Access to Justice

Funded by the Sylhet Foundation and facilitated by the Department of Law and Justice, Metropolitan University, Sylhet (Bangladesh), the research was conducted during January 2008-May 2008. With active participation of all faculties in conducting the field works, I was given the responsibility to write the final project report, present and analyse the research findings. The project involved a rigorous study into the problems facing the justice seeking people in Bangladesh with particular reference to Sylhet District Judiciary.

ABSTRACT: The paper aims to reflect on the implementation of the Electronic Judicial Process (JPe) and on the responsibility of society towards the challenge of sustainability. It is intended to respond to what is needed to achieve governance in the PJe and whether if the resolutions of the National Justice Council (CNJ) will be able to implement it. It is a theoretical-documentary study, with deductivetechnique. It is concluded that the right to development and the existence of good governance will only be possible with the respect for fundamental rights, guaranteeing the participation of people, transparency in procedural acts and social justice.

RESUMO: O artigo objetiva refletir sobre a implantação do Processo Judicial eletrônico (PJe) e sobre a responsabilidade da sociedade frente ao desafio da sustentabilidade. Pretende-se responder o que é preciso para se efetivar a governança no PJe e se as resoluções do Conselho Nacional de Justiça (CNJ) serão capazes de implementá-la. Trata-se de um artigo teórico-documental, com técnica dedutiva. Conclui-se que tanto o direito ao desenvolvimento quanto a existência de uma boa governança só se farão possíveis diante do respeito aos direitos fundamentais, da garantia de participação de todos, da transparência nos atos processuais e da justiça socioambiental.

REFERÊNCIA COMPLETA: ESTANISLAU, Fernanda Netto; GOMES, Magno Federici. O processo judicial eletronico, o direito ao desenvolvimento e a boa governança: o caminho para a sustentabilidade. Revista da Faculdade de Direito da UFG, Goiânia, v. 43, 9, p. 01-16, jul./dez. 2019. ISSN 0101-7187
Disponível em: https://www.revistas.ufg.br/revfd/article/view/44591
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5216/rfd.v43.44591

Al analizar  la situación del apátrida, se observa cómo este se enfrenta a la exclusión y a la desprotección en un contexto amplio. Esto constata que la nacionalidad sigue siendo no solo una condición imprescindible para el ejercicio de derechos políticos sino también para la titularidad de los derechos humanos, lo que acentúa la discriminación y la desfavorabilidad de quienes, por diversas razones, no cuentan con esta condición. El artículo describe e identifica algunos de los escenarios en los que se evidencia este fenómeno en Colombia, y reflexiona críticamente sobre la precariedad de las garantías con las que cuenta esta población para ejercer sus derechos, lo que lleva a reafirmar su invisibilización.

Рассматривается право на доступ к правосудию как одного из государственных стандартов Российской Федерации. В частности, очерчивается проблема реализации права на доступ к правосудию в связи с географическими и климатическими особенностями на примере Ямало-Ненецкого автономного округа России.

The need for prospective beneficiaries to “take up” new programs is a common stumbling block for otherwise well-designed legal and policy innovations. I examine the take-up problem in the context of publicly provided court services and test the effectiveness of various outreach strategies that announce a newly available online court access platform. I study individuals with minor arrest warrants whose distrust of courts may dampen any take-up response. I partnered with a court to quasi-randomly assign outreach approaches to a cohort of individuals and find that outreach improves take-up, that the type of outreach matters, and that online platform access is itself effective.

AVAILABLE at SSRN:  https://ssrn.com/abstract=3108817

This paper envisages analysing racial discrimination in Bangladesh with a particular focus to cast-based discrimination. There is also an attempt to identify legal and policy gaps in compliance with the national and international instruments on cast-based discrimination. After all, the aim of analysing the key areas of the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) in relation to Bangladesh context is central to the paper.

Raport przedstawia wybrane wyniki badań empirycznych zrealizowanych w ramach projektu badawczego „Dostęp do prawa wśród małych i średnich przedsiębiorców w Polsce”, finansowanego przez Narodowe Centrum Nauki (NCN 2016/21/B/HS5/00397). Projekt ten obejmował rozległe badania empiryczne nad korzystaniem z prawa, instytucji prawnych i usług prawniczych przez polskie przedsiębiorstwa z sektora małych i średnich przedsiębiorstw (MŚP).

