Gender Equality and Open Justice: An Agenda for Transforming Public Institutions

Access to justice is a fundamental right and a cornerstone of sustainable development. However, many people, especially women and other vulnerable groups, continue to face significant barriers to the full enjoyment of their rights. Held in Ecuador last week, the Inter-American Public Defenders Summit on Open Justice and Artificial Intelligence brought together public authorities, specialists, and international organizations to discuss how innovation, institutional openness, and gender equality can strengthen access to justice and foster more inclusive, effective, and responsive justice systems. 

The Summit underscored that open justice is a powerful driver of transparency, public participation, accountability, and trust in institutions. It also highlighted the opportunities created by digital transformation, particularly artificial intelligence, to enhance access to justice, while reaffirming the need for its implementation to be firmly anchored in ethical principles, inclusion, and respect for human rights. 

The discussions also reaffirmed that gender equality is essential to strengthening justice sector institutions. Justice systems that are accessible, transparent, and free from bias and stereotypes not only enhance the realization of rights but also contribute to building institutions that are more legitimate, effective, and responsive to the needs of the people they serve.  

Within this framework, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Public Defender’s Office of Ecuador presented the Gender Equality Seal for Public Institutions, a global initiative that currently supports more than 130 public institutions across 37 countries, including 17 entities in the justice sector. Experience has shown that the most sustainable progress is achieved when gender equality is embedded across institutional management, information systems, decision-making processes, and public service delivery.

The incorporation of Ecuador’s Public Defender’s Office into the Seal programme reflects a clear commitment to advancing a more inclusive and people-centered justice system. As part of broader efforts to strengthen access to justice, enhance institutional transparency, and build public trust, the process also promotes more effective responses to the diverse needs of women and men.

The experience shared during the Summit further reaffirmed the Seal’s value as a practical instrument for driving sustainable institutional transformation. More than a certification, it serves as a roadmap for strengthening leadership, technical capacities, organizational culture, and the quality of public services through a gender equality lens.

As Ricardo Morales Vela, Public Defender General of Ecuador, emphasized, the gender approach is embedded throughout institutional management and across every service delivered by the institution. In this regard, the Seal helps foster workplaces free from discrimination and violence, recognizing that equality and justice must begin within institutions themselves.

This vision is closely aligned with UNDP’s commitment to supporting public institutions in their transformation journeys. As Inka Mattila, UNDP Resident Representative in Ecuador, highlighted, open justice is justice that listens, responds, and builds trust, thereby strengthening institutions that are more effective, inclusive, and accountable.

The signing of the Quito Agreement, through which Public Defenders’ Offices across the region committed to implementing open justice models, marked one of the Summit’s most significant milestones. This commitment reflects a shared vision: building more humane, transparent, and accessible institutions that can harness innovation to guarantee rights and respond more effectively to the needs of all people, leaving no one behind.