This project initially aims to mobilise $3 million as an integral part of cooperation between the Government of Bangladesh and UNDP in the area of democratic governance, human rights and access to justice, which particularly aims to strengthen the ability of the poor and other disadvantaged persons to demand and obtain justice by asserting human rights and statutory entitlements.

This project, therefore, aims to institutionalise human rights principles and standards, through the establishment of a national human rights commission, and advance prospects for access to justice for the weakest victims of injustice, through strategic interventions involving the judiciary, law officers, the legal profession, and civil society organisations responsive to the voices of the poor.

In doing so, the project will provide support to processes initiated by the government to establish a human rights commission, separate judiciary from executive, and it will focus on issues relating capacity development of the judiciary, law officers, legal profession, legal aid authority, and civil society groups working on human rights and access to justice.

Another notable emphasis in this project is on gender justice through focus on international norms and sensitisation of justice sector personnel to their duties to ensure adherence principles of non-discrimination, equality and participation when women are claimants of rights, and adopt proactive approaches to combating gender-based violence.