About this report
In 2025, the Global Programme for Strengthening the Rule of Law, Human Rights, Justice and Security for Sustainable Peace and Development (the Global Programme) provided financial, technical and expert support to over 100 countries and territories worldwide. Nearly 40 of these are featured in this report, offering an overview of UNDP’s integrated work on rule of law, human rights, business and human rights, justice and security in conflict-affected, crisis, fragile or post-conflict contexts.
In addition to highlighting the Global Programme’s achievements, this report outlines UNDP’s broader contributions to advancing the rule of law, justice, security and human rights. It focuses on contexts where sustained and, in many cases, long-term support from the Global Programme has enabled the continuity of programming and/or catalysed additional resources and expanded efforts.
This report partly reflects on the programme’s impact over Phase IV of the Global Programme (2022–2025). In particular, the report highlights multi-year outcomes at the regional level and in countries where the Global Programme investments were sustained, including Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Iraq and Somalia.
At the same time, this document remains an annual report, with an emphasis on consolidating and presenting key achievements from the final year within a broader multi-year perspective.
Beyond country and territory level results, the report also presents progress under the Global Programme’s core workstreams: human rights, people-centred justice, community security, and business and human rights.
Law students are delivering community legal education at Khalla Masetti, Baramdev, Kanchanpur District, Nepal.
A key emphasis of the report is the Global Programme’s unique role as a platform for partnerships across the UN system and beyond, in line with UNDP’s designated role as an ‘integrator’ and in support of the One-UN approach.
The Global Programme continues to invest in improving how it captures, understands and communicates its impact – stimulating learning and facilitating knowledge sharing among partners and development practitioners. This report features a dedicated Lessons Learned section, summarizing key insights from UNDP’s policy and programming work.
Over the past years, the Global Programme reinforced its role as a trusted platform for integrated justice, security and human rights solutions – reaching millions and shaping policies and practices at scale.
The Global Programme is being implemented under the Governance, Rule of Law and Peacebuilding Hub (GRP) which is jointly led by the UNDP Crisis Bureau and the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support.
With the launch of Phase V in 2026, the Global Programme integrated peacebuilding and local action portfolios, alongside rule of law, justice, security, human rights, and business and human rights.
In 2025, the Global Programme operated thanks to the generous contributions of Austria, the European Union, Finland, Generalitat Valenciana, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Lichtenstein, the Netherlands, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
