Vol. 20 Issue 1 (2024)
Centring Marginalisation in the Development of Digital Courts: Reflections From Argentina, India, Kenya, and Malaysia
Siddharth Peter de Souza, Varsha Aithala, Francisco Mignaquy, Mercy Muendo, and Anisha Nadkarni
This paper presents a multi-jurisdictional analysis of digitalisation of justice and the perceived role of courts as public institutions upholding the rule of law and ensuring access to justice to all. Using selected examples from Argentina, India, Kenya and Malaysia, it examines the impact of digitalisation efforts of these countries on their citizens, marginalised populations, the State and private sector. We propose to design an approach to digital justice that centres people on the margins of digital transformation of courts. This includes three elements – first, engagement with people centered perspectives; second, focus on disadvantage and addressing socio-technical factors; and third, building digital solutions in public interest.
Author
Siddharth Peter de Souza is an Assistant Professor at the University of Warwick, and Founder and Partner at Justice Adda. He is a research associate at the African Centre for Epistemology and Philosophy of Science, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
Varsha Aithala is an Assistant Professor of Law at the National Law School, Bangalore and Partner at Justice Adda
Francisco Mignaquy is a Law & Technology Masters graduate, and the Data Protection Officer of Deribit
Mercy Muendo is an Information and Technology Law Lecturer at Daystar University, Kenya
Anisha Nadkarni is a Data & AI Ethics Officer for a multinational company. At the time this article was written in 2022, she was also an affiliated Research Fellow of the Social & Economic Research Initiative (SERI) Malaysia
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author alone, and do not reflect the official policy or position of her employer or any organisations she is affiliated with