Legal empowerment encompasses a range of bottom-up, rights-based approaches that seek to put law in the hands of marginalized communities. By building legal knowledge in a practical way, these approaches aim to make legal systems more responsive to community needs.
Legal Empowerment
What is Legal Empowerment?Legal empowerment supports those most impacted by injustice to know, use and shape the law – to build power by claiming their rights.
How Does Legal Empowerment Affect Workers in Informal Employment?Informal work is impacted by a complex web of laws, regulations and policies. By knowing, using and shaping the law, workers in informal employment can fight for more just rules, which support, rather than undermine, their livelihoods.
By definition, workers in informal employment are not afforded sufficient legal protection. Their work is prohibited by, excluded from, or given a lower status in, law. They are discriminated against in the way laws are implemented and enforced. They face barriers to accessing remedies when laws are not followed and their livelihoods are harmed. Legal empowerment supports workers to transform legal systems to better realize their rights.
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