Promoting Inclusive Justice Worldwide
By Mackenzie Dipersio
On June 24th, 2024, the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ) conducted a webinar on inclusive justice titled: Sustaining Judicial Confidence, Building Support, and Rule of Law through Inclusive Justice. This webinar aimed not to provide solutions to the rising global challenge of accessing justice, but to offer strategies to judges for making their courtrooms more inclusive and accessible.
Justice Susan Glazebrook of New Zealand, Justice Patricia A. Broderick of the United States, and Justice Annah Tawana of Botswana shared their experiences with inclusive justice.
Justice Susan Glazebrook began the webinar by illustrating just how challenging accessing justice can be. There are 5.1 billion individuals worldwide who lack meaningful access to justice, which represents nearly two-thirds of the global population. Among these, women and children face the most significant challenges. Furthermore, if someone has a disability, belongs to a lower economic class, or is an ethnic minority, the barriers to accessing justice become even more difficult to overcome. The United Nations' 2030 Sustainable Development Goals call for a more tolerant, open, and socially inclusive world. Justice Glazebrook emphasized that this cannot be achieved without ensuring meaningful access to justice for all.
Justice Patricia A. Broderick of the United States discussed strategies judges can employ to improve accessibility and inclusivity within their courtrooms. She explained that courtrooms need to undergo physical changes to become more inclusive, such as building ramps, erecting proper signage, and implementing appropriate audio and visual assistance tools. However, these changes often require significant financial commitments, which may not be realistic for all judges. As an alternative, Justice Broderick suggested that a change in language and attitude can be just as powerful as physical changes. Everyone should feel heard, respected, and welcomed in the courtroom. This can start with a simple welcome from the judge, acknowledging each individual by their preferred name. From there, Justice Broderick recommended that language be carefully selected so that it is understood and well-received by everyone.
Justice Annah Tawana of Botswana highlighted the success of the Promoting Inclusive Justice in Botswana project. This project aims to integrate gender and sexual orientation into the human rights framework to create a more inclusive judiciary system. A significant aspect of helping any group access justice is reflecting on one's own biases and stereotypes and how they impact judicial decisions. When offering LGBTI training to judges in Botswana as part of the project, they faced challenges from judges who claimed it was against their spiritual beliefs to participate. This underscores the importance of addressing biases and establishing gender and sexual orientation as essential components of the human rights framework in Botswana. Furthermore, investing in the future is crucial. The inclusive justice project has extended to providing training and education within the law department of the University of Botswana. The students there are future lawyers, prosecutors, and judges — the future of the judiciary. Justice Tawana concluded her portion of the webinar by emphasizing that these students will ensure that when we say "justice for all" in Botswana, it truly includes LGBTI persons.
Justice Glazebrook concluded the webinar by discussing the implementation of Te Ao Mārama (“World of Light”) within New Zealand's district courts. This restorative approach creates a solution-focused court that considers the conditions or circumstances that brought someone before the justice system in the first place. It requires the judge to explore these conditions and integrate them into their decision-making process. Additional aspects of a Te Ao Mārama courtroom include the judge taking time to acknowledge everyone present, including using the correct pronunciation of names and respecting the use of their preferred pronouns. If all parties agree, unnecessary formalities and complex language can be removed to create a more inclusive and welcoming courtroom. New Zealand is working to expand the use of this method in courtrooms to create a more accessible and inclusive justice system.
The insights shared by Justice Glazebrook, Justice Broderick, and Justice Tawana are valuable first steps toward creating a more inclusive and accessible justice system. IAWJ looks forward to further collaboration with judges in promoting inclusive justice.
Watch the webinar here!