Reviewing national legal systems

Description

Reviewing national legal systems involves systematically assessing and updating laws, regulations, and judicial processes to ensure their effectiveness, fairness, and alignment with current societal needs. This strategy aims to identify and remedy outdated, inconsistent, or unjust legal provisions, enhance access to justice, and strengthen the rule of law. By addressing legal gaps and inefficiencies, it supports social stability, protects human rights, and promotes responsive governance in the face of evolving national and international challenges.

Implementation

This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities.

Agenda 21 suggests that competent intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations could cooperate to provide governments and legislators, upon request, with an integrated programme of environment and development law (sustainable development law) services, carefully adapted to the specific requirements of recipient legal and administrative systems. Such systems could usefully include assistance in the preparation of comprehensive inventories and reviews of national legal systems. Past experience has demonstrated the usefulness of combining specialized legal information services with legal expert advice. Within the UN system, closer cooperation between all agencies concerned would avoid duplication of databases and facilitate division of labour. These agencies could examine the possibility and merit of performing reviews of selected national legal systems.