Objectives

Law reform is a long-term process that often entails slow progress and incremental change. Bearing in mind this reality, Justice Initiative activities aim to achieve the following:

Give local meaning to global norms. The Justice Initiative contributes to the application, enforcement, and dissemination of international legal principles at the local level—whether helping judges to apply international due process rules to pretrial detention decisions, building community capacity to secure police accountability consistent with international standards, or collaborating with lawyers to secure local court enforcement of regional nondiscrimination norms.

Universalize local norms. In some fields, such as freedom of information, the Justice Initiative works toward the international recognition of principles that have garnered acceptance only at national or local levels. More generally, the Justice Initiative strives to promote and further enhance the effectiveness of regional and international protection mechanisms.

Foster a legal culture for an open society. Human rights norms and international public law must be consciously fostered, cultivated, and willed into existence. In many countries, where the legal system has historically signified authority, repression, or a mask for political power, concrete examples of law's positive benefit in everyday lives are necessary to overcome widespread popular skepticism. The Justice Initiative identifies, nourishes and capacitates those prepared to act as if the law really did matter - and thereby help to make it so.

Catalyze a process of change. In each program area, the Justice Initiative targets interventions that have the potential to catalyze a process of change beyond the particular confines of the project at issue. A path-breaking public defender project offers a model for possible replication throughout an entire region. A police accountability initiative seeks to demonstrate the viability of an oversight commission enjoying a unique combination of powers. A test case employs arguments that, if accepted, would constitute a landmark advance in jurisprudence.

Produce and spread knowledge. The Justice Initiative tracks and measures project results, and critically analyzes its own law reform efforts and those of others. It gathers and disseminates knowledge about the application of laws, institutional structures and behavior, and models of legal transformation.