Bringing Justice to the People

Most Americans have a basic understanding of how the justice system works here. We know about the right to a fair trial, innocence until proven guilty, judgment by a jury of our peers, and other basic concepts of the American legal system. Many of us know some things so well its as though we were born with them, like the beginning of the Miranda warning: "you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law". Even if we learned it from watching too many episodes of Cops rather than actually studying the law, it still demonstrates the widespread public awareness that we sometimes take for granted.

Unfortunately not everywhere is lucky enough to be able to take this for granted. One such place is troubled Timor-Leste. Although the violence that followed its declaration of independence in 1975 was mostly brought to an end by 2002 when it finally achieved international recognition, its fledgling government still faces many challenges. Today the UN is working to rebuild the civil institutions, like the justice system, of this fragile nation. On April 6th the UNDP Justice System Program undertook its first outreach campaign in the city of Pante Makassar. Government officials, judges, lawyers and members of the public were brought together in a forum for open discussion. Participants were provided with informational materials, and were able to ask questions about the issues that affect their lives everyday.

The UNDP Justice System Program will be continuing its campaign, helping build the capacity of the courts and ministry of justice, and bringing its open forums to districts around the country.

Find out more about UNDP's work in Timor-Leste by clicking here.

Watch your step!

Can you remember your parent telling you to “look both ways before crossing the street,” or remember those caution signs telling you to “watch your step”? For children living in Sarajevo, Bosnia, and Herzegovina, taking safety precautions when walking to school was not enough to protect them from landmines that remained following the conflict in the 1990s. Since 1996, over 1,500 people have been killed or maimed as a result of landmines.

In order to prevent further deaths as a result of landmine detonation, Bosnia and Herzegovina have acquired two new mine clearing machines to clear up to one million landmines. Each machine is valued at $600,000.

Since 2003, the UNDP has worked with a mine awareness project that includes mine clearing training, education projects on mine risks, technical expertise and funds for mine clearance equipment. UNDP’s work has drastically reduced the number of children hurt by mines. UNDP is also working to create economic opportunities away from mine locations so that the risk of being injured is also decreased.

To find out more about UNDP’s commitment to mine removal, click here. Also be sure to check out International Mine Awareness and Assistance Day on April 4, a day the United Nations has dedicated to raising awareness of the global hazards of landmines.

Ethnic Integration in Kosovo

Can you imagine living in a country where it is legally acceptable to segregate your neighbors simply because they have different religious or cultural beliefs? It's hard to believe that since the creation of Yugoslavia in 1943, Kosovar Albanians have been ethnically segregated and have suffered violent discrimination. Luckily, the United Nations came to the rescue in 1999 following the war that erupted between Kosovar Serbians and Kosovar Albanians.

In order to prevent further ethnic conflicts from arising, the United Nations Development Programme has teamed up with CARE Kosovo to promote democratic governance and the societal integration of minorities into society. Not being able to call 9-1-1 in the case of an emergency was a reality for Kosovar Albanians. Instead of providing security, the pan-Serbian police force was known to carry out atrocities against Kosovar Albanians. Thus one of the UN's first measures was to provide all the citizens of Kosovo security by desegregating the police task force.

In addition to providing security to Kosovars, the UNDP is working to incorporate minorities into government affairs and local organizations. By assisting citizens with the creation of reliable ethnically-mixed democratic governments that guarantee the equality of all persons regardless of religious or cultural heritage, the UNDP hopes to create a Kosovar society in which all ethnicities are accepted.

For more on the United Nations' work to improve ethnic relations through Democratic Initiatives, click here

Liberia needs police, women step up to the plate (with the UN's help)

This week over 100 Liberian women completed basic training for the Liberian National Police (LNP). The women participated in a program sponsored by the UN, the Liberian Government, and the LNP. The program was designed to help Liberian women conquer some of the challenges they face. The goals of the program are to increase the number of women on the police force to 20% of the total force, as well as help raise women's educational level to high school graduate, which is needed to qualify for the force. Today about 10% of LNP officers are women.

The UN and the Liberian government hope that more women in the police force will be allow the LNP to be more effective in handling sexual and gender violence against women and children. The President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, commended the women for their role in nation building and along with the UN sees women's empowerment as an important step towards good governance.

For more information about this program and others: click here

Put your skills to better use

UNDP in South Sudan gets it right again. The brand new Lologo Regional Prison Training Center was inaugurated this past week in an effort to reform the corrective system and ensure that peace and stability in the region continues to hold.

