barefoot lawyers oped by abed and soros

[chris macrae]

great to see pairs of 100 youth leaders of www.wholeplanet.tv co-charering - this from abed and soros

Rule of law can rid the world of poverty

By George Soros and Fazle Hasan Abed

Poverty is on the retreat. Despite the global economic downturn, the World Bank and UN  reported this year that the number of people living in extreme poverty has  dropped in every region of the world for the first time since record keeping  began. Though progress  on the UN’s Millennium Development Goals has been uneven, we should be  heartened that we have already reached, three years before the target date of  2015, the first of these eight goals – that of halving the number of people  still living on less than $1 a day. However, we risk allowing these gains to  come undone if we fail to strengthen the rule of law in developing  countries.

Without basic legal empowerment, the poor live an uncertain existence, in  fear of deprivation, displacement and dispossession. A juvenile is wrongfully  detained and loses time in school; village land is damaged by a mining company  without compensation; an illiterate widow is denied the inheritance she is  entitled to and is forced on to the streets with her children. By what means can  individuals and communities protect their rights in daily life?

Tens of millions of people live without a legal form of identity, such as a  birth certificate. This identity is the cornerstone of justice. Without it, one  may be denied opportunities to overcome poverty, including access to  immunisations, school, land deeds and welfare. One of the first MDG 2.0 targets,  therefore, should be reducing statelessness and providing universal legal  identity: the enactment and enforcement of legislation ensuring every citizen  has universal access to a documented legal identity and is registered at  birth.

But legislation is not enough, which is why the second and third targets  should concern awareness and access. In developed countries, even those accused  of heinous crimes are apprised of their legal rights, and rightfully so. Yet the  vast majority of people living in poverty do not even know their rights.  Governments must implement concrete measures, or enable civil society to do so,  making sure the poor are fully aware of rights under the law.

The targets must include safeguards and regulations to ensure that everybody,  regardless of background or circumstances, has full access to the formal justice  system. Special attention should also be given to women, as well as to  vulnerable groups such as the landless, slum  dwellers, sex workers, pre-trial prisoners and juvenile offenders. In many  places, laws exist on paper to protect the vulnerable from exploitation, yet  informal norms and institutions hold sway, and all too often, these norms and  institutions work against the poor and vulnerable, women especially. Where the  formal legal system is itself corrupt, there should also be mechanisms such as  alternative dispute resolution, which work to provide justice outside the  courts.

These need not be costly solutions. We have already seen how they might work  in places such as Bangladesh, where civil society organisations like BRAC have  strengthened the legal rights of the poor by training thousands of “barefoot  lawyers” in poor communities.

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Events in Tahrir Square and beyond have sparked optimism about a global  democratic resurgence. But at the same time, there is fear of instability and  lawlessness. Let us not forget that in 2015, 1bn people will still be living in  extreme poverty. A hard road still lies ahead. Strengthening the rule of law is  more important than ever. A legally empowered citizenry is both the guarantor  and lifeblood of democracy. Poverty will only be defeated when the law works for  everyone.

The writers are the founders and chairmen respectively of the Open  Society Foundations and of BRAC, a civil society group

other coverage - The Economist  3 nov 2011

BRAC even has the world’s largest legal-aid programme: there are more BRAC legal
centres than police stations in Bangladesh.