Justice: Justice for Accountability

Justice for Accountability

Justice for accountability means that people and organizations can bring complaints to judiciaries, tribunals, and other forms of dispute resolution when the law is not being followed. Governments can reduce barriers around who can bring a claim to court, high costs, and a lack of information on how to pursue legal solutions. This can enable members of the public to help uphold the law.

Key Terms The Evidence Reform
Guidance Active OGP
Partners Benchmarking
Data Guidance
& Standards

Open Gov Challenge: Justice

With OGP’s 2023-2028 Strategy, OGP members are set to work toward a number of aspirational thematic reforms through the Open Gov Challenge. This section of the Open Gov Guide addresses Justice.

Challenge prompt: Advance people-centered justice reforms.

Actions may include:

Ensuring that everyone has access to legal services.
Ensuring that justice institutions across the public sector are independent, transparent, responsive to the public, and inclusive.
Ensuring that there is accountability for policy-making through appropriate redress mechanisms that involve the public.

Key Terms

Definitions for key terms such as public accountability.

Public accountability: Public accountability is when rules, regulations, and mechanisms in place call upon government actors to justify their actions, act upon criticisms or requirements made of them, and accept responsibility for failure to perform with respect to laws or commitments. Public accountability is one of the three OGP values, along with transparency and civic participation.

SHOW KEY TERMS

HIDE SHOW KEY TERMS

The Evidence

Justice for accountability can improve governance in several ways.

Open and effective auditing and investigatory agencies can prevent and punish waste, fraud, and abuse in government spending and ensure that taxation is fair and transparent.
Oversight mechanisms within accountability institutions (like courts and information commissions) allow citizens to appeal rejected or mishandled right to information requests, which ensures that information is not withheld from the public for political reasons.
Accountable electoral management can ensure that elections are free and fair by investigating irregularities and allegations of denied voting rights.
Institutions that allow citizens to monitor policies, programs, and plans that affect the environment can prevent pollution, environmental degradation, and the worst effects of climate change.
Accountability institutions also provide a mechanism for members of the public to protect their most fundamental rights, especially those from socially vulnerable groups, like people with disabilities.

Reform Guidance

The recommendations below represent reforms that national and local governments, representatives of civil society organizations, and others can consider for their action plans and the Open Gov Challenge. The reforms are categorized according to OGP’s principal values: transparency, civic participation, and public accountability. Reforms should be adapted to fit the domestic context, and involve and coordinate with other levels and branches of government.

Reforms across policy areas are also tagged by the estimated degree of difficulty in implementation. Though progress is often not linear, the recommendations have been categorized using these labels to give the reader a sense of how different reforms can work together to raise the ambition of open government approaches.

Recommended Reforms Key

OGP Values

Transparency: Transparency empowers citizens to exercise their rights, hold the government accountable, and participate in decision-making processes. Examples of relevant activities include the proactive or reactive publication of government-held information, legal or institutional frameworks to strengthen the right to access information, and disclosing information using open data standards.

Civic Participation: When people are engaged, governments and public institutions are more responsive, innovative, and effective. Examples of relevant initiatives include new or improved processes and mechanisms for the public to contribute to decisions, participatory mechanisms to involve underrepresented groups in policy making, and a legal environment that guarantees civil and political rights.
Public Accountability: Public accountability occurs when public institutions must justify their actions, act upon requirements and criticisms, and take responsibility for failure to perform according to laws or commitments. Importantly, public accountability means that members of the public can also access and trigger accountability mechanisms. Examples of relevant activities include citizen audits of performance, new or improved mechanisms or institutions that respond to citizen-initiated appeals processes, and improved access to justice.
Inclusion: Inclusion is fundamental to achieving more equitable, representative, and accountable policies that truly serve all people. This includes increasing the voice, agency, and influence of historically discriminated or underrepresented groups. Depending on the context, traditionally underrepresented groups may experience discrimination based on gender, sexual identity, race, ethnicity, age, geography, differing ability, legal, or socioeconomic status.

