Disadvantaged communities, rights and access to justice

In Argentina there are few studies that have attempted to identify the gaps in access to justice from the perspective of the perception of users. This paper attempts to fill this shortcoming by focusing on the notions of legal needs identified by citizens.

The study carried out is a new initiative in Argentina, and ACIJ are confident that it will be both a methodological and substantive contribution to the understanding and evaluation of the access to the judicial system and further realization of human rights.

Some of the research findings include:

  • Even though all the individuals interviewed experienced a problem with regards to their rights, only half of these individuals actually recognized it as such.
  • 44% did not identify any legal problems or violation of their rights.
  • The first obstacle in the resolution of a problem is the access to information. 55% of the interviewees did not look for information on how to solve their problem, and half of that number didn’t look for information because they didn´t know how to or where to go.

This research has been possible thanks to support from the Open Society Foundations, through its Justice Initiative.

Year Published: 2013
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Uploaded on: Oct 05, 2015
Last Updated: Dec 18, 2015
Co-Authors: Sebastián Pilo, Luciana Bercovich
Issues: Community Paralegals, Generalist Legal Services, Right to Information Tool Type: Policy Papers / Briefs, Reports / Research Method: Improving Governance, Accountability and Transparency, Promoting Citizens' Participation in Governance, Research Languages: English Regions: Argentina