A chapter from the Guide that poses questions to determine whether a national justice plan is the right approach to deliver action in your country.
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This resource is one chapter from the TAP Network’s Advocacy: Justice and the SDGs Guide, which can be accessed here. To view all the individual chapters and supporting resources, refer to the interactive online version of the Advocacy: Justice and the SDGs Guide here.
In general, the legal profession as a subject matter is not studied or monitored consistently by any particular institution, although there are many non-governmental organizations that gather data in connection with low income citizen’s access to justice. There is no statistical data regarding the practice of law in the country specifically. Public information is very limited and is focused mainly on the City of Buenos Aires or certain major cities and, therefore, does not cover Argentina as a whole. Although over the past decade the number of non-governmental organizations devoted to the area of justice has grown, there is still a lack of communication and cooperation between the different entities that are part of the judicial system such as public and private universities, federal and provincial governments, NGOs, bar associations, private professional associations and law firms. This presentation gathers information from different public sources in an attempt to provide a general view of the legal profession’s status in Argentina.
The biennial Grassroots Justice Prize is the world’s only competition recognizing grassroots organizations and institutions that are working to put the power of law into people’s hands. And now you have the chance to choose one of the winners!
We received nearly 200 applications from around the world for the Grassroots Justice Prize. A panel of judges shortlisted five candidates for the public vote award. These pioneering organizations use legal empowerment to tackle some of the most pressing issues of our time—land rights, women’s rights, children’s rights, and migrant rights. They work every day to narrow the justice gap that has left billions of people behind. Which one will win is up to you.
Learn about the five candidates below, and vote for your favorite to win!
We’ll announce the winner of the public vote—along with the winners of the Grassroots Justice Prize’s three main awards—at a special event on July 15, 2019, during the High-Level Political Forum in New York. The public vote winner will also receive an award of $1000 USD and a seat at the 2019 Legal Empowerment Leadership Course.
Country or region
Central America/North America
A quick look
In this 90-second video, founder and executive director, Cathleen Caron, explains why and how Justice in Motion is empowering migrants to defend their rights.
The justice challenge
In the face of overwhelming legal and practical barriers, many migrants who have suffered exploitation or abuse at the hands of employers or government officials give up their rights after leaving the United States. Other migrants who flee abuse, violence, and persecution are unable to remain in safety due to lack of evidence to support their claims. These migrants need “portable justice”: the right and ability to access justice across borders.
Organization and/or project’s mission
Justice in Motion (JiM) is dedicated to securing portable justice through legal, educational, and policy initiatives in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Central America. Essential to this transnational model is their Defender Network, a unique partnership of on-the-ground human rights organizations in Mexico and Central America. Justice in Motion makes sure that wherever migrants go their rights will follow.
How legal empowerment is used to address the injustice
Legal empowerment has been core to Justice in Motion’s mission since it’s founding 14 years ago. Our Defender Network, an alliance of 43 human rights organizations across Mexico and Central America, is now the primary vehicle for this work.
We support Defenders—on-the-ground lawyers and community—by providing them with in-depth trainings and resources on U.S. and Canadian legal frameworks. Defenders then provide accurate information and refer legal cases for people in their communities, whether they are evaluating the legitimacy of a work visa offer, or seeking justice for a civil rights violation during detention or deportation. Defenders work closely with these migrants to equip them with the knowledge, resources, and connections to defend their rights, no matter the borders they have crossed.
Project’s impact
In 2018, the U.S. separated more than 2,000 migrant families at the U.S. border. They deported more than 400 parents without their children and had no plan to reunite them, declaring the parents “ineligible” for reunification because they were no longer in the U.S. JiM’s cross-border model and Defender Network uniquely positioned us to respond to the crisis. Through a massive mobilization of the network and other allies, all 400 parents were found. The parents could decide if they wanted their children to return to their country of origin or stay in the U.S.
JiM accompanied 28 families as they reunified with their children and helped more than 24 parents denied a fair asylum process to connect with U.S. lawyers, document their claims, and submit them to the government. Now, Defenders are working with U.S. lawyers on civil rights claims for the families, and we are exploring advocacy projects to make sure the policy is never repeated.
