On behalf of the United States, I am thrilled to welcome you to this official High-Level Political Forum side event, “Turning the Tide: Scaling SDG 16 for the Future, Reinforcing Access to Justice, and Advancing Democracy.”
My name is Rachel Rossi, and I serve as Director for the Office for Access to Justice at the U.S. Department of Justice.
I am honored to welcome you in partnership with the Department of State, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, the U.S. Agency for International Development and our 16 co-sponsors.
As you know, SDG 16 provides a roadmap to advance peaceful and inclusive societies, access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions.
I am proud to lead an office focused on these principles, the Office for Access to Justice, which advances a vital mission: that justice should belong to everyone, regardless of wealth or status. We lead robust and high-level policy initiatives to close justice gaps.
For example, just last month our office launched AccessDOJ, a new Department-wide program that uses human-centered design principles to ensure that our services are more accessible, effective and efficient. We also promote economic justice through advocacy for eliminating unjust legal system fines and fees. We support access to counsel and legal help through our launch of the first-ever medical-legal partnership in a federal prison to meet civil legal needs. And we advance access to justice across the U.S. government by leading the Federal Government Pro Bono Program and the White House Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable among many more initiatives.
Our office also plays a key role in U.S. engagement on access to justice within multilateral fora like the United Nations. In this role we were proud to offer technical assistance during negotiations which led the UN General Assembly last year adopting its first-ever resolution on access to justice.
Additionally in line with Presidential mandates our office assists with U.S. efforts implementing SDG 16. Later today we are convening – for the first time – a variety of entities including academics people with lived experience civil society organizations cities counties states and our federal government. Together we will discuss how better collaboration can generate knowledge inspire action connect data-to-policy advancing SDG 16 goals here in the U.S.
I’ll conclude by centering us on why we are here: far too many individuals cannot access justice in both the U.S. and globally. Surrounded by governments expansive goals set forth by an impressive Sustainable Development agenda it can be easy forgetting who this work is for but founding United Nations Charter reminds us “peoples determined reaffirm faith fundamental human rights dignity worth human person equal rights men women nations large small.”
To pursue this work effectively we must consistently center perspectives communities serve real-life impact mission achieving rank 115th out of 142 countries dead last among wealthiest nations accessibility affordability civil justice World Justice Project Rule Law Index means people cannot get enough help critical needs such as housing food security keeping families together safety from violence highest prison population barriers accessing counsel pervasive criminal systems
SDG 16 more than agenda item tool facilitating action directly impacting ensuring core promises economic security equal reach everyone
Colleagues Forum panel call renewed commitment task urgent together turn tide successfully closing gap
Now deliver keynote remarks pleased welcoming Isobel Coleman Deputy Administrator USAID honored joining Summit Democracy Washington impressed commitment since time partnership grown looking forward future joint efforts
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