Kathmandu, March 6

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) and a group of academic partners have launched a programme to provide free or inexpensive access to legal information and training to promote research in low- and middle-income countries and help strengthen the rule of law.

The programme, known as GOALI (Global Online Access to Legal Information) will give users in more than 115 developing countries access to a wide range of essential legal information for their work and studies that they would not normally be able to obtain, as per a media release.

Eligible institutions include governments, universities, law schools, research and not-for-profit institutions, as well as the secretariats of national workers’ and employers’ organisations.

Some of the key topics covered in the programme are international law, human rights, humanitarian law and labour law — areas that can help strengthen legal frameworks and institutions in many developing countries. The programme will also contribute to UN Sustainable Development Goal 16 — Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.

“The aim of GOALI is to improve the quality of legal research, education and training in low- and middle-income countries, and in turn strengthen legal frameworks and institutions and further rule of law,” ILO’s Deputy Director-General Deborah Greenfield has been quoted as saying. “This initiative will make this vital information available to those who, until now, have not had access.  In turn, it will help promote social justice and inclusive societies, which is at the heart of the ILO’s mandate.”

GOALI has been developed with the participation of publishers, UN organisations and academics, as part of Research4Life, a partnership to boost evidence-based research, healthcare, policymaking and global justice.

The programme was launched at ILO headquarters in Geneva, together with representatives from the Brill Nijhoff academic publishing company, Lillian Goldman Law Library at Yale Law School, the Cornell Law School Library and the International Training Centre of the ILO.