The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Global Justice Gap

On the eve of what was dubbed "the decade of action" to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, the COVID-19 pandemic has both set the SDG agenda back and driven home just how fundamental justice is to achieving all of the other goals. The crisis has laid bare significant inequities, taking its greatest toll on those who have been traditionally excluded and plunging more people into this plight.

This policy brief explores various dimensions of this "justice gap" and how the pandemic is affecting those who fall in it. The pandemic has simultaneously created new challenges for reaching "justice for all" by 2030, and underscored the importance of doing so. As this brief highlights, promising strategies are emerging for building back better by closing the justice gap.

This policy brief is part of a multidisciplinary initiative from the World Justice Project to expand knowledge of the relationship between public health and the rule of law, and to identify measures to tackle the twin crises of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rule of law where they intersect. Learn more about this initiative here, and learn how the World Justice Challenge 2021: Advancing the Rule of Law in a Time of Crisis is addressing these issues here.