Strengthening the Rule of Law and essential criminal justice services to prevent conflict and sustain peace.
The Justice and Corrections Service (JCS) serves as a centre of expertise on justice, corrections and related rule of law areas within the United Nations Secretariat and supports the work of justice and corrections components in United Nations peace operations and other United Nations entities. From its Headquarters in New York, JCS coordinates strategic and operational support on mandate delivery, strengthens Member State support, leverages partnerships and establishes policy priorities. Through its rapid response team in Brindisi, Italy, JCS provides field-based advice and specialized expertise to field missions and other field presences.
Together, JCS assists host countries to deliver essential justice and prison services, strengthen criminal justice systems, and facilitate rule of law reforms. This includes promoting accountability for serious crimes that fuel conflict, extending justice and corrections institutions in conflict-affected areas, and by enhancing prison security and management. Justice and corrections interventions encourage the peaceful resolution and prevention of disputes, strengthen the protection of civilians, improve national security, extend the authority of the State, restore trust and social cohesion, and contribute to the implementation of peace agreements. Justice and corrections components work closely with national authorities to prioritize conflict prevention, contribute to durable political solutions, and advance SDG 16. To further the realization of the Declaration of Shared Commitments on United Nations Peacekeeping Operations through the Action for Peacekeeping (A4P/A4P+), JCS actively seeks and maintains partnerships with United Nations and external actors, notably through the Global Focal Point for the Rule of Law (GFP), supports integrated multi-disciplinary interventions, provides planning, analytical and policy expertise in transition settings, and enables host countries and other stakeholders to take appropriate measures to bring to justice perpetrators of criminal acts against United Nations peacekeepers.
Expertise and field presence
Justice and corrections components of peace operations focus on three priority areas:
2. Restoring and extending accountable rule of law institutions, including, justice and corrections services, in conflict-affected areas, and strengthening governance through key reforms.
3. Enhancing prison conditions, security and management (including of high-risk detainees) to mitigate the destabilizing effects of prison breakouts, disturbances and risks of radicalization.
Examples of Justice and Corrections work
The Special Criminal Court in the Central African Republic (CAR), operational since 2018, has 24 cases under investigation and completed its first trial in October 2022 and first final judgement was issued by the Appeals Chamber in July 2023. The national strategy on the demilitarization of the penitentiary system is being implemented. 300 civilian penitentiary personnel have been recruited, trained and deployed.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with the support of the Prosecution Sup-port Cells, close to 1,330 files in cases of international crimes, involving more than 2,379 accused persons, have been processed, with more than 1,859 convictions and sentences, of which 50% were of members of security forces, 24% members of armed groups and 26% civilians.
Access to justice in under-served areas in South Sudan was expanded through the deployment of mobile civilian, military, and mixed statutory/customary courts, which contributed to renewed trust in the justice system and increased accountability, including for inter-communal and cattle-migration-related violence. Support to national prison services to integrate former combatants into their ranks supported national security sector reform efforts.
Justice and Corrections Standing Capacity
The Justice and Corrections Standing Capacity (JCSC) is the rapid response team of the Justice and Corrections Service which was established in 2010 to assist United Nations peace operations and other field presences by means of two core functions:
- Providing the start-up capability for rule of law, justice and corrections components in peace operations and providing support for the planning and early implementation of transitions; and
- Reinforcing existing United Nations field missions and where appropriate, other United Nations field presences and entities, in the areas of rule of law, justice and corrections, by providing time-limited and targeted support through deployments to field missions and offices facing staffing shortages, surge requirements or requiring specific expertise.
- Additionally, when appropriate conducting needs assessments or reviews of rule of law, justice and corrections components or providing analysis of relevant rule of law issues to assist United Nations field missions and presences in determining risks and challenges in the implementation of their mandate priorities and analyzing their overall performance.
In recent years, assistance from JCSC was in particular demand to advance rule of law transition planning, implementation and lessons learned / legacy studies in Mali, Darfur, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Haiti and Liberia. JCSC also provided start-up support to BINUH and UNITAMS, inter alia through a transition related deployment to UNAMID. Moreover, the Capacity provided specific expertise in substantive areas, such as: the investigation and prosecution of destabilizing crimes in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic (CAR), DRC, and Mali; anti-corruption in Afghanistan; and prison security and reform, with a specific focus on prison
intelligence and information in the DRC and Mali.
JCSC was also requested to strengthen planning capacities for the successful design and implementation of projects funded with assessed funds (programmatic funding) or through other funding sources in the areas of justice and corrections, including in CAR, Libya, Mali, and Sudan. Beyond its work for peace operations, JCSC has also deployed to UN Women in Haiti, to UNDP in CAR, Djibouti and Lesotho, to UNODC in Burkina Faso and Mauritania, and engaged in assessments in non-mission settings (The Gambia, and Ghana) in addition to the design of a prisoner classification tool for high-risk inmates in Burkina Faso (requested by the Resident Coordinator).
Furthermore, JCSC engaged with UN regional offices in Central Africa (UNOCA) and West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) to respectively identify concrete entry points for support in the rule of law and assess levels of instrumentalization of the judiciary in West Africa and the Sahel.