Vivek Maru: How to put the power of law in people's hands
Vivek Maru: Cómo dar el poder de la ley a las personas
Vivek Maru is the founder of Namati, a movement for legal empowerment around the world powered by cadres of grassroots legal advocates. Full bio
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to protect his safety.
para proteger su seguridad.
of herdspeople in Gujarat
de pastores en Gujarat
proviene mi propia familia.
his entire community was forced to move
se vio obligada a mudarse
on the land where they lived.
en la tierra donde vivían.
the same company built a cement factory
construyó una fábrica de cemento
environmental regulations on paper,
ambientales en el papel,
has violated many of them.
ha violado muchas de ellas.
covers Ravi's mustache
cubre el bigote de Ravi
and I coughed for a week.
y tosí durante una semana.
eat anything that grows in his village
comen algo que cultiva en su aldea
long distances with cattle and buffalo
largas distancias con ganado y búfalos
de pastoreo no contaminada.
have dropped out of school,
abandonaron la escuela,
to the company for years.
my family could cremate me with them.
con ellas mi familia podría incinerarme.
every one of those letters,
cada una de esas cartas,
the last means of protest
los últimos medios de protesta
with a bucket of petrol in his hands,
con un balde de gasolina en las manos,
without basic access to justice.
viven sin acceso básico a la justicia.
to their safety, their livelihoods,
a su seguridad, a su medio de vida,
that would protect these people,
que protegerían a estas personas,
never heard of those laws,
han oído hablar de esas leyes,
to enforce those laws
que deben hacer cumplir esas leyes
epidemic of injustice,
de injusticia,
on 50-year lease agreements,
en contratos de arrendamiento de 50 años,
they've ever known for a pittance
han conocido por una miseria
explique los términos.
pensar que eso está bien.
are raising their children
their air and their water.
that would protect these people,
que protegerían a estas personas,
de hacerlas valer.
to have decided that's OK.
haber decidido que está bien.
es el lenguaje que usamos
sobre la justicia
that hold us together.
que nos mantienen unidos.
ruled by the most powerful
por los más poderosos
the dignity of everyone,
my grandmother 20 years ago
a mi abuela hace 20 años
She didn't skip a beat.
en cierto modo.
ha salido mal.
and lawyers has gone wrong.
expensive, first of all,
somos caros, antes que nada,
on formal court channels
en los canales judiciales formales
for many of the problems people face.
problemas que enfrentan las personas.
in a cloak of complexity.
a la ley en un manto de complejidad.
para un oficial de policía.
there's something human underneath.
hay algo humano debajo.
a reality for everyone,
sea una realidad para todos,
from an abstraction or a threat
de una abstracción o una amenaza
can understand, use and shape.
pueda entender, usar y dar forma.
in that fight, no doubt,
en esa lucha, sin duda,
solo a los abogados.
on doctors to serve patients.
para atender a los pacientes.
and community health workers.
y trabajadores de salud comunitarios.
community paralegals,
asistentes legales de la comunidad,
the communities they serve.
de las comunidades a las que sirven.
look for a solution.
a buscar una solución.
local government, an ombudsman's office.
gobierno local, una oficina del ombudsman.
we're both going to grow."
saved my own relationship to law.
salvaron mi propia relación con la ley.
I almost dropped out.
de Derecho, casi me retiro.
have listened to my grandmother.
haber escuchado a mi abuela.
working with paralegals
a trabajar con paralegales
about the law again,
esperanzado en la ley,
the gates of that factory
a las puertas de esa fábrica
before he could follow through.
de poder seguir adelante.
mucho tiempo en la cárcel,
of community paralegals
de asistentes jurídicos comunitarios
on the Gujarat coast.
en la costa de Gujarat.
that there was law on his side.
que había una ley de su parte.
something Ravi had never seen.
que Ravi nunca había visto.
with specific conditions.
condiciones específicas.
the legal requirements with reality,
los requisitos legales con la realidad,
but to two administrative institutions,
a dos instituciones administrativas,
and the district administration.
y la Administración del Distrito.
the creaky wheels of enforcement.
a girar las ruedas de la aplicación.
came for a site inspection,
vino para una inspección del sitio,
started running an air filtration system
a usar un sistema de filtración de aire
been using all along.
haber estado usando todo el tiempo.
from that plant every day.
de esa planta todos los días.
reduced the air pollution considerably.
mucho la contaminación del aire.
le dio esperanzas a Ravi.
walking alongside people like Ravi
junto a personas como Ravi
más de mil organizaciones
a thousand organizations
tens of thousands of community paralegals.
de asistentes jurídicos comunitarios.
de 5 millones de personas en Kenia
who faces a discriminatory vetting process
de selección discriminatorio
una tarjeta de identificación nacional.
in the United States.
no se puede solicitar un trabajo.
en la universidad.
for eight years, without success.
sin éxito obtener una identificación.
working in her community
que trabaja en su comunidad
cómo funciona la verificación,
how vetting works,
los documentos que necesitaba,
the documents she needed,
the vetting committee.
ante el comité de investigación.
with Hassan's help.
una identificación con la ayuda de Hassan.
for birth certificates for her children,
de nacimiento para sus hijos,
among many other problems,
in housing court have attorneys,
de viviendas tienen abogados,
un nuevo equipo de paralegales:
Access to Justice Navigators --
de Acceso a la Justicia
and to advocate for themselves.
la ley de vivienda y a defenderse.
brought to housing court
llevados al Tribunal de Vivienda
from these paralegals,
de estos asistentes legales,
can go a long way.
puede lograr mucho.
de lo que necesitamos.
a single dollar of support
un solo dólar de apoyo
the role paralegals play,
reconocen el papel de los paralegales,
contra el daño.
to give you the impression
win every time.
y sus clientes ganan todo el tiempo.
detrás de la aldea de Ravi,
the filtration system at night,
de filtración por la noche,
that the company would get caught.
que pillen a la empresa.
of the polluted night sky.
del cielo nocturno contaminado.
es irrespirable.
