Recent years have seen a weakening of democracy around the world, accompanied by a documented decline in the rule of law and justice. The independence of judges and lawyers is coming under strain, and civil society actors – especially those providing front line justice support and human rights defence – have seen their ability to operate threatened. These concurring challenges stand to deepen the impacts and extent of an existing global justice gap, whereby over half the world’s population lacks meaningful access to justice. Recognising these growing challenges, and their interplay, underscores a new urgency to understand how justice systems and actors can be supported in upholding and reinforcing democracy and the rule of law. Greater understanding is needed on a practical, conceptual, and policy level as how best to promote democratic governance, the rule of law and people-centred justice – including basic questions about those goals relate to and reinforce one another. Justice institutions and actors – judges, lawyers, grassroots justice defenders – have long stood as a cornerstone of the rule of law and democracy, acting as forces for positive change in upholding and reinforcing democracy in periods of threat or transition. People-centred justice efforts to address the global justice gap reflect calls to “democratize legal systems”, for instance, through legal empowerment initiatives, which seek to place people and communities at the heart of the justice reforms. This technical workshop co-hosted by IDRC Canada and the OECD seeks to tackle these pressing issues by focusing on the intersection of democracy, the rule of law, and people-centred justice. The workshop will gather a diverse group of experts, practitioners, and stakeholders to engage in participatory discussions on how justice systems and actors can be strengthened to uphold democratic values. Participants will benefit from short introductory presentations by experts, followed by interactive discussions designed to reflect on real-world experiences and gather insights. Structured around a series of informal, working-level sessions, the workshop will focus on three key objectives: 1) To build a deeper and shared understanding of the challenges of the decline in democracy and the rule of law from a people-centred justice perspective. 2) To capture available data, evidence, and experiences of justice institutions and actors in confronting these challenges and promoting more democratic legal systems and governance. 3) To chart gaps and areas of shared priority, as well as potential mechanisms for collaboration or coordination among participant organisations. Discussions will focus on several key topics: the current state of justice institutions and their role in maintaining democracy and the rule of law; strategies for democratising legal systems to reinforce governance; effective people-centred justice approaches that can help communities navigate, counteract the democracy and the rule of law decline, and contribute to the positive trends and changes. Sessions will also explore how justice systems can be made more effective, inclusive, and responsive to prevent justice problems, address the justice gap, reduce inequality and exclusion.

Recent years have seen a weakening of democracy around the world, accompanied by a documented decline in the rule of law and justice. The independence of judges and lawyers is coming under strain, and civil society actors – especially those providing front line justice support and human rights defence – have seen their ability to operate threatened. These concurring challenges stand to deepen the impacts and extent of an existing global justice gap, whereby over half the world’s population lacks meaningful access to justice. Recognising these growing challenges, and their interplay, underscores a new urgency to understand how justice systems and actors can be supported in upholding and reinforcing democracy and the rule of law. Greater understanding is needed on a practical, conceptual, and policy level as how best to promote democratic governance, the rule of law and people-centred justice – including basic questions about those goals relate to and reinforce one another. Justice institutions and actors – judges, lawyers, grassroots justice defenders – have long stood as a cornerstone of the rule of law and democracy, acting as forces for positive change in upholding and reinforcing democracy in periods of threat or transition. People-centred justice efforts to address the global justice gap reflect calls to “democratize legal systems”, for instance, through legal empowerment initiatives, which seek to place people and communities at the heart of the justice reforms. This technical workshop co-hosted by IDRC Canada and the OECD seeks to tackle these pressing issues by focusing on the intersection of democracy, the rule of law, and people-centred justice. The workshop will gather a diverse group of experts, practitioners, and stakeholders to engage in participatory discussions on how justice systems and actors can be strengthened to uphold democratic values. Participants will benefit from short introductory presentations by experts, followed by interactive discussions designed to reflect on real-world experiences and gather insights. Structured around a series of informal, working-level sessions, the workshop will focus on three key objectives: 1) To build a deeper and shared understanding of the challenges of the decline in democracy and the rule of law from a people-centred justice perspective. 2) To capture available data, evidence, and experiences of justice institutions and actors in confronting these challenges and promoting more democratic legal systems and governance. 3) To chart gaps and areas of shared priority, as well as potential mechanisms for collaboration or coordination among participant organisations. Discussions will focus on several key topics: the current state of justice institutions and their role in maintaining democracy and the rule of law; strategies for democratising legal systems to reinforce governance; effective people-centred justice approaches that can help communities navigate, counteract the democracy and the rule of law decline, and contribute to the positive trends and changes. Sessions will also explore how justice systems can be made more effective, inclusive, and responsive to prevent justice problems, address the justice gap, reduce inequality and exclusion.

