Programs

Access to Justice

Access to Justice
Access to justice is a vital component of fair hearing guarantees and empowers the poor and disadvantaged individuals, groups and communities to seek remedies for injustice. IDLO underlines the linkages between access to justice and human rights.

Human Trafficking
The trafficking of human beings is widely recognized as presenting a threat of global proportions. Human trafficking is usually exacerbated by the lack of legal assistance services available to victims and by the lack of awareness concerning the existing legal protection. Based on cutting-edge research and results-based approaches, IDLO is carrying out a series of projects and activities to address human trafficking in affected regions, aimed at making victims and witnesses of human trafficking aware of their rights and providing law enforcement officials and judicial organs with adequate resources and training to combat human trafficking and ensure full victim protection.

Institutional Development

Legal and Institutional Reform
The legal system is today one of the fundamental element of institutional infrastructure to the extent that inadequacies in the legal system constraints the effectiveness of democratic institutions.
IDLO recognises that in the thorough reform of the legal system, the priority is to adopt a holistic approach to legal and institutional reform that is focused on the creation or expansion of institutions and the technical skills needed to operate them.

Public Procurement
IDLO implements a variety of programs designed to further the development of well-governed public and private sector institutions in developing countries. Project activities have addressed issues such as improving the integrity of corporate governance, ethics and compliance in the public sector, anti-corruption mechanisms and the overall improvement of regulatory systems.

Large Fields Operations

Afghanistan
Following the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the International Development Law Organization identified the promotion of the rule of law as a fundamental necessity to create a sustainable development for the country. IDLO began working for the reconstruction of the justice system in Afghanistan in late 2001. It conducted initial activities such as undertaking a needs assessment, building a network of Afghan legal experts and conducting a worldwide search for legal resources resulting in a collection of over 2,400 laws, which assisted the international and Afghan community analyze the applicable law following the Bonn Conference of 2002.

Kyrgyzstan
While many of the Kyrgyz laws have been modernized, a great deal of work is required to ensure that the legislation is fully implemented. Furthermore, Kyrgyzstan lacks an effective mechanism to properly prepare new judges for their duties or to provide continued professional training to sitting judges. Perhaps most significantly, many judges lack any real sense of the role of an independent, impartial judiciary in a democratic society. IDLO is currently implementing a multi-faceted commercial law judicial capacity-building project in Kyrgyzstan, in partnership with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and in collaboration with the Supreme Court of Kyrgyzstan. The project aims to enhance the competence of judges in commercial law to ensure greater efficacy, uniformity and predictability of court rulings, assist in the creation of a business enabling environment in Kyrgyzstan and help build lasting institutions capable of providing effective capacity-building programs for the judiciary.

Republic of South Sudan
IDLO is working in partnership with the Judiciary of Southern Sudan (JOSS) and the Ministry of Legal Affairs and Constitutional Development (MOLACD) to enhance the capacity of the legal profession and the judiciary in South Sudan.

Sustainable Development and Economic Opportunity

Support Capacity Development in Trade, IT and Intellectual Property Law
Trade, IT and IP Law programs aim to support the meaningful participation of developing countries and their peoples in global markets, supporting new trade, investment and financing opportunities through implementation of recent treaty obligations for sustainable economic development. It also includes programming for the protection and enforcement of IP to address emerging issues such as technology transfer, IT developments which require enhanced legal frameworks to secure privacy, security and access to knowledge, and complex issues such as access to medical drugs, plant varieties, traditional knowledge and competition law.

Legal Preparedness for Climate Change and the Green Economy
Legal Preparedness for Climate Change programming aims to assist developing countries to establish legal foundations to attract and absorb international climate finance in order to support climate-compatible development and effectively address the emerging global legal challenges related to climate change adaptation. Legal Preparedness for the Green Economy programming aims to ensure the meaningful and equitable participation of developing country actors in the new opportunities of the global green economy. It supports the development of a legal and regulatory environment that promotes sustainable use and equitable access to the benefits of biodiversity and natural resources.

Sustainable Natural Resources Governance
Sustainable Natural Resources Governance programs aim to help to improve management of natural resources in developing countries, focusing initially on water and energy. It acknowledges that climate change has created a new urgency to manage natural resources in an equitable and sustainable manner, particularly to ensure access to natural resources for the poorest and most vulnerable populations.

The Right to Health

Health Law
Global health is an essential pre-requisite for the sustainable development of lower and middle income countries. According to UNAIDS, in 2009, some 33.3 million people were living with HIV. Since the beginning of the epidemic, more than 60 million people have been infected with HIV and nearly 30 million people have died of HIV-related causes. Yet few countries have taken steps to reform their legal frameworks consistent with international guidelines and best practice. In those countries which do have appropriate legal frameworks, implementation is generally weak. Similarly 10 million people needed HIV treatment but did not have access to medicine, which are clearly important for conditions other than HIV, e.g., malaria, tuberculosis and non-communicable diseases. The latter cause 60 percent of deaths in transitional and developing countries through cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes. The IDLO Health Law Program consists of three initiatives: HIV and Law, Intellectual Property Law and access to Medicines, and Public Health Law.