This paper discusses the role and effect of the registers of ADR Entities created under article 20 of the Consumer ADR directive. The CJEU decision C-75/16 was read as considering entry in these register(s) as a pre-requirement for the application (also) of the substantive rights conferred to consumers, in particular of the rights to withdraw from mediation and to refuse lawyers’ representation.This would create what has been defined a “hidden” restriction to the application of the Directive.
The paper analyzes the consequence of such restriction in the case of mandatory CADR procedures, looking at the model of the “reinforced” procedure adopted in Italy.  Joint consideration of the European Court decision and of the national judgment for its execution, shows that the Court rulings about the detailed rules of the CADR directive (respectively, article 8 on legal assistance and article 9 on freedom of withdrawal) do not concern the nature of the mediation and its pre-requisites.  In admitting that mediation may be mandatory also in consumer ADR, the CJEU created a joint competence of entities regulated by two Directives ( 2008/52/EC and 2011/13/EU) on mandatory mediation. It used the certification pre-requirement to split competence between these entities. The substantive rights of the consumer parties where considered by the Court after it had reached the decision on the (mandatory) nature of mediation. In fact these rights  regard the limits of the obligation to complain, after it has been instituted. The court  drew them, at first hand, from the constitutional requirements that protect the individual rights to access to justice and to effective judicial protection, within any kind of mandatory procedure.  It is respectfully submitted that both these principles cannot be derogated by administrative regulations over registers.
The analysis of the directive in the hypothesis of compulsory CADR, confirms many doubts advanced about the actual interest CADR bodies have to apply to the related register for certification. In  presence of a mandatory mediation systems the  presumption, underlying the directive, that such certification would necessarily bring advantages to certified CADR entities,  seems rather to be excluded. Mandatory ADR creates for the related bodies a legal monopoly that protects them by ensuring security of income, fiscal advantages, privileged means of enforcement of the agreements and less stringent procedural rules than those of the CADR directive. Finally, State law may subtract them to a large amount of the management costs required to comply with the huge amount of information duties established by such directive.
Finally, joint consideration of mandatory mediation in consumers' disputes and of the CJEU decisions, suggests that generalization of the Court ruling about the pre-requisite of registration,  is a by-product of the regulatory approach adopted by this directive. Such approach extends administrative powers of the competent authorities from the organization, control and information of the market , also to the application of the principles of procedure and to the enforcement of parties’ individual rights. From this point of view, the CADR Directive has been considered as one example of the attempts of the Union to circumvent the many  difficulties that hindered the construction of a uniform law of contract in Europe.
Such approach has been recently discussed in depth under the label of ‘regulatory private law’.  This theory is therefore briefly discussed in the light of the CADR directive implementation’s outcome. The resulting findings seem to show that some conclusions on the topic, namely the attitude of this new trend to ensure administrative  enforcement of  individual interests sub specie of  private rights of consumers, should be reconsidered.

Stereotypes exclude, stigmatize, and burden Arabs and Muslims in Canada. This article examines  three  prevailing  Arab  and  Muslim  stereotypes:  the  conviction  that  Arabs  and Muslims have a culturally ordained propensity towards violence; the belief that, regardless of  their  citizenship  status,  Arabs  and  Muslims  remain  foreigners  who  threaten  Western values  and;  the  notion  that  Arabs  and  Muslims  are  dishonest.  The  analysis  rests  on  the facts  found  and  conclusions  reached  in  nine  claims  filed  by  Arab  or  Muslim  applicants before  the  British  Columbia,  Ontario,  Quebec  or  Canadian  human  rights  tribunals.  The tribunal  decisions  reveal  that  the  terrorist  profile  requires  the  other  two  profiles  for  its efficacy, but the liar/untrustworthy motif and the un-Canadian/existential threat motif also operate  independently  of  the  terrorist  motif.  The  cases  also suggest  that  gender, racialization, and religion mediate the way in which the different stereotypes are invoked, and  that  Arabs  and  Muslims  are  stereotyped  in  diverse  contexts  including  workplaces, schools, and state institutions. The cases also illuminate how stereotyping has profoundly impacted the financial, emotional, physical, and social health of the complainants but the human rights regimes examined do not always recognize the stereotypes that arise on the facts before them.

Le consentement libre et éclairé est le fondement juridique de toute décision de soins et la base de l’alliance
thérapeutique. Les réformes civiles et criminelles des années 1990 visaient notamment la mise en œuvre du droit au consentement aux soins dans le cadre des mécanismes de droit psychiatrique afin de protéger les patients contre des décisions arbitraires. L’observation d’audiences d’autorisation de soins, de garde en établissement et de Commission d’examen démontre cependant que le traitement y fait l’objet de discussions récurrentes, de même que le style de vie et l’adhésion au paradigme psychiatrique. Ces constats empiriques permettent de remettre en question la possibilité de refuser des soins en psychiatrie, du moins pour les personnes faisant l’objet de procédures judiciaires. Il convient dès lors de s’intéresser à la médication psychiatrique en tant que modalité incontournable des rapports de pouvoir et des processus de domination.

Sumario: I. Introducción.— II. El contenido del derecho a acceder a la justicia para las víctimas de delitos.— III. ¿Qué implica para las personas travestis y trans el acceso a la justicia?— IV. La realización del juicio oral por el homicidio de Diana Sacayán y su significado para el colectivo travesti-trans.— V. La importancia de la participación de las víctimas en los juicios para la justicia restaurativa.— VI. Conclusión.— VII. Bibliografía.

This article explores the state-making efforts of two ethnic armed organizations in Southeast Myanmar through the lens of justice provision. Engaging with current debates about rebel governance and empirical state formation, the article argues that ethnic armed organizations cannot simply be dismissed as rebels focused on extraction and coercion alone, but are also state-makers who nurture legitimate authority. We add to this debate by introducing the new concept of ‘ceasefire state-making’ to capture the particular dynamics of contested state-making and constitution of authority in the liminal phase between armed conflict and a pending peace agreement