ISLAMABAD: A mission of international development partners led by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) visited Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to explore opportunities for promoting peace and justice in the province, and inaugurated refurbished civil courts in Buner district on Thursday.

The mission to Swat, Buner and Peshawar provided development partners with an opportunity to engage with communities, senior government officials and judicial staff to better understand the challenges being faced to ensure rule of law.

“Access to justice is the fundamental right of every citizen, and to achieve this objective, the UNDP together with the KP government is working on initiatives both at institutional and community levels and helping to create an environment where access to justice is ensured for all,” UNDP Country Director Marc-André Franche said while inaugurating the refurbished civil courts.

In a statement, the UNDP said the project had brought legal services to marginalised and vulnerable populations through legal aid clinics and bar associations. These clinics equipped vulnerable populations with information on their basic rights and access to the justice system.

More than 546 legal aid clinics have been conducted, directly benefiting 26,569 individuals, including 12,056 women. With the clinics becoming increasingly streamlined and efficient, these services encourage public use. Women’s participation in these clinics increased from 42 to 47 per cent in one year.

The UNDP project supported restoration of civil courts, district public prosecutor’s offices, and information centre at Dagar district courts. The project, with financial support from the KP government, was initiated in seven districts of the Malakand region, and has been expanded to three districts in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one district in the Hazara division.

The programme is part of the UNDP’s global strategy of promoting access to justice as a means to combat poverty and marginalisation. The development partners visited the area and interacted with local communities.

The UNDP in Pakistan assists the judiciary, promotes alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and supports legal aid and citizens’ access to justice. In partnership with the KP government, the Netherlands and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the UNDP works on justice sector reforms at both community and institutional levels.

The project introduced community policing in the Malakand district to increase citizens’ confidence in the police, launched the first mobile court in Pakistan to bring justice to remote areas, established a forensic science laboratory in Swat, and encourages female lawyers to enter mainstream legal practice by providing them with scholarships that motivate them to continue their practice of law after graduation.