Publication

This paper looks at whether and to what extent training aimed at strengthening customary justice systems in Bougainville has been successful in enhancing the legal empowerment of marginalized groups such as women. It reports that the training increased the participation and satisfaction of both men and women users of the dispute resolution system. However, the author argues, by neglecting to address issues of substantive legal rights and power asymmetries, the intervention failed to enhance legal empowerment to the extent it might otherwise have done.