Govt & UNDP launch 'Access to justice'

Kathmandu, July 12:

The Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs (MoLJPA) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have launched the ‘Enhancing Access to Justice through Institutional Reform (2018-2020) project’ with the aim of enhancing the access of women, poor and vulnerable groups in Nepal to justice.

The $4.6 million project, funded by the Norwegian Government and UNDP, will be implemented through the MOLJPA jointly with the Office of the Attorney General and Nepal Bar Association.

Ambassador of the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Kathmandu Lasse Bjørn Johannessen and UNDP Country Director Renaud Meyer signed the agreement on Monday at the ministry in Singha Durbar, Kathmandu.

The Norwegian government will contribute $3.6 million and UNDP $1 million to the project.

The three-year project aims to enhance people’s access to justice by helping the ministry make needful reforms in the legal aid regime in Nepal.

It will also support in effectively implementing the integrated legal aid policy, currently being finalised by the ministry. The policy aims to provide free legal aid services to the poor and vulnerable people across the country.

The project will help reform the criminal and civil justice systems by providing necessary technical and capacity support to the judicial committees set up at the local governments of Province No. 2, Karnali and Province No 7, particularly with the aim to promote access to justice of women, poor and vulnerable groups, said Rajib Gautam, Secretary at the MoLJPA.

 “This project aligns itself with one of the major priorities of this government – that is to improve access to justice. Through this project we plan to carry out a number of targeted interventions, from building capacity of the judicial committees at the local governments to making needful reforms in the existing laws to ensure the poor and the vulnerable have access to justice,” said Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Sher Bahadur Tamang.

Envoy Johannessen said that the project would enhance access to justice through an instrumental reform in Nepal.

“The project will improve the rule of law and access to justice, particularly for the poor and most vulnerable population of Nepal,” said Meyer.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 13 July 2018.