The Governance and Justice Group

About: The Governance and Justice Group (GJG) was founded in 2009 – inspired by the work and vision of the late Ahmed Othmani (co-founder and former president of Penal Reform International) – as a free association of individual practitioners who share a common purpose based on the preamble to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, namely that: ‘it is essential if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law…’. Our work focuses on the administration of criminal justice because it is, as Cherif Bassiouni put it, ‘the field of battle in which democracy and human rights are tested … [and] encompasses all processes and practices by which a state affects, curtails, or removes basic rights.’ Approach: Upon invitation, we offer support to governments, institutions and others who seek to apply the principles embedded in UN Conventions to the practical context of their own country. Our work is context specific and solution-oriented directed at ensuring ordinary people (and particularly those on the margins of society) have a voice and are able to apply to the law to exercise their rights. We have learned that the problems affecting justice systems the world over are common, though they may differ in degree: justice as a sector is messy (highly political and involves multiple service providers / institutions reporting to different line ministries). Weak co-ordination affects the way the system functions causing long case backlogs and overcrowding in prisons. Our approach is grounded in evidence: what is the real situation and how might it be improved. We bring a body of collective experience of what has worked in other countries and link people to the practitioners who have innovated them.