Tanjung was also recognized as one of the top public service innovations in Indonesia. The government of Indonesia is taking this innovation to the national level, planning to introduce the so-called ‘movable PPT’ - a compact version of the one-stop service centre for SGBV survivors built in a 40-foot container, to be dispatched to remote provinces and hospitals across the country, so that services can be provided even with limited infrastructure.
This work further led to policy-level impact. UNDP’s advocacy and capacity building activities resulted in a Decree Letter issued by the Health Office of Special Capital Region (Daerah Khusus Ibukota (DKI) Jakarta, benefiting 32 regional hospitals in the province and over 500 public service providers from three different offices, namely the Women Empowerment and Child Protection Office of DKI Jakarta Province, the Health Office of DKI Jakarta Province and the Directorate of Criminal Investigation of Jakarta Metropolitan Police. The project also developed a new Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) framework for accessing and understanding the efficiency and performance of the one-stop service centres, with particular consideration for children and persons with disabilities. It also allows for accountability and transparency in the management structure, thereby further inspiring a sustainable and transformative change in Indonesia’s health sector and affected populations at large.
The second point of reference is that the Seoul Policy Centre has been utilizing knowledge sharing with the Korean National Police Agency and the Korean National Police University as a vehicle to inspire and support police capacity building efforts in partner countries. Given the critical role of the police as the immediate service provider for SGBV survivors, the work focused on sharing the Korean police’s experience with SGBV-related capacity building measures and survivor-centred interview protocols for SGBV investigations. In Iraq, for instance, the interview protocol of the Korean Police was introduced to Iraqi security and justice actors.
The example has greatly contributed to raising awareness and building the capacity of Iraqi police officers – the GBV squad based in Erbil in particular – stimulating further implementation of the Gender Equality Strategy by the Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) and the Ministry of Interior in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq that aim to encourage women’s participation in crisis response. In 2021 alone, 63 police, Directorate of Combating Violence Against Women, and JCC employees were trained on GBV response through the four trainings and capacity building sessions that were conducted in Erbil, Dohuk and Sulaymaniyah. To create a pool of trainers for the next generations of police officers, a training of trainers was also conducted for 15 attendees in Erbil.
In Zimbabwe, knowledge sharing activities with the Korean Police led to the conceptualization, development and implementation of a national call centre for the Zimbabwe Republic Police featuring manuals and policies to enhance access to justice for GBV survivors.
In 2022, the Seoul Policy Centre is launching a new area of work, which focuses on police capacity building for tackling digital sex crimes, which will utilize the knowledge-sharing activities with the Korean Police to inspire and innovate measures in partner countries for fighting and preventing sexual crimes in cyber space, which have been on the rise since COVID-19 has accelerated digitalization processes around the world with its risks as well as opportunities.
Meeting with the Governor of Special Capital Region (DKI) Jakarta and the Head of Health Office to discuss UNDP-supported GBV prevention activities in 2021.Photo: UNDP Indonesia
Based on the SGBV training modules of the Korean National Police, UNDP Iraq localized the context and provided trainings on SGBV interview protocols for police officers and the security sector in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, in August 2021. The event contributed to gender sensitization of security and police forces in their SGBV response.Photo: UNDP Iraq