“[The service provided by Justice in Motion] is invaluable. Without in-country contacts who know the system and understand the conditions on the ground, we wouldn’t be able to obtain evidence that we need to seek the relief our clients are looking for. It’s key. It’s important that actors based in the U.S. have relationships with human rights actors in Central America because our clients are migrants and folks who are engaged in traveling across borders, and our representation has to reflect that experience and history.” – Laura Rivera, Southern Poverty Law Center, United States
Country or region
Kenya
A quick look
In this 90-second video, program officer Lengoisa John Samorai provides a brief description of the Ogiek People’s Development Program’s work and recent achievements.
The justice challenge
The land rights of Kenya Ogiek community have been violated over time through dispossessions and ejection from the Mau Forest Complex for conservation purposes. The communities impacted have sought to resist through activism and litigation as this was going to deny them access to resources such as water, pastures for grazing their livestock, and the denial of their cultural practices. Despite a court ruling in their favor, members of the Ogiek community still face land grabs and related challenges which include threats of eviction, harassment, arrest, court charges, and destruction and loss of property and lives in the event of evictions.
Organization and/or project’s mission
To empower the Ogiek community in a Kenyan society that embraces equality and diversity, Ogiek Peoples’ Development Program (OPDP) strives to promote and advocate for the participation, self-determination, and improved human rights through enhanced inclusivity and of equal opportunity in the economic, social, cultural, and political spheres.
How legal empowerment is used to address the injustice
The Ogiek have been using legal means to challenge their denial of rights and access to resources. In 2009, following a mass eviction notice by Kenya Forest Service, the Ogiek community, with support from OPDP, lodged a case with the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR) arguing that the intended eviction will have far-reaching consequences on the political, social, and economic survival of the Ogiek community. In 2012, the ACHPR referred the Ogiek’s case to the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights (ACtHPR), on the basis that it demonstrated serious and mass human rights violations.
On 26 May 2017, the ACtHPR finally delivered its landmark judgment in the case. The Court found the Kenyan Government had violated articles of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, with the violations amounting to a persistent denial of Ogiek land rights and their religious freedoms.
OPDP has been conducting community-level awareness, sensitization, and training to support the Ogiek community’s understanding of the human rights issues as well as mechanisms to protect their human rights including the constitution, laws and policies. This has helped the community to prevent as well as report violations meted on them. Further, OPDP’s capacity building has enhanced the community’s dialogue with the government in making appropriate demands in regards to resources and government opportunities.
About 50 community paralegals have been trained between 2012 and 2018. They play the role of human rights monitors and community mobilizers, giving legal education and documenting violations as well as reporting on community issues. Between 2015 and 2016, they supported two communities to map their land in parts of the Mau forest.
Project’s impact
To over 40,000 Ogiek in Kenya, the favorable 2017 case ruling provides a mechanism for the recognition and restoration of their ancestral lands of the Mau forest. However, the ruling is also significant to thousands other minority and indigenous peoples in Kenya and in Africa as it provides them with a unique platform to seek recognition of their rights as well as to advocate for changes in the law, policy, and practice governing the rights of indigenous peoples.
The government of Kenya formed a task force mandated to look into the issues of the Ogiek and other indigenous peoples. The task force will also research and conduct country sensitization about indigenous peoples.
Country or region
Liberia
A quick look
In this 90+-second video, Daniel Wehyee describes Sustainable Development Institute’s mission and how it has advanced land rights in Liberia.
The justice challenge
Liberia is a predominantly agrarian nation; most families make their livelihoods as rural small-scale farmers. However, most rural communities do not have a formal title to their customary land. At the same time, the Liberian government regards all land that is not deeded to be public land, thereby further weakening the customary land tenure rights of most of the citizens who live and work on these lands.
