Access to Justice

TAI Training Workshop

Access to Justice

What does A2J mean?

• Access rights have been denied and/or people have suffered an environmental harm

• Citizens seek remedy

• An independent forum to solve conflicts

A2J Case Criteria:• Choose at least four cases• Case types include claims related to A2I, PP,

environmental harm, environmental noncompliance

• Reflect average practice, nothing extraordinary

• Does not necessarily involve a court of law, but can include other fora

• Recent, occurring in the last five years

Case Selection Criteria

Access to Justice

Case Types Required Cases

Access to Information 1

Access to Participation 1

Environmental Harm 1

Non-compliance Optional

Other Optional

Any of the above types of A2J 1

MINIMUM TOTAL CASES 4

Access to JusticeA2J Topics Include:

1. Law – Evaluate the national legislative and judicial frameworks

2. Effort – Assess the government’s actions to provide access, including the implementation of laws

3. Effectiveness – Assess if laws and government efforts resulted in effective practice

1. Subtopics under Law are addressed with Indicators 91 – 103 and 143, and include:– Scope and quality of general legal framework– Quality of the general legal limits– Scope and quality of specific legal framework– Legal requirements to build capacity of

government agencies– Legal requirements to build capacity of the

public– Legal requirements for timeliness

Access to Justice

Access to Justice2. Subtopics under Effort are addressed with

Indicators 104 – 128 and 148, and include: – Scope and quality of effort– Cost and affordability– Fairness and equitability– Timeliness– Channels of access– Effort to build government capacity– Effort to build capacity of the public– Efforts to build the capacity of sub-national

governments

Access to Justice3. Subtopics under Effectiveness are addressed

with Indicators 129 – 136, and include: – Impacts of access– Outcomes of access– Government capacity-building– Capacity-building for the public– Capacity-building for sub-national governments– Capacity-building for the media– Capacity-building for civil society organizations

A2J Recommended Research MethodsRecommended Research Methods: A2J Indicators:

1. Legal research: (review of constitutional law, other legislation and regulations, landmark court decisions)

Law/CB: 95, 96, 97, 98, 101, 102, 103Effort: N/AEffectiveness: N/A

2. Document Review (files of agencies or developers, SOE reports in libraries, facility records, etc.)

Law: 97Effort: 105, 108, 109, 114, 117, 120, 121, 123, 125, 127Effectiveness: 129

3. Media Review (press releases, newspaper, radio, TV, and Internet research)

Law: N/AEffort: 110Effectiveness: 131

4. Interviews (in person, or through questionnaires and surveys conducted by phone, email, or mail)

Law: N/AEffort: 108, 109, 110, 112, 114, 120, 121, 123, 125, 127Effectiveness: 129, 131, 132

5. Document Requests (in person, via mail, phone, or Internet, or by method required by agency fulfilling request)

Law: N/AEffort: N/AEffectiveness: N/A

6. Site visits - (to agencies, facilities, emergency sites)

Law Indicators: N/AEffort: N/AEffectiveness: 129

A2J Case Study ExamplesDenial of right to

informationDenial by the National Protected Areas

Commission to Release a Commissioned Technical Evaluation, Mexico

Denial of right to participation

Judicial Review and Suo Moto Exercise of Fundamental Rights Jurisdiction by the Supreme Court in the Colombo-Matara Expressway Route Deviation Case, Sri Lanka

Claim for an environmental harm

Suit in the Aysen Court Against the Government to Stop the Alumysa Energy and Aluminum Project, Chile

Claim for non-compliance

Illegal Logging in Palawan, Philippines