Justice and Human Rights Myanmar Project #19143

Establishing Legal Aid in Post-Conflict Countries

by The International Legal Foundation

Project Report | May 31, 2016
ILF's Nepal Program Prepares for Independence

By Liz Riegel | Development and Communications Officer

Betsy and Rick with ILF-Nepal staff

The ultimate goal of all ILF programs is to establish effective, sustainable, locally-run, government-supported public defender systems in post-conflict and transitional countries. In Nepal, where the ILF established a public defender office in 2007, we are now taking the final steps toward transitioning ILF-Nepal into a locally registered Nepali public defender office.

Over the past several years, the ILF has worked to progressively nationalize ILF-Nepal. Supervision and training was turned over to local lawyers, while fiscal accountability and management gradually shifted from the ILF’s headquarters in New York to local staff. ILF-Nepal then registered with the Government of Nepal as a public defender office, the first organization in Nepal to do so.

After ILF-Nepal’s official transition to local management, scheduled for June 2016, it will be known as the Public Defender Society of Nepal, or PDS-Nepal. PDS-Nepal’s Constitution states that its objectives are to preserve the constitutional right to free legal representation; to enhance access to justice; to explore ways to reduce the number of detainees and prisoners in Nepal; to conduct research related to the provision of criminal defense services for indigent and marginalized accused; to conduct training programs for public defenders and other legal practitioners; and to organize and execute any other necessary and appropriate programs related to the administration of criminal justice, the rule of law, and fair trials.

To assist in this transition, in April 2016 ILF Program Officer Betsy Walters traveled to Nepal with Rick Jones, Executive Director of the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem (NDS). Rick and Betsy conducted an assessment of the management structure and operating procedures of ILF-Nepal, in order to understand whether there are changes that should be made to make the country program more efficient and effective. The trip was an exchange that allowed local Nepali management direct access to the expertise of one of the largest public defender office in New York.

As the head of NDS, Rick Jones has unique experience working with justice sector actors to ensure access to justice. He is also experienced in developing the capacity of lawyers and ensuring quality services; engaging in effective case intake mechanisms; and managing the administration of a large public defender organization. Insight into all of these areas is invaluable to local leadership in Nepal as they transition into a local independent public defender office.

During the trip, in addition to assessing the program in terms of case management, case intake, quality service provision and leadership. Rick and Betsy also met with various stakeholders, including district court judges in Lalitpur and Kathmandu, and the newly elected executive committee of the Nepal Bar Association, to discuss long-term development of ILF-Nepal's programs and criminal legal aid in Nepal overall. A major focus was on helping the government of Nepal and the judges within the Lalitpur district court to envision an early access mechanism. Rick gave these stakeholders examples of how the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem and other legal aid services in New York provide representation at this stage of the case.

As a follow-up, the team will produce a report with their findings and recommendations, which will be of use to ILF-Nepal as it prepares to fully transition to autonomy as PDS-Nepal. The report will also be used in helping ILF set benchmarks for new and existing programming around the world.

ILF-Nepal and members of the Nepali justice sector

Ajay, head of ILF-Nepal, with Betsy and Rick

The women lawyers of ILF-Nepal with Betsy

Permalink

Mar 1, 2016
Protecting Human Rights Through Early Access

By Nicole Taylor | Project Leader

ILF-West Bank's dedicated lawyers and staff

The leading global advocate for the right of the poor to legal counsel, the ILF assists countries emerging from conflict or in transition to establish quality, effective criminal legal aid systems. To date, we have established public defender systems in Afghanistan, Nepal, the West Bank, and Tunisia. In 2016, the ILF is working to expand our reach – with the help of our supporters on GlobalGiving. We’re focusing on assisting government in other parts of the world, such as Liberia, Myanmar, and the Ukraine, in upholding the rule of law by ensuring access to justice to poor and marginalized accused, particularly during the earliest stages of the case.

