Cairo, Egypt - 3 December 2023
More than 1.3 billion people – or 16 percent of the global population - live with some sort of disability. In Egypt, official statistics issued by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics indicated that the number of persons with disability in Egypt reached 10.64 percent of the whole population. Persons with Disabilities often experience difficulties in accessing all services that are normally accessible to everyone; this includes access to justice. UNODC is working with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to ensure persons with disabilities have access to all forms of justice in Egypt. This is through the “strengthening the capacities of the Egyptian judiciary to improve victims’ access to justice, particularly for women and persons with disabilities” project that is funded by the United States Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL).
Access to justice as a human right means that everyone should have the right to equality before the law, to equal protection under the law, to a fair resolution of disputes, to meaningful participation and to be heard. This is highlighted within the International Principles and Guidelines on Access to Justice for Persons with Disabilities, which also affirms that states have a role to ensure “equal access to justice for all persons with disabilities by providing the necessary substantive, procedural, and age and gender-appropriate accommodations and support.” Barriers and impediments to access to justice for people living with disabilities often involve combined forms of inaccessibility and other forms of discrimination. Such as restrictions on the exercise of legal capacity; lack of physical accessibility to justice facilities such as courts and police stations; lack of information in accessible formats; negative attitudes in questioning their abilities to participate in all phases of the justice cycle and lack of trained personnel. Guaranteeing access to justice is fundamental to democratic governance and the rule of law, as well as to countering inequality and exclusion.
“Access to justice is one of the most important reform priorities and pillars of effective justice. Egypt is taking steps to guarantee that access to justice is provided without discrimination or bias […] providing access to justice is a duty that must be fulfilled,” Counsellor Amal Ammar, Assistant Minister of Justice for the Human Rights, Woman and Child Sector, commented on the project’s efforts.
Through this project, UNODC, the Human Rights, Women and Child’s Department under the MoJ, the National Council for Persons with Disabilities, the National Council for Human Rights, National Council for Childhood and Motherhood, support the justice system in overcoming such barriers and impediments. This is by partnering to enhance the existing practices and to propose legislative/institutional reform where needed, enhancing the knowledge and capacity of judges and all relevant support staff involved so that they can properly provide the necessary legal aid and non-discriminatory environment, and refurbishing and equipping Egyptian Courts for justice services to be more accessible.
Some examples of such efforts include a series of workshops done with Egyptian judges across Egyptian Governorates including Cairo, Alexandria, Hurghada, and Luxor to address the international and national instruments, laws and regulations related to persons with disabilities and day-to-day effective mechanisms and practices in the legal system to support persons with disabilities.
Such action also encompassed a study visit to the Hague, the Netherlands in which Egyptian judges from the Courts of First Instance and Courts of Appeal met with representatives from Dutch governmental and non-governmental entities, as well as field visits to Dutch institutions namely the Hague District and Appeal Court, the Ministry of Justice, the National Ombudsman, the National Victim Support Body, the National Legal Aid Helpdesk, and the Specialized Sexual Violence Police Unit. This involved exchanging and learning from the Netherlands’ experience in facilitating justice for persons with disabilities including immediate support to victims and their relatives and referrals to community organizations and solving relevant social and judicial quandaries and problems in a way that combines both civic responsibility and justice.
The theme of the 2023 International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD), marked annually on the 3rd of December, is: "United in action to rescue and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for, with and by persons with disabilities". Access to justice features prominently in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, whose target 16.3 of Goal 16 is about promoting the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensuring equal access to justice for all. The project is part of a larger UNODC partnership with Egyptian authorities to ensure the achievement of the SDGs and facilitate access to justice and its impact will continue to resonate further to serve Egyptians as they seek different forms of justice.
