A assessoria jurídica popular como estratégia de efetivação da dignidade da pessoa humana: caminhos para políticas públicas de acesso à justiça

Abstract

Access to justice, understood as a fundamental right and an indicator of democratic quality, is examined in its theoretical-historical development, in light of the renewal waves, and articulated with the practice of Popular Legal Advocacy (PLA). Methodologically, the study adopts bibliographic research of a qualitative nature, based on the analysis of academic literature and relevant legislation, with the aim of building a consistent theoretical framework on access to justice. Regarding its objectives, the study has a descriptive and exploratory character, as it systematizes concepts and obstacles related to human dignity and deepens the analysis of Popular Legal Advocacy as a strategy for the realization of rights. It is grounded in the understanding that PLA operates as an instrument for expanding access to justice among historically marginalized groups, combining rights education, community guidance, and collective support, thereby strengthening autonomy and promoting the human dignity enshrined in the 1988 Constitution. The review highlights the persistence and interdependence of economic, procedural, sociocultural, and structural obstacles that sustain systemic barriers to the effective exercise of rights. It is argued that PLA responds to these barriers by integrating technical legal assistance, popular education, and community mobilization, deindividualizing conflicts, building social evidence, and strategically engaging in networks and precedents, with structuring effects on justice policies and services. As a propositional synthesis, the study recommends the institutionalization of mechanisms for participation and social oversight, the funding and expansion of rights education initiatives and territorial presence, as well as the co-production of legal protection with community-based knowledge, while acknowledging tensions and limits associated with institutional conservatism, temporal mismatches, and risks of co-optation. It concludes that Popular Legal Advocacy offers a consistent path toward democratizing access to justice and realizing human dignity by aligning community-based practice, ethical critique, and legal-political strategy.