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We work to radically transform how the law works for communities fighting for racial, social, and economic justice
Strategic litigation – a court case that can help change law, policy, or practice – is a powerful tool. It can be used alongside advocacy, campaigning, and policy work to help bring about systemic change. However, litigation is not commonly used in movements working to address the structural inequalities in our society.
We work across three key areas to build and maintain the systems change that we need.
Building the power of organisations, movements, and collectives fighting for justice and equality
Launching community-driven litigation
Scaling impact by promoting equitable working models with other litigators
Building the power of organisations, movements, and collectives fighting for justice and equality
Right now, many organisations, movements, and collectives (OMCs) do not have the knowledge or tools to make informed choices about using litigation as a tool for change. We are developing resources based on the needs of OMCs, so they can better decide if and how to integrate strategic litigation in their causes and campaigns.
Read more about our plans for 2023 here.
Community-driven litigation
Courts can be powerful agents for change, but marginalised communities are often unable to leverage the full potential of litigation for their causes and campaigns. Instead of having lawyers take over and set the agenda, we are jointly developing community-driven litigation campaigns with our partners, opening up the law to those who need it the most.
Explore what we are doing to help level access to justice here.
Building a Community of Practice with litigators
There is a growing desire within the legal field to take a more community-focused approach in litigation work. We are working to harness that energy, and collaborating to create a new working model for how legal challenges run.
Have a look at our roadmap for the Community of Practice and our plans for 2023 here.
Where we work
We currently work in Europe (Council of Europe), with a view to expanding to other regions in a few years’ time.
What we work on
Our litigation work:
- advances racial, social, and economic justice
- applies an intersectional lens
- covers issues across the digital and non-digital context.
Just like the litigation campaigns we work on, we believe that our thematic focus should be determined by the communities facing racial, social, and economic injustice.
That’s why we conducted a consultation process that ended in the summer of 2022 to help us determine the initial thematic focus of our work. You can read more about the results of our community consultation process in our report “Surfacing Systemic (In)justices: A Community View.”
The consultation process surfaced climate justice and social protection as two of the most urgent areas of work for organisations, movements, and collectives working on racial, social and economic justice that are currently underserved by intersectional litigation. These two areas are the priority focus for our first litigation projects.
Get in touch
If you’re interested in collaborating with Systemic Justice or have a question about our work, please get in touch at info@systemicjustice.ngo.
You can find an overview of our team and collaborators here and more ways to contact us here.
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