An International View Into U.S. Access to Justice Issues

The National Law Journal recently reported that the United Nations Human Rights Committee will question the United States on its efforts to improve access to justice at a meeting in Geneva later this week. Especially in question at the meeting will be what steps the U.S. has taken to "improve legal representation in civil proceedings for litigants belonging to racial, ethnic and national minorities, and for victims of domestic violence."

Included below are several links to documents, programs and entities discussed in the article:

U.N. Human Rights Committee

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

ABA Basic Principles for a a Right to Counsel in Civil Legal Proceedings and ABA Model Access Act

U.S. Department of Justice Access to Justice Initiative

For further reading on this topic, consider the following titles available in the McKusick Law Library:

Access To Justice as a Human Right / edited by Francesco Francioni

Access to Justice / by Deborah L. Rhode