Access to Justice and Good Governance

Access to justice is more than improving an individual’s access to courts or guaranteeing legal representation. Access to justice is defined as the ability of people to seek and obtain a remedy through formal or informal institutions of justice for grievances in compliance with human rights standards. There is no access to justice where citizens (especially marginalized groups) fear the system, see it as alien, and do not access it; where the justice system is financially inaccessible; where individuals have no lawyers; where they do not have information or knowledge of rights; or where there is a weak justice system. Access to justice involves normative legal protection, legal awareness, legal aid and counsel, adjudication, enforcement, and civil society oversight. Access to justice supports sustainable peace by affording the population a more attractive alternative to violence in resolving personal and political disputes. Taking the importance of accessing justice,

ARWEO also worked with different donor agencies to make people understand for accessing easy justice rather than disappointment from the systems. In April 2014, ARWEO implemented a one-year project with the name of “youth legal education program” in the province of Nangarhar. The main theme of this project was to write a curriculum book on the accessing of legal justice and good governance. The legal book was written by famous and professional writers of Afghanistan. Once the book was finalized then it was taught by 39 youth volunteers in 14 districts of Nangarhar to youth and other individuals from the communities. The book has very comprehensive information and knowledge regarding access to justice and good governance. People from different communities very highly appreciated the book and demanded from ARWEO that it be printed out more and spread out in other districts and provinces of Afghanistan as well.