ILAC core support 2018-2021

In their application for a cost extension submitted in late 2021, ILAC accounted for some key results achieved up to that time. These were inlcuded in Sida's appraisal of the extension, see Dox 008359/22, and are relevant to consult for the purpose of this Completion Memo as well. In the final narrative report, covering the period 2018 - 2022, ILAC accounts for overall results as well as for results achieved during the last year as these had not yet been reported on separately. A key revision in 2022, considering ILACs limited human and financial resources, Afghanistan, Tunisia and Ukraine were identified as priority countries for 2022. Based on that, Sida has selected a few relevant results listed below: 2018-2022 - During the period 2018-2022, ILAC was engaged in 18 countries in four continents, published 8 rule of law assessments report and 23 policy briefs. Most of the work was carried out under ILAC's coordinated regional and bilateral programs such as in Syria, Cuba, Libya, Tunisia, Guatemala and the MENA-region, mainly funded by Sida, but also through (limited) project support from a few other donors. - The Syria Program (2018-2020), developed based on the findings of the ILAC Syria report launched in 2018, generated a number of results and lessons learned, despite being implemented during wartime. The program resulted in ensuring that more than 513 criminally accused persons received legal protection services through representation. In addition, qualified pro-bono lawyers provided 438 legal consultations for those who are among the most vulnerable in the north-west region of Syria. - ILAC reports that they have contributed to advancing the dialogue on rule of law best practices and policies aiming to improve equal access to justice through its police dialogue and legal analyses. They have built a dialogue with a number of international actors, such as with IDLO, by joining efforts to advance a dialogue on customary justice, with the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) by partnering to promote discussions on adaptive rule of law programming, with the Pathfinders through the Justice Task Force and with Sipri by holding sessions in the Stockholm Peace and Development Forum, from which lessons learned were compiled and shared with international development actors.  2022 - An assessment of how justice was carried out in Afghanistan was carried out, through the ILAC member the International Legal Foundation (ILF), who is the largest legal aid provider in Afghanistan and was at the time the only such actor with presence on the ground. In its report, ILAC writes that this snapshot report of Afghanistan has been described as a unique contribution to the increased understanding of how justice is carried out in different regions of Afghanistan, and that its usefulness has been acknowledged by policy makers including the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, who has used the report as a key source for his reports and articles. The US and several European governments have also used it as an input for their strategies and policies on Afghanistan, while UNDP has used it to frame a new program on womens access to justice in the country. - In July 2022, ILAC released the report "Under Assault: A Status Report on the Ukrainian Justice System in Wartime" that provides a benchmark of how Ukraines justice system performed before the war to what will need to be rebuilt once there is peace. The report also highlighted pre-war shortcomings in Ukraines justice system assessed to be exacerbated by the conflict including corruption, poor legal education standards, and lack of digitalization in court administration. ILAC reports that Ukrainian colleagues, ILAC members and international policy makers welcomed the review and used ILACs findings in prioritizing their own actions in support of justice in Ukraine during wartime.?

The ILAC Strategic Plan for 2017-2021 contains three objectives: 1. The capacity of justice sector institutions, bar associations and their members to address public demands for accountability and justice in accordance with international standards, is enhanced. 2. International policy and practice in rule of law reform has been influenced. 3. Internal ILAC systems and capacities for demand-driven, flexible and coherent operations are further developed, and synergies within the membership to better capitalise on cutting-edge expertise are improved.