Increasing Access to Justice for Women, the Poor, and Those Living in Remote Areas : An Indonesian Case Study

This briefing note outlines the reform
process that produced these notable results, a process that
began with targeted grassroots empowerment through
engagement with PEKKA, an Indonesian civil society
organization supporting women headed households. Formal
justice sector institutions and local governments
subsequently built on those efforts, with support from
international development agencies. The note will outline
the range of access-to-justice initiatives involving PEKKA,
the Indonesian courts, government partners, and
international agencies that have contributed to broader
policy reform in the access-to-justice field. It will also
describe a series of recent access-to-justice policy
developments initiated by Indonesian government institutions
and a summary of some key results, highlighting how
small-scale pilots and research can provide empirical data
on which national agencies can draw to strengthen national
policy development and planning processes. The concept of
access to justice focuses on two basic objectives of a legal
system: 1) that it is accessible to people from all levels
of society; and 2) that it is able to provide fair decisions
and rules for people from all levels of society, either
individually or collectively.