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Overview - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Overview - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions in Ireland

CSO statistical publication, , 11am

The CSO, through Ireland's Institute for SDGs (IIS), supports reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals.

Goal 16 - Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

The Department of Justice’s mission is working for a safe, fair and inclusive Ireland and there is a close alignment between the focus of the Department’s Statement of Strategy 2021-2023 and some of the Sustainable Development Goal indicators within Goal 16.

An overview of some of the work already being undertaken to support the achievement of the targets identified within Goal 16 is presented below under three of the five goals set out in the statement of strategy.

1. Tackle crime, enhance national security and transform policing

There are a number of specific measures that will contribute to meeting this goal including the enactment of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill. When enacted the Bill will, amongst other changes, place statutory obligations on Departments and public service bodies to cooperate with each other to improve community safety and establish local community safety partnerships to develop local safety plans that are tailored to the priorities and needs identified by communities themselves.

Additionally the Government launched the Rural Safety Plan 2022-2024 in September 2022. The Plan’s vision is to ensure people and communities in rural Ireland feel safe and are safe in their homes, places of work, and their local environments.

An Garda Síochána also has a range of operations aimed at reducing crime, anti-social behaviour, assaults and improving feelings of community safety. For example Operation Soteria is a national operation in place to ensure a reduction of assaults in public, reduce fear of violence within communities, prioritise assault investigations and focus on problem areas and assault hotspots.

2. Improve access to justice and modernise the courts system

Access to justice is a fundamental right and a key enabler of an equitable and thriving society. The justice and courts systems must continually adapt to the development of our society and our economy.

In 2022 the Government approved the first Family Justice Strategy 2022-2025. The vision for the strategy is a modern, streamlined and user-friendly family justice system that supports simple, early, fair and – where possible – non-adversarial outcomes.

The Family Court Bill was also published in 2022, once established this will create a new dedicated Family Court within the existing court structure. The Bill also provides for court procedures that support a faster and less adversarial resolution of disputes.

3. Strengthen community safety, reduce reoffending, support victims and combat domestic, sexual and gender based violence

The Government is firmly committed to ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. In consultation with the Office of the Attorney General, several legislative measures have been implemented which were necessary to ensure that Ireland is in compliance with the obligations of the Optional Protocol. Enactment of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017 and the Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act 2017 were significant steps on the pathway to the ratification of the Optional Protocol.

The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2022 will make the final necessary amendments to facilitate ratification. This Bill, when enacted, will amend two statutes to provide for extraterritorial jurisdiction for a certain offence which has been identified as an impediment to ratification. Once enacted, Ireland should be in a position to ratify the Second Optional Protocol. 

The Department of Justice has been implementing a major programme of reform to make our criminal justice system more victim-centred. A number of changes have already been introduced that better protect and support vulnerable victims to remove fear and empowers victims, to have the confidence to report an offence, and to know they will be supported, informed and treated respectfully and professionally for the entirety of the difficult journey they have to face. This work is being carried out through the ‘Supporting a Victim’s Journey’ plan which has been a priority for this Government since its publication in 2020.

There are also a number of important ongoing initiatives to ensure we better support victims of crime including a campaign to raise awareness of the rights afforded to people under the Victims of Crime Act 2017, including the right to be kept informed and the right to avail of special measures when giving evidence, both during the investigation and the trial stages of criminal proceedings

Finally, in 2022 the Government published Zero Tolerance: the Third National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (DSGBV) which runs to 2026. The €363 million strategy is built on the four Istanbul pillars – Protection, Prevention, Prosecution and Policy Coordination - and the accompanying implementation plan contains 144 detailed actions to be implemented in 2022 and 2023. Later implementation plans will be published for subsequent years of the strategy.