HIDE OGP VALUES

Degree of Difficulty

Foundational: This tag is used for reforms that are the essential building blocks of a policy area. “Foundational” does not mean low ambition or low impact. These recommendations often establish basic legal frameworks and institutional structures.
Intermediate: This tag is used for reforms that are complex and often involve coordination and outreach between branches, institutions, and levels of government, with the public or between countries.
Advanced: This tag is used for reforms that close important loopholes to make existing work more effective and impactful. Specifically, “Advanced” reforms are particularly ambitious, innovative or close important loopholes to make existing work more effective, impactful or sustainable. They are often applied in mature environments where they seek to institutionalize a good practice that has already shown results.

HIDE DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY

Branch of Government

Executive: The executive branch of government is responsible for designing, implementing, and enforcing laws, policies, and initiatives. It is typically led by the head of state or government, such as a president or prime minister, along with their appointed cabinet members. The executive branch’s functions also include overseeing the day-to-day operations of the government, managing foreign affairs, and directing the country’s armed forces. In democratic systems, the executive branch is accountable to the legislature and the electorate, with its powers and limitations outlined in the constitution or legal framework of the respective country.
Legislative: The legislative branch of government is responsible for making laws and regulations and overseeing the functioning of the government. It typically consists of a body of elected representatives, such as a parliament, congress, or assembly, which is tasked with proposing, debating, amending, and ultimately passing legislation. The legislative branch plays a crucial role in representing the interests of the people, as its members are elected to office by the public. In addition to law-making, this branch often holds the power to levy taxes, allocate funds, and conduct certain investigations into matters of public concern. The structure and powers of the legislative branch are usually outlined in a country’s constitution or legal framework, and it serves as a check on the executive and judicial branches to ensure a system of checks and balances within a state.

HIDE BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT

Recommended Reforms

Policy Area	Recommendation	OGP Value	Degree of Difficulty	Government Branch
Lowering Legal and Practical Barriers	Establish legal standing to address legal barriers Establish public interest legal standing, possibilities for citizen enforcement of the law, or amicus procedures. In many jurisdictions, limitations on who can bring a claim before accountability institutions can be a barrier to delivering justice. For example, in some countries, whistleblowers may enforce an environmental law on behalf of the state or government or may bring fraud cases as part of whistleblower compliance actions. For a case study of how to create such protections, Transparency International Latvia and the government worked to update whistleblower protections through an OGP action plan. Policy Area Lowering Legal and Practical Barriers OGP Value Public Accountability Degree of Difficulty Foundational Government Branch Legislative	Public Accountability	Foundational	Legislative
Lowering Legal and Practical Barriers	Create and enforce laws to lower cost barriers Create and enforce laws to lower costs (economic or otherwise) of accessing accountability. The following examples address issues that have long been cited as a barrier to individuals seeking to bring a grievance to court. Introduce legal funds to support public interest work. Establish rewards for citizen enforcement of a law. Waive court costs in cases of established public interest standing or citizen enforcement. Ensure that costs are not unduly borne by those bringing public interest or citizen suit actions. Policy Area Lowering Legal and Practical Barriers OGP Value Public Accountability Degree of Difficulty Intermediate Government Branch Executive Legislative	Public Accountability	Intermediate	Executive Legislative
Accessible Communication	Communicate procedures for complaints clearly Ensure that institutions handling all types of complaints communicate all procedures in an understandable and accessible way. Translate legislation, policies, judicial decisions and precedent, and legal procedures related to particularly complex topics (such as public finance and climate change litigation) into plain language. For example, through an OGP action plan, courts in Buenos Aires (Argentina) have pioneered work on using plain language. Provide reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities, such as translating documents into braille and sign language and using clear, non-technical language in legal documents. Policy Area Accessible Communication OGP Value Public Accountability Transparency Degree of Difficulty Intermediate Government Branch Executive Legislative	Public Accountability Transparency	Intermediate	Executive Legislative
Reporting Mechanisms	Create internal reporting mechanisms Create or maintain integrity tools such as whistleblower protections, gift registers, and registers of actual or perceived conflicts of interest for accountability institution officials. Policy Area Reporting Mechanisms OGP Value Public Accountability Degree of Difficulty Intermediate Government Branch Executive Legislative	Public Accountability	Intermediate	Executive Legislative
Reporting Mechanisms	Require reporting to the legislature Require regular public reporting or ad hoc reporting on the performance of relevant legislation related to these internal reporting mechanisms. Policy Area Reporting Mechanisms OGP Value Public Accountability Degree of Difficulty Intermediate Government Branch Legislative	Public Accountability	Intermediate	Legislative
Resources and Training	Increase resources and training Encourage government officials, civil society, journalists, and others to use accountability mechanisms in some areas, especially right to information appeals. To do so, ensure there is sufficient technical or procedural knowledge to successfully file appeals (especially for civil society) and sufficient funding to support the functioning of accountability mechanisms. Tailor resource allocation and training for advocates working with marginalized groups who face additional barriers (such as economic and linguistic barriers) to seeking justice through the formal channels of the legal system. Policy Area Resources and Training OGP Value Public Accountability Inclusion Degree of Difficulty Intermediate Government Branch Executive	Public Accountability Inclusion	Intermediate	Executive

