Justice For All: The Case to Fund and Protect Grassroots Justice Defenders

This policy brief offers recommendations for policymakers, donors, and multilateral institutions on how to finance and protect the grassroots justice defenders who provide essential legal support to communities. In every region of the world, these champions of legal empowerment—who mostly hail from civil society—are helping people to know, use, and shape the law. Grassroots justice defenders are vital to expanding access to justice, yet they are under-resourced and under threat. By pledging to invest in legal empowerment efforts and secure the safety of grassroots justice defenders, world leaders can take crucial steps toward achieving the 2030 Agenda’s commitments for people, planet, prosperity, and peace.