UNDP is essentially hitting two birds with one stone with this new initiative by creating a new Prison Service training program that simultaneously rehabilitates former Sudanese soldiers. The center, constructed under UNDP's Foundational Support to the Prison Services of Southern Sudan, will provide a 3-month orientation session in order to train former soldiers of the SPLA (Sudanese People's Liberation Army) and aid their reintegration into society.

UNDP's logic is the more soldiers take care of prisoners, the less opportunity they will have to join rebel groups and resume fighting. And the best part is, their new job builds upon the skills they developed during their last.

Check out the UN in Sudan for general news and humanitarian updates.

Let Children Run the Country

Who says children shouldn't take the law into their own hands? In fact, with their openness to different points of view and eagerness to help people who suffer, they almost seem perfect for this job.

A group of 150 children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) feel the same way, and with the help of the UN they set up a Children's Parliament to deal with any and all grievances brought forward by young Congolese people.

With no officers over the age of 17, the Parliament bases its advice to its clients on Congolese law and the UN's Convention of the Rights of the Child. The body deals with a surprising number of cases - 105 since January - ranging from neglected children to women who feel their husbands provide inadequate support for schooling and general care. According to Vice President Arthur Omar Kayumba, the Parliament has a growing sense of legitimacy, even amongst authorities such as the special police.

In 2002, UNICEF held a Special Session on Children, which capitalized on the fact that it is often a country's youth that can best identify problems, priorities and sometimes even solutions to challenges they collectively face. In the DRC, youth-centered decision making has proven to be an effective way of bypassing one of the country's most significant problems: corruption.

Sometimes, you've got to let kids have their way.

Sing For Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone is preparing for elections on August 11th. What better way to get out the vote than with music? UNDP Sierra Leone is partnering with local organizations to support the "Artists for Peace" initiative which will sponsor a dozen Sierra Leonean musicians in concerts around the country. Their message is non-partisan, designed to promote political tolerance and non-violence during the elections.

"Elections are meant to uplift the lives of all citizens," said Velma, one of the lead female musicians in her self-titled group. "We want to use our voices to encourage people to exercise their civic rights in a peaceful manner and to remain tolerant of each other."

Governance From A Young Age

It is challenging to think of long-term issues such as education about democracy in post-conflict countries, but someone has to do it. Democratic governance is one of the five key areas which UNDP focuses on as part of its multilateral approach to development, and the youth of Afghanistan have demonstrated intelligent and passionate interest in contributing to this cause.

UNDP has recently worked closely with Support for Establishing an Afghan Legislature (SEAL) and the Ministry of Education in organizing an Afghan Youth Training Assembly, held in June. This conference brought together students from 80 schools to discuss broader issues of governance as well as specific problems facing the country, like the lack of materials in public schools.

The best ideas about representation and participation can often come from a country's uncynical and much more optimistic youth, and this is why it is extremely important to give this group a voice.

See here for more information on UNDP's work in Afghanistan.

The Brits, like UNDP-USA, support Pakistan

The UK's Department for International Development (DFID) has recently pledged $35 million to Pakistani NGOs in order to promote good governance and state accountability programs. UNDP in Pakistan will be responsible for administering these funds appropriately.

UNDP-USA also supported a project of its own in Pakistan last year, working on long-term efforts to support the MDGs, particularly addressing education and health care:

UNDP-USA worked in partnership with UNDP through the Global Resource Mobilization Program, identifying and leveraging private contributions in the United States, particularly from the Pakistan-American Diaspora population, to support the project in Pakistan. To date, UNDP-USA has provided $1.4 million to UNDP Pakistan in support of the work of UNDP in achieving the MDGs in Pakistan.

See here to read more about this and other UNDP-USA projects.

UNDP brings On-line training to Grenada

In an increasingly technologically savvy world, those with no Internet experience are inevitably left behind. In light of this, 100 citizens of the small Caribbean island of Grenada are scheduled to participate in an eight-week UNDP program of on-line training on June 6th, facilitated by the Virtual Development Academy world campus initiative with the launch of the Harvard/CBI.

The on-line training is geared to equip public and private officials who engage in negotiations with the skills and knowledge to achieve their professional objectives. These include development and implementation of projects and programs in partnership with international and governmental stakeholders and participation in regional and global processes and forums dealing with relevant issues.

Yet another example of how small initiatives can create large impact.

Interview with UNDP Congo

allAfrica has a nice interview with the country director of DRC, Babacar Cisse. UNDP continues to focus on helping the Congolese build the institutions of democracy at the national and local level. But in the long run, UNDP realizes they also need to help create jobs and promote economic development.