Examples of Reforms from OGP and Beyond

The following examples are commitments previously made within or beyond OGP that demonstrate elements of the recommendations made above. To date, relatively few OGP commitments focus on creating or reforming accountability mechanisms. Less than 20 percent of OGP commitments focus on ensuring some means of accountability for government action or inaction.

OGP Reforms

ARGENTINA Civil Society Participation in Audits: Hosted workshops and consultations between the Office of the National Auditor General and civil society on audit design, and committed to working with civil society to further strengthen citizen monitoring.
PERU Online Platform to Monitor Public Works: Strengthened participation in infrastructure monitoring through a platform that consolidated data on financial administration, public investments, and state contracting and allowed the public to oversee and flag issues in planning and executing public works projects.
PHILIPPINES Citizen Participatory Audits for Public Services: Created Citizen Participatory Audits to monitor government spending on public services, which led to tangible improvements like increasing the quality of textbooks and building infrastructure in Metro Manila public schools.
IRELAND Justice for Individuals with Limited Decision-Making Capacity: Created the Decision Support Service to expand decision-making support options for people with “impaired mental capacity,” launched a website to provide accessible information, and committed to allocate EUR 3 million for its operation.

Beyond OGP Action Plans

UGANDA Tax Appeal Tribunals: Created Tax Appeal Tribunals to allow the public to access a process for independent and impartial taxi dispute resolution.

The Role of Local Governments

Local governments play a special role in ensuring that the public can use accountability institutions to enforce the law and protect their rights.

Harms and standing: Local legislatures, in particular, may design laws to ensure that people have standing and clear means of redress and remedy when their rights have been violated.
Cost: Courts and legislatures may establish funds, provide pro bono services, reduce court costs, or establish other means of lowering the costs to those who are enforcing the law.
Specialized fora, ombudsperson, and alternative dispute resolution: Local governments may establish or enhance specialized tribunals (such as environmental courts or access to information commissions) that can hear allegations of violations. In addition to courts, they may also establish other means of complaints including grievance mechanisms, ombudsperson offices, or alternative dispute resolution.
Legal assistance: Many local jurisdictions, perhaps in cooperation with local bar associations or other professional associations, may help establish standards, procedures, and financing mechanisms to ensure that classes of people and individuals needing additional assistance receive appropriate assistance throughout a legal proceeding.

Who is working on this topic?

A

Albania

Argentina

Armenia

Austin, United States

B

Brazil

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Bulgaria

Burkina Faso

C

Cabo Verde

Canada

Chile

Colombia

Contagem, Brazil

Costa Rica

Côte D'ivoire

Croatia

Czech Republic

D

Denmark

E

Ecuador

F

France

G

Georgia

Ghana

Greece

Guatemala

H

Honduras

I

Indonesia

Ireland

Israel

Italy

J

Jalisco, Mexico

Jamaica

Jordan

K

Kenya

Kyrgyz Republic

L

La Libertad, Peru

Latvia

Liberia

M

Malawi

Malta

Mexico

Mexico State, Mexico

Mongolia

Montenegro

Morocco

N

Netherlands

Nigeria

North Macedonia

Norway

P

Panama

Paraguay

Peru

Philippines

R

Republic Of Korea

Republic Of Moldova

Romania

S

Scotland, United Kingdom

Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana

Senegal

Sierra Leone

Slovak Republic

South Africa

Spain

Sri Lanka

T

Tlalnepantla De Baz, Mexico

U

Ukraine

United Kingdom

United States

Uruguay

This list reflects members with commitments in the “Justice” policy area of the Data Dashboard.

