Seeking justice

While 253 million people around the world live in conditions of extreme injustice, facing slavery, statelessness, conflict, and lawlessness, 5.1 billion people around the world lack adequate access to justice. The findings of a new report by the Task Force on Justice released at the World Justice Forum at The Hague are significant. Without justice or the ability to address grievance, society cannot be held strongly together. In Pakistan alone, the fact that 1.9 million cases are pending before various courts, a record high in the country, means that people are denied access to justice through a system which cannot deliver it to them on time. The global lack of access to justice affects countries everywhere, but it is the poorest nations and those hit by violence that are most affected by it. As a result of the lack of justice, countries cannot reach economic and social potential. Certainly, the justice gap is a problem Pakistan should be looking into with more attention. It is a reflection of structural inequalities and disparities, which makes it essential that governments or non-state players work together to remove it. When people do not have the ability to access the justice system, there is more likelihood of informal methods of justice taking hold, even though the punishments they mete out may be severe and out of line with the requirements of justice. We have seen this repeatedly in Pakistan with extrajudicial forums now operating even in major cities.

This is essentially an untenable situation. When the justice system fails them, or social conditions mean they cannot turn to it, the victims of violent crime, those facing harassment, seeking divorce, or tackling problems related to business permits or other papers have nowhere to turn. The result is a possible expansion in corruption, wrongdoing and frustration. The battle for justice continues in Pakistan and other countries. To do so, conflict would have to be resolved or slowed down, allowing people an environment in which they can more easily seek justice and access the system which provides it. In many nations, failings in the system itself have resulted in people being deprived of justice. The epidemic of injustice is essentially a hidden one. But it needs to be brought out in the open so that it can be tackled effectively, allowing all their people an escape from at least some of the difficulties they face.