Child-friendly justice is a critical component of global efforts to ensure equal access to justice for all, with increasing recognition that children's perspectives must be directly embedded into legal and policy frameworks. This shift is driven by the understanding that children require tailored response from public institutions to ensure their rights are fully realised and needs are met. In many countries, children from marginalised, Indigenous, or socio-economically disadvantaged communities are disproportionately represented in child welfare and justice systems. This overrepresentation is often a reflection of systemic and structural inequalities, including poverty, discrimination, and a lack of age- and culturally appropriate services. In response to these challenges, the OECD introduced the Child-Friendly Justice Framework in 2023, offering countries a comprehensive strategy to enhance child-friendly practices across justice systems. This initiative aligns with the OECD Recommendation on Access to Justice and People-Centred Justice Systems and the OECD Framework and Good Practice Principles for People-Centred Justice. A central element of these initiatives is focusing on the legal and justice needs and experiences of particular groups of people in vulnerable situations, including children. This workshop will focus on practical steps to achieve child-friendly justice, with particular emphasis on mechanisms for integrating child-centred considerations into policy development processes. The session will provide a safe and constructive environment to share the challenges, promising practices and lessons learned from various approaches to designing and implementing a children’s rights lens. Special attention will be given to the situations where children from marginalised communities are overrepresented in child welfare and justice systems. An interactive format will encourage dialogue among participants. Contributions will explore the strategic importance of data and evidence, and building new partnerships. The workshop will focus on Canada’s experiences in child welfare, featuring an Indigenous perspective on children’s rights, particularly the overrepresentation of Indigenous children in the child and family welfare system and its impact on their communities. A government perspective will address Canadian legislation that recognises jurisdiction over child and family services as a fundamental aspect of Indigenous self-governance, aiming to protect the well-being of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children through culturally appropriate services. Additionally, the workshop will highlight tools for integrating children's rights into policy development, including Justice Canada’s voluntary Child Rights Impact Assessment Tool, created in collaboration with child rights advocates and supported by an online training course. The workshop will hear reflections and learning from 2-3 other countries that will explore the learning and next steps in advanced children’s rights and child-centred justice and child welfare. This pre-conference Workshop session builds on the OECD Child-Friendly Justice Framework, is framed by the SDG 16 Working Group’s Justice for Children, Justice for All: Agenda for Action; and is informed by the development of a new CRC General Comment No. 27 to ensure children have equal access to justice. This event is led by OECD and Canada’s Department of Justice, and organised in collaboration with the University of Strathclyde - a Justice Action Coalition partner and host of the Working Group on SDG16 Justice for Children Secretariat.

The workshop aims to facilitate productive and inspiring discussions and exchanges between researchers, practitioners and policymakers and aims to contribute to the dissemination of research, strategic field-building, and shaping policy and practice. It focuses on sharing the latest findings from legal needs surveys and access to justice research and seeks to setup discussions on priorities for future research and data collection and the translation of findings and insights into policy and practice. The workshop will be informal, interactive and designed to promote discussion and sharing of experiences by participants. The outcomes of this workshop are expected to feed sessions on similar themes during the OECD Roundtable. The Justice Data Observatory (JDO) aims to understand, shape, and build global evidence that informs how people-centred justice can combat poverty and inequality, promote inclusive development and growth, and empower democratic participation and governance through sustained research to support evidence-based policy and practice. Funded by Canada’s International Development Research Center (IDRC), and in partnership with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank, the JDO works to identify and develop a collective global research and data agenda on people-centred justice, with key participation by researchers and practitioners in the Global South.

Moderated by: Justice Canada, United States Department of Justice Promoting a people-centred approach to administrative justice is crucial to provide access to justice for all and ensure effective, accountable, and transparent governance. Global data shows that 19%, or almost one in five of the most common justice problems that people face is related to accessing public services. Administrative justice represents a key avenue for people to interact with the state and resolve disputes on basic entitlements and benefits that are vital to their well-being. As such, administrative justice systems tend to be at the frontline of state delivery of services and raise critical questions related to redistribution, inclusion, and fairness.  This technical workshop will focus on the mismatch between administrative justice as it is currently organized, and what would be needed for the relevant institutions to become better at solving people’s justice problems. It will highlight cross-cutting themes including legal regulation, simplification of processes, the promise of technological interventions, and the relationship between administrative justice and citizen trust in government and democratic institutions. The workshop will be grounded in the administrative justice-seeker’s journey, from awareness and knowledge of the available programs, services, and processes; to efforts to claim or use these benefits/services; to accessing resolution mechanisms when disputes arise. Recognising the varied justice ecosystems and different approaches to administrative justice throughout the world, participants at this technical workshop will be invited to share challenges and innovative strategies with which they have experienced. Through this interactive model, the workshop will unearth promising solutions that can help to reduce challenges, make government programs and services fairer and more accessible, and support the effective resolution of administrative justice problems for all.