Meanwhile, the government’s economic growth agenda, outlined in a number of policy documents including the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper and the President’s National Vision, is based on private-sector-driven investment in the natural resource sector, specifically forestry, agriculture, and mining. This system has enabled large-scale land acquisitions to occur, which has contributed to the dispossession of communities through the long-term transfer of user rights, and sometimes ownership rights, to foreign investors or local elites. This has, in turn, led to greater competition for fewer resources and a breakdown of the customary rules that have governed the equitable and sustainable use of common resources.
Organization and/or project’s mission
The Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) works to transform decision-making processes in relation to natural resources and to promote equity in the sharing of benefits derived from natural resource management in Liberia. Its activities cover a range of cross-cutting issues including governance and management; the environment; state and corporate social responsibility; economic and social justice for rural populations; and the democratic participation of ordinary people in government management of natural resources.
The organization’s vision is a Liberia in which natural resource management is guided by the principles of sustainability and good governance and benefits all Liberians.
How legal empowerment is used to address the injustice
To address Liberia’s weak land tenure system and resulting land-based conflicts, SDI supports communities, civil society organizations (CSOs), and national and local government to recognize and protect customary land rights. More specifically, SDI has been engaged with the following activities:
Project’s impact
SDI received the Goldman Environmental Prize, the world’s largest prize honoring grassroots environmentalists for outstanding environmental achievements, in 2006.
SDI’s work has meaningfully contributed to the forest and land reform processes of the country. For example, SDI played a leading role in ensuring the passage of the Land Law which secures the rights of over 3 million Liberians to own and manage their land, particularly those in rural areas that have been historically marginalized and denied formal legal recognition of their customary land and resources.
SDI has supported over 60 communities across 500 towns and villages to identify and map their customary and natural resources, including setting land use and management systems (bylaws and land management committees). These communities have met the necessary requirements to legal recognition.
SDI has also empowered communities to manage and protect their customary land against external threats. For example, through SDI’s Early Warning and Response System (a system that provides real-time on phone support to communities), some communities are now taking actions to ensure the protection of their customary land.
In addition, through SDI’s work, many fraudulent land transactions have been exposed, including the infamous Private Use Permits (PuP) scandal, in which commercial forestry stakeholders, the national elite, and high-level government officials colluded on a massive scale with local leaders to defraud the country of over 40 percent of its rich forest land to commercial logging interest.
Country or region
Cambodia
A quick look
In this 2-minute video, This Life Cambodia explains the context and need for their domestic violence work, and why they deserve your support in the Grassroots Justice Prize public vote.
The justice challenge
While we provide a range of legal empowerment services and advice, our main focus for this award is our legal empowerment of women and children facing domestic violence.
Domestic violence is a profound problem in Cambodia. At least 1 in 5 women experience violence from a spouse or partner, while 50% of children report violence from adults in their lives. The problem is compounded by social attitudes which make people believe this to be normal – indeed, until recently, the “Chbab Srey” (or “Women’s Law”) was taught in Cambodian schools, and demanded subservience and obedience from women towards their husbands. While this practice has now ended, the attitudes linger. This is one reason why only 1 in 4 women who experience violence seek any help: 40% of those who do not say it is because they consider the violence “normal”.
Organization and/or project’s mission
This Life Cambodia’s vision is for vulnerable children, families, and communities in Cambodia to be supported to access and create opportunities in this life. Our mission is to listen to, engage with and advocate alongside children, families, and communities as they define and act on their own solutions to complex social challenges.
How legal empowerment is used to address the injustice
Our legal empowerment work is split into two areas: public campaigning at a national level and direct, grassroots action at a local level.
Nationally, we launched a major campaign raising awareness of the law in November 2018. We created a set of online legal resources including a readable copy of the law, the first audio version of the law for people who could not read, and a list of places to go to seek intervention, help, and support. We believe this to be the best legal resource on domestic violence in Cambodia. We promoted these resources through a creative short film and a 16-day online campaign of endorsements and messages against domestic violence from highly influential and famous Cambodians. This campaign included creative elements such as a digital protective helmet full of legal advice for people to download and save to their smartphones. The campaign was backed by widespread media coverage in newspapers and events in the community, helping reach women who are not online.
