March 2020 Newsletter

“While hard to believe, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is just getting started. This is an outbreak, the likes of which we have not seen in our lifetime. This is not the time — and I am not the person — to dole out health advice or information on the virus from better-suited sources and authorities. I do, however, want to bring attention to the unprecedented risks we face in our work for peaceful, just and inclusive societies at this precarious moment. If we are not attentive to these challenges now, they may well reinforce and exacerbate this global health crisis, creating new cycles of social unrest and collective violence at a time when governments, businesses and civil society have limited capacity to focus on anything else. We will be able to manage one crisis, if we do it right: rapidly and dramatically reducing COVID-19 infections and scaling-up efforts to identify a vaccine. But if we allow spill-over effects, secondary problems and new crises to proliferate on top of this health emergency, we will be entering into truly uncertain and dangerous territory. We have to manage the pandemic whilst also strengthening governance, watching the distribution of resources and make justice more people-centered. In other words, we must manage the pandemic through the lens of SDG16+.”

In a new blog post, Pathfinders director, Liv Tørres outlines how continuing work to build more peaceful, just and inclusive societies may be the key to navigate through the current health crisis.

The UN’s Statistical Commission has adopted a new — people-centered — indicator to measure progress in providing justice for all as part of the official SDG indicator framework.

Many of our justice partners have worked for years to get to this point, in particular OSJI, the OECD, WJP, UNDP and UNODC. Recognizing these important efforts, the Pathfinders’ Task Force on Justice recommended to agree a new SDG16.3 indicator to measure progress on civil justice.

Ever since joining Pathfinders in early 2019, Germany continues to champion efforts to harness women’s leadership on small arms control for conflict prevention and development, in line with SDG16 (target 16.4) and SDG5. The establishment of GENSAC and Germany’s firm commitment to placing gender and arms control is at the center of the Pathfinders’ broader mobilization for a movement to halve global violence.

Read their joint piece here.

“2020 offers the promise that a growing urgency to address gender inequality can be translated into tangible action at international, national, and local levels.”

In a new blog marking International Women’s Day, Pathfinders’ Paula Sevilla highlights what Pathfinder member states are doing to advance gender equality and fight gender-based discrimination and violence. Read her blog here.

They are joined by a growing list of other partners, including HiiL, OECD, C.S. Mott Foundation, World Justice Project, Open Society Justice Initiative, ICTJ, Namati, Microjustice4All, Cordaid, University of South Carolina, IDLO, ILF (International Legal Foundation) and Terre des Hommes.

The report outlines specific measures to accelerate national action on justice for women; international and regional support to national action, and opportunities for mobilizing for justice for women.

Justice for Children means rethinking justice journeys for both perpetrators and victims. Reforms can bring significant, people-centered change to individuals and societies. In 2015 the country of Georgia reformed its juvenile justice system with this very goal in mind, and as a result drastically decreased the reoffending rate.

In our latest Champions of Change interview, Pathfinders’ Maaike de Langen spoke with Zurab Sanikidze, Chairman of the Public Service Development Agency in Georgia’s Ministry of Justice. Read the interview here.

We learned how Georgia successfully shifted their focus from punishment to rehabilitation and prevention. The reforms have made an ineffective system effective, ultimately reducing the number of children in prison and greatly reducing reoffending rates at the same time.

Georgia’s actions for justice for children were also presented in an event at the UN on 4 December 2019, about what countries are doing to accelerate action for Justice for All. The Permanent Mission of Georgia organized the event, jointly with the Missions of the Republic of Korea, Argentina and Sierra Leone. Read more here.

Read a new blog by Pathfinders’ Ariana Lippi, detailing highlights from the discussion.

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