Ravi se declaró en huelga de hambre.
Ravi went on hunger strike.
lo suficientemente lejos".
the United States or anywhere else,
o en cualquier otro lado,
out of broken systems
de un sistema corrupto
están a la par.
to support and protect
y proteger urgentemente
around the world,
de a pie en todo el mundo,
is working in practice.
de un sistema en la práctica.
of the system as a whole.
del sistema en su conjunto.
to laws and policies.
a las leyes y políticas.
have drawn on their case experience
han aprovechado su experiencia de caso
for the handling of minerals.
para el manejo de minerales.
are using data from thousands of cases
están usando datos de miles de casos
es inconstitucional.
of approaching reform.
de abordar la reforma.
flying into Myanmar
que vuela a Myanmar
to cut and paste from Macedonia,
y pegar desde Macedonia,
from the experience of ordinary people
en la experiencia de la gente común
y los sistemas funcionen.
between people and law
entre las personas y la ley
great challenges of our times.
de nuestro tiempo.
environmental collapse
por la contaminación
to the land and the water,
le sucede a la tierra y al agua,
or expanding opportunity
ni ampliar las oportunidades
their basic rights.
sus derechos básicos.
politicians prey upon
los políticos autoritarios
to ask permission to share his story.
pedir permiso para compartir su historia.
he wanted to give people.
que quisiera dar a la gente.
fight using law rather than guns.
usando la ley en vez de pistolas.
પાંચ વર્ષ સુધી, પણ ન્યાયાધીશ ન કરો",
maybe not in five years,
tal vez no en cinco años,
is being poisoned every single day,
está siendo envenenada todos los días,
puede darse por vencido.
"fighting with paper"
"pelear con papel"
version of democracy
más profunda de la democracia
every few years,
and institutions that hold us together,
e instituciones que nos mantienen unidos,
even the least powerful,
incluso los menos poderosos,
usar la ley y crearla.
what the Sustainable Development Goals are
and strong institutions.
Paz, justicia e instituciones fuertes.
the Millennium Development Goals?
los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio?
and governments around the world,
y los gobiernos de todo el mundo,
laudable things.
dos tercios, reducir el hambre a la mitad,
by two thirds, cut hunger in half,
of justice or fairness
a la justicia o la equidad
during the 15 years
what justice demands,
en la justicia,
unless we take justice into account.
tengamos en cuenta a la justicia.
about the next development framework,
sobre el próximo marco de desarrollo,
Desarrollo Sostenible 2030,
around the world
alrededor del mundo
and legal empowerment
a la justicia y el empoderamiento legal
more contentious than the other ones,
más polémicas que las otras,
whether it was going to come through.
la noche anterior si se aprobaría.
incluye la justicia para todos,
commits to access to justice for all,
Let's clap for justice.
acompañados de grandes compromisos:
by big commitments:
de la Fundación Gates
from the Gates Foundation
financiación pública-privada
for health care for women and children.
we had the words on the paper,
teníamos las palabras en el papel,
and the challenge that we face right now.
el desafío que enfrentamos ahora.
development without justice,
alcanzar desarrollo sin justicia,
mejorar sus vidas
if they can't exercise their rights,
is turn that rhetoric,
es cambiar esa retórica,
pueden hacer las personas de esta sala?
What can people in this room do?
or a hundred dollars, a million dollars,
el empoderamiento legal de las bases.
towards grassroots legal empowerment.
lo demás que nos importa.
everything else we care about.
to make this a public priority.
y a sus gobiernos
access to justice
el acceso a la justicia
that a government owes its people,
que un gobierno le debe a su pueblo,
or poor countries.
en tu propia vida.
be a paralegal in your own life.
or a problem where you live.
o un problema donde vives.
the city where you live?
un salario inferior al salario mínimo,
less than minimum wage
sin equipo de seguridad?
to get a solution.
para lograr una solución.
come together to improve those rules.
para mejorar esas reglas.
using law and shaping law,
usamos la ley y modelamos la ley,
that deeper version of democracy
más profunda de la democracia
desperately needs.
necesita desesperadamente.
VM: Gracias.
VM: Thank you.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Vivek Maru - Legal empowerment advocateVivek Maru is the founder of Namati, a movement for legal empowerment around the world powered by cadres of grassroots legal advocates.
Why you should listen
More than four billion people around the world live outside the protection of the law. Vivek Maru founded Namati in 2011 to grow the movement for legal empowerment, building cadres of grassroots legal advocates, also known as "community paralegals," in ten countries so far. The advocates have worked with more than 65,000 people to protect community lands, enforce environmental law and secure basic rights to healthcare and citizenship. Namati convenes the Global Legal Empowerment Network, more than 1,000 groups from 150 countries who are learning from one another and collaborating on common challenges. Thanks to their work, access to justice is part of the UN's new global development framework, the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
From 2003 to 2007, Maru co-founded and co-directed the Sierra Leonean organization Timap for Justice, a pioneering model for delivering justice services in the context of a weak state and a plural legal system. From 2008 to 2011, he served as senior counsel in the Justice Reform Group of the World Bank. His work focused on rule of law reform and governance, primarily in West Africa and South Asia. In 1997–1998 he lived in a hut of dung and sticks in a village in Kutch, his native place, in western India, working on watershed management and girls' education with two grassroots development organizations, Kutch Mahila Vikas Sanghathan and Sahjeevan.
Vivek Maru | Speaker | TED.com