Media Update: United Nations Pakistan, 23 August 2023

UNIC

PRESS RELEASE

United Nations launches first of 12 dialogues about sustainable development in Bahawalpur

More than 1,000 local leaders living in 12 major cities outside of the federal

and provincial capitals will discuss development priorities across the country.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, 23 August 2023 - Today the first of a series of 12 dialogues on sustainable development was held in Bahawalpur, Punjab, by the United Nations and the district administration.

In total, more than 1,000 local leaders living in 12 major cities across six provinces and territories will discuss the development challenges which they face, and how they impede economic and social progress in their districts. The dialogues will be held in the different languages spoken across Pakistan in the coming weeks.

“These dialogues will help United Nations agencies better understand which development issues local leaders see as their priorities outside of the federal and provincial capitals,” said Julien Harneis, UN Resident Coordinator in Pakistan. “We are actively listening to their concerns and to their ideas for bringing about effective progress in their communities. They are telling us how they would like to work with us on accelerating progress to bridge inequalities and reduce poverty. We will share their ideas with the Government as we focus on returning to sustainable development.”

In Bahawalpur, the discussions focused on four topics chosen by the participants ahead of the event: access to basic social services with a focus on education and water, sanitation and hygiene; youth employment and skilling; and how to progress towards inclusive, accountable and efficient governance.

Nearly 100 local leaders -- women and men, including youth -- participated together with senior Bahawalpur officials, the United Nations Resident Coordinator, and other UN staff.

The 12 dialogues will engage local leaders around development issues such as access to basic social services; gender equality and women’s empowerment; climate change; sustainable, inclusive economic growth and decent work; and governance. All are key to Pakistan’s progress towards the achievement of the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The dialogues will help inform discussions ahead of the global SDG Summit which the UN is organizing to accelerate progress towards the SDGs, halfway of the 2030 deadline. The Government of Pakistan will participate in the event in New York on 18 and 19 September 2023.

The SDGs, also known as Global Goals, are 17 objectives designed to help bring about peace and prosperity for people all over the world. They are an urgent call for action by all countries to work together towards ending poverty while improving health and education, reducing inequality, spurring economic growth and tackling climate change.

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Note to editors

About the SDGs: Urdu: https://pakistan.un.org/ur/sdgs, English: https://sdgs.un.org/goals

§  About Pakistan’s SDG Secretariat: www.sdgpakistan.pk

§  About the global SDG Summit: https://www.un.org/en/conferences/SDGSummit2023

§  About the UN in Pakistan: Urdu: https://pakistan.un.org/ur, English: https://pakistan.un.org/en

§  Cooperation framework between the UN and Pakistan:

https://pakistan.un.org/en/206433-united-nations-sustainable-development-cooperation-framework-unsdcf-2023-2027-pakistan

Follow the UN in Pakistan online:

https://twitter.com/UNinPak

www.facebook.com/UnitedNationsPakistan

www.instagram.com/uninpak

For more information, please contact the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Pakistan:

Catherine Weibel: catherine.weibel@un.org, +92 300 854 0058

Mahvash Haider Ali: mahvash.ali@un.org, +92 319 071 2828 

UNDP

PRESS RELEASE

High Courts of Peshawar and Balochistan, European Union, and UNDP Pakistan Collaborate to Enhance Access to Legal Aid in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa  and Balochistan

Swat, August 23 2023— Peshawar High Court, Balochistan High Court, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Pakistan partnered to organize a two-day consultation workshop with the support of the European Union (EU) funded ‘Deliver Justice Project.’ The workshop brought together stakeholders from the justice sector in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan to discuss challenges and opportunities faced by District Legal Empowerment Committees (DLECs) operating in these provinces.

DLECs were established in 2011 by the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan (LJCP) to provide legal aid or assistance to deserving litigants. The District and Sessions Judge (Zilla Qazi) presides over DLECs and is entrusted with the following duties:

• Receiving applications for legal aid
• Appointing panels of lawyers to provide legal aid at the district level
• Referring legal aid cases to DLEC panel lawyers
• Allocating funds for free legal representation
• Monitoring the quality of legal aid services

Originally designed to enhance access to justice and legal aid in Pakistan, the optimal utilization of DLECs as a legal aid solution is challenged by access issues impacted by poverty, illiteracy, lack of awareness, cultural and gender barriers, remote locations, and inadequate compensation for lawyers. Based on the recommendations from the baseline study conducted by UNDP Pakistan’s Rule of Law Programme between August 2021 and March 2022, as part of the EU-funded ‘Deliver Justice Project’, an evaluation of citizens’ access to justice and legal aid in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan highlighted a crucial requirement for enhancing the service delivery of DLECs. This enhancement aims to establish more sustainable and easily accessible legal aid services in Pakistan with a focus on marginalized groups, such as women, transgender individuals, and children.

In light of the above, UNDP Pakistan’s Rule of Law Programme partnered with the Peshawar and Balochistan High Courts to organize a cross-provincial consultative workshop on issues faced by DLECs in serving their intended function of enabling efficient and effective access to legal aid for local communities, particularly vulnerable groups including women, transgender persons, and children.

At the end of the two-day consultative workshop, participants were able to propose recommendations for more effective functioning of DLECsfor increased synergies between legal aid mechanisms and strengthened capacity of the legal aid system. The following key recommendations were made by participants after the consultation:

• Revision of DLEC Rules to simplify the process and scrutiny of applications for legal representation
• Improve coordination and cross-referral between DLECs and other legal aid mechanisms
• Revisit DLECs’ constitution for enhanced efficiency, defining the role of civil society organizations’ members.

Mr Malik Shoaib Sultan, Deputy Registrar, High Court of Balochistan, and Mr Arshid Jan, Deputy Programme Manager, Rule of Law Programme, UNDP Pakistan were the keynote speakers at the workshop. In his address, Mr Malik Shoaib Sultan, Deputy Registrar, High Court of Balochistan underlined, “Equal access to justice for all cannot be achieved without strengthening the role of DLECs in making legal aid more accessible to the citizens in Pakistan. We are optimistic that the recommendations made in this consultative workshop will prove pivotal in enabling more people to approach formal legal systems to seek justice.” He also appreciated the EU and UNDP  for their efforts to make the justice sector more inclusive in Pakistan.

Mr Arshid Jan, Deputy Programme Manager, Rule of Law Programme, UNDP Pakistan, affirmed, “A necessary prerequisite for the rule of law is everyone having access to justice regardless of their gender, age, and socio-economic status. UNDP is committed to securing a future where everyone can claim their legal rights through equal access to free legal aid in Pakistan. We thank our long-term partners Peshawar and Balochistan High Courts, UNODC, UN Women, and the EU for their ongoing collaborations to  strengthen peace and justice in the region.” 

The “Deliver Justice programme” funded by the EU aims to support reform processes to ensure the delivery of people-centred justice, enhance access to justice for all, particularly women and less privileged groups, and improve service delivery of the security sector in line with constitutional safeguards and international standards in the Merged Districts and Balochistan. The programme is funded by the EU and jointly implemented by UNDP, UN Women, and UNODC.

The UNDP Rule of Law Programme is implementing a range of interventions to enhance security and justice sector governance in Pakistan.

For additional information, please contact Shuja Hakim at shuja.hakim@undp.org   or +92 (51) 835 5657

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