At the grassroots level, we have worked informally over many years to advise women on their legal rights as part of our community-based work to strengthen families facing difficulties including poverty, criminal activity, and violence. We began properly researching the issue of domestic violence and how to tackle it in 2014 and published a report exploring the problem in depth. Following the research, we piloted a program which included legal empowerment as a key component, and the results were so successful that in 2018 we rolled out a full program called ‘This Life Without Violence.’
Our ‘This Life Without Violence’ program works on several levels to provide legal advice and support to women, including monthly meetings attended by hundreds where advice and information are offered, training on violence and the law for local authorities including police, and work with secondary school students to teach them about the law and gender equality at an early age.
Project’s impact
For our national campaign, the scale of the impact was vast. Our video informing people of the law was seen by more than 1 million Cambodians, and the campaign materials were shared on Facebook more than 9,000 times. In all, the Facebook campaign alone reached over 1,800,000 people—which is more than 1 in 10 of the population. Most importantly, more than 13,000 people visited our web page of legal advice and resources. All of this will have led to greatly increased awareness of the law, which we will continue to measure this year through formal surveys. In addition, we received messages publicly and privately from people who said they had been inspired by the information to take action.
At the grassroots level, more than 900 women have now attended our monthly meetings and received legal advice, though we believe our work to educate 100 local authority members will mean that many thousands of women stand to benefit from authorities who understand their legal obligations to protect them. We know of many women who were facing violence and did not seek any kind of intervention who, upon learning their rights, went on to do so, and are now living free of violence as a result. Our program has just been expanded thanks to the success of what has been achieved so far and we now have the funding to reach 7,389 direct beneficiaries over the next 3 years.
Sabay News, perhaps Cambodia’s most popular news outlet, wrote: “This campaign can raise awareness of laws and save Cambodians from the suffering caused by violence.”
“We used to experience domestic violence very often; most of the time when my husband is drunk he came home and he fought with me. My kids can’t sleep and my neighbors, they can’t sleep also. I have joined with the women’s group for three months. I have learnt how to communicate with my husband and then we reduced the violence. I feel really happy about this.” – Women’s group participant
We have [received] a letter from the District Governor of Soutr Nikom requesting the expansion of ‘This Life Without Violence’ to encompass the whole district, an additional eight communes.
The Department of Women’s Affairs is very supportive of the ‘This Life Without Violence’ program in its current operations and has stated in discussions with TLC that they would like to see an increase in scale to support a larger number of local communities to deal with this pervasive issue.
Country or region
Guatemala
A quick look
In this 2-minute video, Women’s Justice Initiative outlines its mission and methods for reducing violence against women and girls, and why they deserve your support in the Grassroots Justice Prize public vote.
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The justice challenge
Guatemala faces some of the highest levels of violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the world: 27.9% of women suffer from intimate partner violence in their lifetime and the country has the third highest femicide rate globally.
Rural, indigenous women are disproportionately impacted due in part to their social isolation and limited access to resources. Social services and government institutions are concentrated in Guatemala’s cities; they rarely reach indigenous women living in rural areas.
Those women who leave their communities to seek assistance often face discrimination due to their ethnicity in addition to the challenge of navigating a system that does not offer bilingual services. Administrative and geographic barriers are further compounded by social norms that view violence against women and girls as acceptable.
Organization and/or project’s mission
Women’s Justice Initiative (WJI) works in rural Maya communities in Guatemala where women face extreme poverty and have little or no access to social services, making them especially vulnerable to violence, inequality, and discrimination.
Their mission is to improve the lives of indigenous Guatemalan women and girls through education, access to legal services, and gender-based violence prevention.
WJI envisions a Guatemala in which women:
How legal empowerment is used to address the injustice
WJI addresses the challenges indigenous Maya-Kaqchikel women face by providing free, culturally-grounded, legal support; bilingual legal education; and leadership training in 32 communities in rural Guatemala through its 4 programs: Women’s Rights Education, Legal Services, Community Advocates, and Adolescent Girls.