When the ILF determines there is a need for its services in a particular country, we review the constitution and other laws, and identify whether basic fair trial principles exist in law. Without the baggage of the history and practices of the country, the ILF’s legal experts often identify legal rights of the accused that local lawyers were not aware of, and have never utilized. The ILF then works to train local lawyers, case-by-case, day-by-day to argue for those rights to be upheld.

One crucial aspect of the right to legal aid which the ILF will target in these countries in 2016 is the right to early access to a lawyer.In most courts around the world, investigation documents prepared by the police have a significant impact on the development of the case against a defendant, and ultimately in the court’s decision. Without access to a lawyer at the beginning of the criminal justice process, abuse and torture by police and interrogators is generally left unchecked. Information that determines the outcome of a trial is often obtained at the arrest or interrogation stage, and if a lawyer is not present, police or prosecutors frequently coerce detainees into confessing. It is critical that all accused have early access to quality counsel to protect and advocate for their rights by challenging illegal practices.

One recent example of the importance of this occurred in the ILF's West Bank office. The client, a poor day laborer, was arrested and charged with weapons charges which could have resulted in a lengthy prison sentence. However, at trial, his ILF defense lawyer successfully argued, and was able to show, that the client was tortured into confessing by being beaten and hung in chains from the ceiling, and that thus the statements made to police during their investigation were unreliable and null. The court agreed, showing its commitment to upholding both national and international law, and ruled that the statement was inadmissible - ultimately acquitting the client.

ILF-West Bank at work

Lawyer Emad Salaymih, whose client was tortured

Permalink

Dec 1, 2015
Ukraine Up Next as Liberia and Myanmar Progress

By Jennifer Smith | Executive Director

Klov Palace, seat of Supreme Court of the Ukraine

The International Legal Foundation continues its work to address the global crisis in access to counsel for the poor, with the help of your donation through Global Giving. This year, our supporters’ donations have helped fund initial assessments of Liberia and Myanmar, allowing us to study the countries’ justice sectors and the current status of legal aid in both countries; in addition, our visits allowed us to make initial inroads with justice sector actors. Now that this groundwork has been laid, both projects have continued to progress. We’re currently focusing our efforts on developing a more comprehensive assessment of the needs of Myanmar’s justice system, based on the initial one funded by our supporters; in Liberia, we’re discussing the recommendations from our Liberia assessment with the Liberian Supreme Court and Public Defender Office as we develop plans for a full project there as well.

As these projects progress, we’ll share more details here on GlobalGiving. For more regular updates, please follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

The ILF is now preparing plans to conduct an assessment of the Ukraine’s legal aid system, funded in part by your donations. We’ve been invited to the Ukraine by the Director of the National Legal Aid Coordination Center, the government agency responsible for providing legal aid in the Ukraine. The ILF’s intervention is of particular importance given the still fragile ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, a perceived weak rule of law, and widespread corruption.

The right to free counsel for poor persons accused of a crime is enshrined in law in the Ukraine, yet many indigent accused are denied access to effective legal representation. There has been no comprehensive qualitative evaluation of Ukraine’s legal aid system; however, existing studies and reports reveal that poor and vulnerable persons charged with crimes in the Ukraine are systematically being deprived of adequate, effective representation. As a result of these deficiencies, indigent defendants suffer substantial harm to their constitutional rights. Complicating the matter, the head of the Ukraine’s legal aid agency is under attack from the Ukrainian Bar Association for attempting to challenge corruption and lack of independence of so-called “pocket” lawyers who work not in the interests of their clients, but in the interests of the police or prosecutors.

The ILF’s planned assessment of the current state of legal aid in Ukraine will be the first step in recommending reforms. It is only by understanding the current level of need for legal aid and assessing existing services that the Ukraine can remedy gaps in its legal aid system. The ILF will focus this assessment on practical reforms that the Government of the Ukraine can make to improve the accessibility, effectiveness, sustainability, and credibility of legal aid services in the Ukraine.

Photo credit: Klov Palace, seat of the Supreme Court of the Ukraine in Kiev. Photo by Jacek Halicki. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

Permalink

‹ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ›

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.