Education can help address today’s global justice challenges

By: GEM Report and Namati

A new report by the GEM Report and Namati, the leading global organization dedicated to legal empowerment, released today argues that education has a far greater role to play in building just societies than is often recognized. At a time when inequality, conflict and discrimination are hard to ignore and the rule of law is reported to be in decline in more than half of countries, the report shows that education is not only a human right in itself, but also one of the strongest tools societies have for strengthening fairness, trust and accountability.

The report, Learning to build just societies, comes as justice challenges deepen worldwide. Around 1.4 billion people lack meaningful access to justice because they cannot resolve everyday legal problems. Some 4.5 billion people lack legal tools like identity documents, land or housing tenure and formal work arrangement. Yet the report argues that education is central to addressing this gap: it helps people understand their rights, navigate legal systems, and reduce vulnerability to exploitation and violence by knowing, using and shaping the law (the legal empowerment cycle), ultimately leading to stronger societies overall.

Injustice remains a major barrier to education

Discrimination, but also weak justice systems, are among the reasons that prevent 273 million children and youth from accessing education globally. In 36 countries, more than two thirds of respondents identified ethnic or racial discrimination as a major barrier to education. Children are also denied education through exploitation and abuse. Globally, 3.3 million children are trapped in forced labour and 9 million children in forced marriage.

Legal protections for education remain uneven. While the majority (82%) of countries guarantee the right to education in their constitutions, the 2017/8 GEM Report had found that this right can only be legally enforced in around half (55%) of countries. This means that millions of people still lack effective remedies when education rights are denied, although at least 80 countries had adjudicated a violation. The report argues that governments and international actors need to strengthen accountability mechanisms and legal protections to ensure education rights are upheld in practice.

Strong education systems can improve justice systems

But the relationship also works the other way around. Access to education is fundamentally linked to fairness, dignity and equal opportunity. This is in line with education’s moral and political role.

Firstly, through the law. Education equips people with the knowledge and confidence needed to know, use and shape the law to claim their rights. Strong literacy skills are especially important because legal systems often rely on complex language that favours those with more education. People with higher levels of education are generally better able to seek legal advice, understand procedures and advocate for themselves. The report finds that across 27 countries, trust in judges rises with education levels. Across 40 countries, people with post-secondary education are more likely to seek legal advice when facing problems.

Secondly, by reducing crime. The report presents evidence that education contributes to crime prevention and social stability. In Sweden, each additional year of schooling reduced violent crime conviction rates by 10%. In the United States, a 10% increase in district-level spending per student reduced youth arrests among 15- to 19-year-olds by 7.4 per 1,000.

Education is also important after imprisonment. Yet one in four countries do not include education in strategies for prisoner rehabilitation, despite evidence that education can reduce reoffending and improve reintegration into society. The report calls for greater investment in educational opportunities for young offenders and prison populations, arguing that rehabilitation should focus not on punishment but on restoring capabilities, dignity and participation in society.

Thirdly, by strengthening peacebuilding efforts. Across 15 countries, education ranked as the second most important factor contributing to peace. In addition, an analysis of 90 peace education interventions found significant improvements in conflict resolution skills.

Despite this, education is often overlooked in peacebuilding and justice discussions. Among 2,257 peace agreements signed since 1990 across more than 80 countries, only 2.5% explicitly mentioned the right to education. According to the report, this reflects a broader tendency to treat education mainly as a social sector issue rather than as a foundation for justice, democracy and social cohesion.

Schools need to do more to prepare learners for participation in just societies

Legal education remains limited in many countries and is usually confined to civics. Human rights and peace are also unevenly taught. Teaching about past conflict can be a thorny topic, and teachers frequently lack the preparation and support they need. Across 12 European countries, only half of teachers had received training in human rights or citizenship education. In Côte d’Ivoire, two thirds of teachers reported needing more support to teach conflict history.

The report argues that justice-related learning should not be treated as a marginal subject. Instead, human rights, peace and legal education should be embedded throughout school systems and across the curriculum. This includes creating safe classroom environments where students can discuss inequality, discrimination and conflict openly and constructively.

Education also matters for strengthening justice systems themselves

Judges, prosecutors, lawyers, police officers and prison staff need training that goes beyond technical legal knowledge to include ethics, human rights, communication and community engagement. Evidence from 11 Latin American countries shows that better-qualified judges produce measurably better decisions. In Norway, a two-year academy for police officers emphasizes rehabilitation and human dignity and is associated with comparatively low reoffending rates.

The report concludes with six recommendations for governments and their partners:

Embed human rights and legal education in school systems at all levels.

Globally, the coverage of justice issues in curricula is inconsistent. Meanwhile, there is a tendency to look at injustices in classrooms from a historical perspective rather than as contemporary challenges.
Integrate human rights, peace and legal education through a specific subject (e.g. civics), whose teaching time is protected, and also embed justice questions across the curriculum and at all stages (e.g. through literature).
Adopt a whole-school approach that embeds justice values into school culture and relationships with the community, making institutions inclusive and putting student experiences of injustice at the centre.

Invest in teacher education and create conditions for quality teaching.

Teachers are often hampered in teaching issues of justice, rights and power in classrooms because of lack of preparation, inappropriate pedagogy and political sensitivities.
Provide high-quality teacher professional development to prepare teachers to teach questions of justice, rights and power, anticipating any difficulties that may arise in classrooms.
Do not treat these questions only as a matter of transferring factual knowledge but consider the contributions that students can make through action-oriented and experiential methods.

Prioritize education for crime prevention and youth offender rehabilitation.

There is strong evidence that education attainment, learning achievement and vocational training opportunities help young people avoid crime – and those in conflict with the law to be reintegrated into society.
Invest in early childhood and school education in disadvantaged areas with a high crime propensity and prone to gangs.
Ensure a dedicated and well-resourced rehabilitation strategy for people in detention, especially for children and young people deprived of their liberty, with education and skills development as a central component.

Build the capacity of justice system actors to focus on a people-centred approach.

Many people believe that key justice system actors do not abide by professional principles and do not trust their actions and decisions.
Address shortages of justice system professionals, including in education and rehabilitation roles, ensuring that people with strong qualifications are selected in courts, the police and correctional institutions.
Invest in continuing professional development for judges, prosecutors, lawyers, police and prison officers, with the aim to build a rights-respecting, people-centred justice system.

Promote legal empowerment for marginalized individuals to access and use the justice system.

The justice system, through discriminatory language and norms, is often seen as benefiting more educated people.
In formal education, ensure that legal education curricula have practical applications that help those who are disadvantaged in their interactions with judicial institutions.
In non-formal education, support dedicated civil society organizations to deliver legal empowerment training – and recognize community paralegals and mediators as bridges to populations in need of support.

Improve the monitoring of the education–justice relationship to keep it high on the policy agenda.

Few countries monitor key aspects of SDG 16 on peace, justice and strong institutions, with many critical insights coming from non-official data.
Disaggregate access to justice indicators by education attainment and learning achievement to make the reduction of inequality a key driver of policy.
Develop a definition of legal literacy and/or capability for use in assessments of the effectiveness of formal and non-formal legal education programmes.