The Women’s Rights Education Program is a six-month legal empowerment course that educates women about their rights, including the right to live free from violence, sexual and reproductive rights, and property and inheritance rights. The program also fosters the women’s leadership, decision-making, and communication skills so they can better assert their rights.
The Community Advocates Program is a grassroots legal advocacy program that provides intensive human rights and leadership training to graduates of the Women’s Rights Education Program, enabling them to become local leaders and grassroots legal advocates for women and girls in their communities. These Community Advocates support WJI in facilitating legal literacy workshops and providing accompaniment to women seeking legal services.
The Legal Services Program provides free legal aid directly to women in need by bringing lawyers and paralegals to their communities and providing bilingual Maya Kaqchikel-Spanish resources.
The Adolescent Girls Program supports girls ages 10 to 17 in asserting their rights, delaying marriage, and achieving their personal goals.
Project’s impact
Women’s Justice Initiative has reached over 13,000 individuals since 2011. Annually, WJI directly benefits 2,500 indigenous women and girls between the ages of 10 and 65, who live in 32 rural communities.
The responsibility for delivering legal aid services in Canada lies with the provincial and territorial governments. The governing legislation and the administrative structure for operationalizing the services differs in each province and territory.
For the purposes of this 2015 National Report, two Canadian provinces, British Columbia (B.C.) and Ontario, are featured. Both are engaged in transformation efforts designed to improve the breadth and reach of their services to low income individuals and disadvantaged and vulnerable communities.
PILnet is an international organization that envisions a world where the rule of law, as developed and supported within a wide variety of countries, delivers justice and protects human rights. PILnet connects with local partners to develop the institutions essential to rights-respecting societies. It inspires and equips lawyers to serve the public interest, strengthens the ability of civil society to help shape law and policy, and makes formal systems of justice more accessible. In addition to its New York headquarters, PILnet conducts its work from offices in Budapest, Moscow and Beijing.
PILnet has three major objectives in China: 1) to help expand the scope and effectiveness of public interest law networks advancing the rights of women, migrants and other vulnerable populations in China; 2) to promote an understanding of pro bono as “lawyers’ social responsibility” and support the development of new models to facilitate pro bono work; and, 3) to develop the career paths open to students and lawyers interested in engaging in public interest advocacy.
The Country Director will be responsible for PILnet’s program in mainland China and Hong Kong, overseeing all activities, contributing significantly to further program development and fundraising, and representing PILnet to donors and other partners. Leading candidates will be lawyers with demonstrated expertise and interest in legal reform and public interest law, a deep knowledge of the Chinese context, as well as strong project management skills. The position offers a competitive salary and benefits package.
Key responsibilities
Strategy Development & Program Management
Management & Administration
Qualifications
Application instructions
To apply: Please email a resume, brief cover letter and two writing samples, tochinacountrydirector@pilnet.
Deadline: 2 November 2012
Only those offered interviews will be contacted. No phone calls, please.
PILnet is an equal opportunity employer and encourages candidates of all racial, ethnic and religious backgrounds to apply. Personnel are chosen on the basis of ability without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, marital status or sexual orientation.
This report presents the findings of a review of legal services for people living with HIV/AIDS and other vulnerable and at-risk populations conducted in Uganda between September and November 2007. Based on interviews with civil society organizations (CSOs) and community-based organizations (CBOs) working on HIV, policy makers, people living with HIV/AIDS, and government bodies, the review examines the legal and policy framework related to HIV/AIDS in Uganda and interrogates the extent to which this framework offers real protection and facilitates access to justice or other mechanisms of redress for those living with, affected by, or at risk of HIV/AIDS. The review concludes by identifying several opportunities for programming that will address the dearth of HIV-related legal services in Uganda.
This fact sheet contains legal aid snapshots for nine countries in Europe: Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, and Poland.
The snapshots outlines each country’s legal aid system, how their system is financed and monitored, who is eligible for legal aid, and the quality of the legal aid provided.
