Projects
Legal Empowerment
Last Updated: October 1, 2012   Open Society Justice Initiative

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What Is Legal Empowerment?

The United Nations estimates that four billion people live outside the protection of the law, mostly because they are poor. In response, we are supporting a network of grassroots groups that are helping people use the law to defend their rights.

Legal empowerment is about strengthening the capacity of all people to exercise their rights, either as individuals or as members of a community. It’s about grassroots justice—about ensuring that law is not confined to books or courtrooms, but rather is available and meaningful to ordinary people.

Legal Empowerment

Legal Empowerment in Action

Open Society Voices

Returning Justice to the Fight Against Poverty

March 20, 2013 | by Chris Stone | 38 comments

The world is again debating its development agenda and how to do things better. One way is to make justice a key component of development.

Legal Help for Sex Workers—from Sex Workers

March 5, 2013 | by David Scamell | 26 comments

In South Africa, current and former sex workers work as paralegals—bringing legal tools to the sex workers of Cape Town and helping them recognize that they have rights.

Access to Justice Advances in Ukraine

February 13, 2013 | by Zaza Namoradze, Roman Romanov

Ukraine has launched its first comprehensive national legal aid system, providing free legal advice to anyone who cannot afford to pay for a laywer.

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