As Mr. Dirk Wagener, UNDP Assistant Resident Representative and Head of Governance Unit emphasized in his opening remarks to the Access to Justice Survey Workshop in Vientiane on 22 June, “Access to Justice is a basic human right as well as an indispensable means to combat poverty and to prevent or resolve conflicts. It is the ability of people to seek and obtain a remedy for their grievances through formal or informal institutions and mechanisms of justice.  It is also about ensuring that judicial outcomes are just and equitable.” With strong linkages between democratic governance, poverty reduction and access to justice, UNDP support to access to justice is at the centre of its global mandate to eradicate poverty and to advance human development. Current UNDP support in Lao PDR to the “Lao Bar Association Access to Justice Project” has seen public legal education and legal aid services dispensed to people across the country. The aim of this new survey, along with the Customary Law survey taking place later this year, is to build on such initiatives. 

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