From MicroJustice

[edit] Description MJI

[edit] Roots

[edit] Initial partners in the Microjustice Initative

The Microjustice Initiative was born at the end of 2006 following a conference organized by ILA in Madrid: Derechos para todos; is access to rights a luxury article? In the quest for developing a structural and sustainable system to enhance access to rights for all, the microjustice approach has been developed by ILA and Tilburg University combining field work and academic research in one product. A first pilot microjustice program in Bolivia has been set up since early 2007. ILA has an extended experience in field work in the post-conflict zones of the former Yugoslavia where it developed cross-border legal programs to help displaced persons reclaim their property and obtain birth certificates and other documents thus, enabling them to restart their lives. Here, the core ideas of local paralegal support and finding economies of scale were tried out in practice.

The academic roots can be found in the work of a group of researchers at Tilburg University working on dispute resolution system design. They developed concepts to diminish the transaction costs of legal processes, and to improve negotiations in the shadow of legal intervention, for instance in the areas of personal injury claims, family law, and consumer conflicts.