Opening remarks by the Director-General, Ms. Jan Beagle
“Strengthening Coherence Between Formal and Informal Justice Actors: New Insights to Advance People-Centred Justice”
Abu Dhabi, 28 September 2026
On behalf of the International Development Law Organization, it is a pleasure to welcome you all, including those joining online, to this discussion on strengthening coherence between formal and informal justice actors.
I thank all our co-conveners, and the Governments of Canada and Germany for co-sponsoring today’s event.
A special word of appreciation goes to the United Arab Emirates and UNODC for bringing us together in Abu Dhabi.
Why are we talking about customary and informal justice at a Congress on crime prevention?
Let us start with a simple truth. For most people around the world, justice does not happen in a courtroom.
It happens before a council of elders, a village mediator, a religious authority, an Indigenous leader or a community paralegal.
IDLO has spent more than a decade learning from and working with these diverse systems in more than a dozen countries, from Afghanistan, the Central Sahel and East Africa to Bolivia and the Philippines.
Drawing on our experience, let me offer three reasons why engaging with customary and informal justice is essential.
First, because this is where most people seek justice and where trust already exists.
Customary and informal justice systems vary enormously in form and function.
But they share one important feature.
They are embedded in communities, close to the people they serve.
They are accessible, affordable and fast, and they often enjoy a local legitimacy that formal institutions often struggle to achieve.
Across 38 African countries surveyed by Afrobarometer, people are almost four times more likely to turn first to traditional leaders or elders than to a local court.
In rural areas, nearly fifty percent would do so.
Trust in justice providers — the belief that grievances will be heard and addressed fairly—is a powerful crime prevention tool.
Criminal justice institutions can benefit by engaging with customary and informal justice systems.
In Bolivia, for example, IDLO is working with Indigenous justice authorities as part of national efforts against transnational organized crime.
In remote Indigenous territories, they are often the first to detect it.
Second, customary and informal justice can prevent violence and sustain peace.
By seeking negotiated solutions, repairing harm and reintegrating offenders into the community, the restorative solutions often promoted by these systems can resolve grievances before they escalate into violence.
Their outcomes are more likely to be accepted, because they are rooted in shared norms.
And by absorbing cases that would otherwise overwhelm the courts, they help formal systems function.
In Somalia, for example, IDLO partnered with the government to use customary reconciliation practices to help former members of Al-Shabaab return to their communities.
We worked with traditional leaders, justice officials and trauma healing experts, to design a twelve-week programme for low-risk former combatants, who were then reintegrated back into their communities through traditional forgiveness ceremonies.
Third, because constructive engagement is the best way to protect rights.
Customary and informal systems can also reflect discriminatory norms and unequal power relations.
Their outcomes can disadvantage women, indigenous communities, young people and marginalized groups.
IDLO helps build coherence between formal and informal systems by establishing referral pathways, promoting respect for human rights, and encouraging the inclusion of underrepresented groups.
In Kenya, we support the Judiciary to link community-based and customary mechanisms to the courts through its Alternative Justice Systems.
in the Sahel, cadres de concertation bring formal and traditional justice actors around the same table.
And in the Philippines, we are strengthening village-level barangay justice systems administered by local authorities.
At a time of growing needs and shrinking resources, we need practical, evidence-based solutions that reach people at scale. We need to find ways to close the access to justice gap that exists in all societies.
Engaging customary and informal justice is one of the most cost-effective ways to deliver on the promise of equal access to justice for all.
So the question is not whether formal justice is better than informal justice, or the reverse. It is how we make them work better together as part of a broader justice ecosystem.
How do we build effective referral pathways?
How do we strengthen accountability and oversight?
How do we preserve the accessibility and legitimacy of community-based systems, while ensuring they respect human rights and gender equality?
These are the issues we will explore today, with an inspiring group of policy leaders, community organizers and justice innovators.
One thing is clear – we need broad partnership to make progress towards true people-centred justice.
IDLO is committed to working with all of you to close justice gaps, bring justice closer to people’s lives, and make sure that no one is left behind.
I look forward to our discussion.