Microjustice is a Dutch Foundation that works for the Legal Empowerment and Inclusion of marginalized people and victims of humanitarian disaster.

The organization began its work in the post-war legal rehabilitation of refugees in the Former Yugoslavia and helped them reclaim their pre-war rights. Microjustice focused on solving refugees’ legal problems in all aspects of life, by arranging their identity-related documents across borders (81,088 documents in Serbia and Croatia), restoring property, solving banking issues, and ensuring pensions -to name a few-. A small branch of the program is still running today, arranging around 1000 documents across borders for (ex)refugees annually.

The concept of Microjustice was tested and developed in Bolivia as of 2007. It takes the model of Microfinance as a basis to produce a sustainable model of legal services for the poor. The experience in Bolivia was used to establish Microjustice Country Organizations in Peru (2008), Argentina (2010) Kenya (2011), Rwanda (2012), while operations in the former Yugoslavia use the sustainable businessmodel of Microjustice for cross-border legal aid to (ex)refugees.

1996:

Microjustice is set up as a Dutch Foundation that specializes in the Legal Protection of marginalized people and victims of disaster.

1996-2006:

Microjustice works in the post-war legal rehabilitation of the refugees in the Former Yugoslavia and helps them reclaim their pre-war rights. Microjustice focuses on solving refugees’ legal problems in all aspects of life, by arranging their identity-related documents across borders (81,088 documents in Serbia and Croatia), restoring property, solving banking issues, and ensuring pensions -to name a few of the numerous problems.

Taking inspiration from its large-scale legal rehabilitation programs in the former Yugoslavia, Microjustice undertakes assessment missions for post-conflict legal rehabilitation in Georgia, Iraq, Sudan and Colombia. These assessments show that settling the legal issues of displaced populations (largely related to legal paperwork) is crucial for successful post-disaster rehabilitation anywhere, and is also essential for sustainable development (legal empowerment of the poor). As a result, the concept of Microjustice is born in 2006 to provide standardized legal services in basic legal needs of vulnerable people in sustainable manner.

2007-2017

The concept of Microjustice is tested and developed in Bolivia as of 2007. It takes the model of Microfinance as a basis to produce a financial sustainable model of legal services for the poor and marginalized. The experience in Bolivia is used to establish Microjustice Country Organizations in Peru (2008), Argentina (2010), Uganda (2010), Kenya (2011), Rwanda (2012), while operations in the former Yugoslavia use the model for continued cross-border legal aid to (ex)refugees.

2018-now:

The experiences with legal service provision in these countries were fundamental in the development of the Legal Right’ Protection Program with its Digital Legal Aid Platform and the Legal Rights’ Protection Barometer.