What is it all about?

The Knowledge Platform Security & Rule of Law, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department for Stabilization and Humanitarian Aid and The Pathfinders’ Task Force on Justice convened a public consultation for justice experts from civil society and justice institutions to provide input into the Task Force report, which will be reviewed at The Hague Justice Task Force Conference in February 2019. The consultation also provided a networking opportunity for justice and rule of law experts, generated interest for the findings and recommendations of the Task Force report, and built momentum towards the February conference.

The consultation, titled The Big Think on Justice, was held on 15 November in The Hague. 

The day started with an opening plenary on ‘Making the Case’ for Justice, led by the Pathfinders team, after which the invitees broke out into four thematic working groups, each led by designated partners. In order to solicit input from civil society experts and practitioners that can best be taken up into the Task Force report, break out discussions were organised around the themes under the ‘What Works’ focus of the Task Force.

• Innovating and Investing in Justice (HiiL)
• Justice for Women (UN Women, IDLO)
• Transitional Justice (ICTJ)
• Justice as Prevention (OHCHR, to be confirmed)

Each participant was able to join the discussions on two of these four themes, according to their own expertise and preference. For each working group, 2-3 group leaders were responsible for organising and moderating the break-out sessions. These leaders were the authors of the thematic reports, representatives of the organisations leading the working group and high-level thematic experts. The participants rotated once to a second thematic discussion, while the group leaders stayed with their respective thematic groups.