Expanding Justice

Any small business can tell you the importance of contracts. For a local book store , they offer assurances that you cannot just be thrown out leased space with no reason or warning. For a printer, they ensure that when someone orders a job they will pay for it when they pick it up. And for a little restaurant, contracts give you peace of mind that your supplies will show up every day - and recourse if someone doesn't deliver without a reason.

Unfortunately, about three billion people live and work in the "informal sector".

While most of the world’s poor possess assets of some kind, they lack a formal way to document these possessions through legally recognized tools such as deeds, contracts and permits. These individuals live
and work in the “informal economy,” outside a set of widely-recognized and enforceable rules.

The Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, co-chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and the President of Institute for Liberty and Democracy, Hernando de Soto, is working with governments and ngos to figure out the greatest legal challenges that hinder people's ability to lift themselves out of poverty. Because identifying a problem is only the first step, they are also developing "road maps" to enable governments to implement the reforms necessary improve their justice systems.

With that mouthful out of the way, I highly recommend the stories they have compiled and this video below, which illustrate the challenges many of the worlds poorest face every day, and how the Commission can hopefully make an impact.

The Best Kept Secret

One story that has been hugely under reported over the past year is the landmark elections held in the Democratic Republic of Congo last year. In 2006 UNDP helped register over 25 million citizens - many of whom could only be reached by helicopter or boat - setup 53,000 polling stations, and help coordinate two rounds of voting.

Considering that country is the size of Western Europe, elections went off with only minor problems and the country's first democratically elected President and Congress were selected to begin undertaking the task of helping the country recover from a 40 year civil war.

Of course elections only mark the beginning - not the end - of recovery. DRC will require further support from its neighbors and the rest of the world as it rebuilds. UNDP is helping out in a number of areas, including a large program to help democracy take root by building local institutions, tackling corruption and helping the new legislators understand what it means to represent their fellow citizens.

Happy World Press Freedom Day

Happy World Press Freedom Day! May 3 was first designated in 1993 as a day to celebrate and highlight the crucial role a free press plays in strengthening democracies and fostering development around the world.

To learn more about the day, visit the UN's page. You can also learn more about UNDP programs that support the creation of a free press. I also highly recommend checking out World Press Photo's pictures of the year.

US and UNDP - Working Together to Spread Democracy

After over 200 years of democracy in the United States, we can sometimes take for granted the important role our system plays in ensuring continued peace and prosperity at home. In Central America, many countries are only recently experiencing elections and democracy.

UNDP is the world's largest provider of support for elections and building democratic institutions in developing countries. Recently UNDP’s Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean Ms. Rebeca Grynspan visited the Carter Center met with former president Jimmy Carter to discuss possibilities of partnering to promote democratic governance and prevent violent conflicts. The two discussed the possible benefits of the a combined effort and what advantages the two would have working together. By working together, they hope to be able to have an even greater impact in helping the world's emerging democracy's.

UNDP Investment in Haiti

With much hard effort and work by both the UNDP and the Haitian government the country has become a land of opportunity and success. Haiti just recently had its democratically elected government that has the trust of the people. This is a great start to building a successful nation, but the world must also build from this. The UNDP urged the UN to continue support for the ongoing project with the UNDP. The Canadian government has responded with $10 million in aid. This aid will go to UNDP's 2 primary goals in supporting the reforms of the police and the judicial system as well as curbing criminal activity in the urban and suburban areas of. This will also go the the rehabilitation of areas that have been heavily affected by gang violence. UNDP claims that unless the people and the government of Haiti receive renewed support from the international community then the affects of has been accomplished might be dampered

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Spreading Deomcracy in the Middle East

Promoting democracy and helping parliaments better represent their citizens is a key challenge in emerging democratic countries. Each year, UNDP spend nearly a quarter of its core resources promoting good government and helping elections. Check out this fun flash tool to learn more about just some of what UNDP is doing in the Arab States.

Promoting Democratic Governments.

In America, after 200 years of democracy what it means to vote is well understood. But imagine living in a country that had never had an election before. The tiny Himalayan country of Bhutan is preparing to adopt its first Constitution in 2008.

To help educate citizens about voting UNDP is working with the Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB). Because it supports over 20 elections every year, UNDP is able to provide the Commission with the skills, knowledge, and experience they need to ensure everyone - men and women, young and old - participates in this historic moment and begins to build their own history of democracy.

Learn more.