Active OGP Partners

The following organizations have recently worked on this issue in the context of OGP at the national or international level. They may have additional insights on the topic. Please note that this list is not exhaustive. If you are interested in national-level initiatives, please contact research@opengovpartnership.org.

Benchmarking Data

The OGP 2023-2028 Strategy sets out the Open Gov Challenge and aims to provide clear benchmarks for performance through reliable data.

While benchmarks for individual countries and Open Gov Guide recommendations are not yet integrated, for this chapter, interested individuals may rely on the following data sets:

The World Justice Project‘s Rule of Law Index analyzes different dimensions of governance in 140 countries and jurisdictions, including several related to regulatory enforcement.
OGP commitments on this topic can be found on the Data Dashboard.

Guidance & Standards

While the list below is not exhaustive, it aims to provide a range of recommendations, standards, and analysis to guide reform in this policy area.

The OGP Support Unit, along with the partners above and other experts, published a policy series on justice for accountability, Accountability for Democratic Renewal. This paper contains six chapters that describe how OGP members can strengthen and improve access to citizen-activated accountability mechanisms in response to a different type of problem or harm. The chapters respectively focus on right to information mechanisms, anti-corruption enforcement, environmental justice, electoral dispute resolution, tax and fiscal policy, and the rights of people with disabilities.
IFES has published several resources related to election dispute resolution, such as Risk-Limiting Audits: A Guide for Global Use and Alternative Dispute Resolution in Elections: A Practitioner Brief. IFES also curates the Election Judgments database, which collects global data on judicial decisions related to election law.
The UN Economic Commission for Europe published a second edition implementation guide for the Aarhus Convention in 2014 to update its guidance from 2000. The guide provides an overview of Aarhus and an analysis of each article of the convention.

Similarly, UNECLAC published an implementation guide on the Escazú Agreement to raise awareness about the agreement and to provide guidance to ensure full compliance with its provisions.
The UN Office of the High Commission on Human Rights published principles and guidelines to address the need for protections for people with disabilities. The guidelines provide details on the rights of individuals and the obligations of governments in this area, as well as general good practices to guarantee access to justice for this group of people.
The International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions has a Framework of Professional Pronouncements, which sets standards for public auditing based on the expertise of the organization’s membership. These standards include core principles of auditing and organizational requirements for audit institutions.
Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW) has published several guidance publications, such as guides on environmental sampling and evaluating environmental impact assessments for mining projects. ELAW also provides litigation strategies related to climate and coal and maintains a global database of environmental impact assessment laws.

Featured Resources

Broken Links

How can open data help shine a light on political corruption and make political systems fairer and more inclusive? How can we further link people and data to create a chain of accountability? Explore our new report.

13th September 2022

Global Report

The promise of democracy is often defined by the ballot box, where citizens determine who will represent their interests in government. That promise, however, too often fails to translate to the reality of people’s daily lives...

14th May 2019

The Skeptic’s Guide to Open Government – 2022 Edition

Evidence continues to show that open government affects people’s lives. But there are still skeptics who are not aware of all the benefits associated with this approach. Use this guide to convince them to take an open government approach when implementing reforms.

16th May 2022

turquoise-ish25- Justice offices in ogp paper

Justice Policy Series

The OGP Justice Policy Series is a three-part series on Access to Justice, Open Justice, and Accountability for Democratic Renewal. It aims to highlight the important synergies between justice and open government and the ways in which countries can use OGP to make accountable, credible improvements to their justice systems.

14th December 2020

Data Dashboard

Access data on OGP commitments. Filter commitments by location, policy area, and year. Search by keyword.

21st January 2023

A Guide to Open Government and the Coronavirus

This guide is a one-stop shop for the best current resources on how open government projects and approaches can support tackling the pandemic.

25th August 2020

Justice