Law and governance
A framework for strengthening access to justice in Indonesia
A national strategy for justice sector reforms in Indonesia
Authors:
Publisher:
World Bank Publications, 2007
This briefing note discusses a national strategy for access to justice in Indonesia to complement the ongoing efforts to reform the country’s justice system. It says that comprehensive justice sector reforms require a dual track strategy which links top-down institutional reform and bottom-up access to, and demand for, better justice. Such a strategy will bring justice closer to the people and will help address the low trust and inequities inherent in the delivery of justice in Indonesia.
The paper lists following three rationales for consolidating government policy and law on access to justice into a clear and coherent national strategy:
- institutional reform: a national strategy will support the channelling of public demand for better justice that responds to the needs of all Indonesians covering formal and informal institutions of justice
- justice and poverty: increased access to justice will complement government efforts to reduce poverty and empower communities
- justice and security: Increasing the effectiveness of and confidence in the justice system can reduce conflict and improve human security
In order to address the possible challenges to the implementation of the national strategy, the paper suggests that:
- the national strategy should recognise the role of regional governments and support their efforts to improve the quality of local regulations
- access to justice should be mainstreamed into poverty reduction programmes