The fact sheet is apart of Legal Aid in Europe Brief, which can be accessed here.
Conflict over land is a key concern in Myanmar. Land governance bears the mark of past injustices, and as the country opens up to new investments in its farmland and natural resources, changes are putting the livelihoods and land of smallholder farmers at risk. Open Data Myanmar (ODM) is a web-based database providing information on land disputes from across the country.
This report presents the establishment of ODM, set against the recent political changes that took place in the country. It outlines the key features and activities that form the first stage of the ODM project, reviews the successes achieved and the obstacles encountered so far, including the challenges of developing a web-based platform in a country with limited telecommunications infrastructure. Finally, it shares lessons for future development and tips for successful replication elsewhere.
Abstract: Sierra Leone is one of the fastest growing economies in Africa, with mining and agriculture as the primary industries driving such economic growth. However, despite the booming economic conditions, there are various environmental issues that the country is facing that impact and hinder the economic and environmental stability of the country. The country is rich in natural resources, most particularly mineral resources.
The purpose of the study is to critically analyze the various environmental policies and legislative efforts made by the government through the Sierra Leone Environmental Protection Agency. It further investigates the various environmental issues and problems addressed by these existing policies and legislations, as well as evaluate their effectiveness. Five administrators and heads of the Environmental Protection Agency were interviewed. Findings showed that there were various policies and legislative efforts instigated in order to protect and conserve their natural resources, primarily their mineral resources, water resources, land resources and coastal and marine resources.
Analysis also showed that some of these policies and legislations are less effective in meeting their purpose due to various factors such as poor governance, lack of infrastructure, human resources management ineffectiveness, lack of public awareness and many others. Recommendations were provided following the analysis.
This publication examines the connection between provision of legal aid services and realization of human rights guarantees through a series of thematic and country-specific articles, drawn from experiences of authors from 13 countries in Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe and North America.
The Kyiv Declaration on the Right to Legal Aid, 2007, is attached as an appendix to this publication. The Kyiv Declaration underlines the responsibility of Governments to implement sustainable, quality controlled, legal aid programs that deliver legal aid services without discrimination to all people within their jurisdictions.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction, Paul Dalton and Hatla Thelle, DIHR
1. CONTEXTS AND CROSS-SECTIONS
A Human Right to Legal Aid; Simon Rice
Access to Justice and Legal Education: Challenges and Suggestions; Thomas Geraghty
Where there is no lawyer: a strategy to develop primary justice services; Adam Stapleton
2. CASE STUDIES
China: China under transition to Rule of Law – the Role of Legal Aid and Advocacy organizations; Huang Jinrong, Wang Fang & Hatla Thelle
Malawi: Access to Justice: the State of Legal Aid Services in Malawi; Bruno Kalemba
The Philippines: Developmental Legal Advocacy: Meeting the Challenge of Relevance and Responsiveness; Leo Battad
South Africa: Holistic Approaches to the Delivery of Legal Aid Services – the South African experience; David McQuoid Mason
Uganda: Redefining Access to Justice: Informal Justice Mechanisms and Alternative Dispute Resolution; Elinor Chemonges
Zambia:The Challenges of Fostering a Human Rights Culture and Best Practices in the Provision of Legal Aid Services: the Zambian situation; Paul Mulenga
Indonesia: Assessing the performance of court-appointed lawyers in Indonesian legal aid according to the international
standards; Uli Sihombing
Russia: Legal Aid in Civil Cases in the Russian Federation; Anton Burkov
South Africa: The Promotion of Access to Justice by University Law Clinics in South Africa; Seehaam Samaai
APPENDICES
1. The Kyiv Declaration on the Right to Legal Aid, 2007
2. The Lilongwe Declaration on Accessing Legal Aid in the Criminal Justice System in Africa, 2004
3. Resolution 100(XXX) 06 of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights Resolution on the Adoption of the Lilongwe Declaration on Accessing Legal Aid in the Criminal Justice System, 2006
4. Republic of Uganda Statutory Instrument, 70/2004, The Advocates (Student Practice) Regulations