women’ rights ppp

8/7/2019 Women Rights PPP

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Women s Rights NUR/LAC

Background


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ESTABLSHMENT OF LAC

The NUR legal aid clinic was established in2001 by the Faculty of Law of the NationalUniversity of Rwanda in its efforts to helpvulnerable population. ( women, Children,Prisoners)Its creation appeared as an alternative to the

triple mission assigned to the NationalUniversity of Rwanda, i.e. education, resea rch and se rv ice to the community


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Education,

need to marry theory with practice in orderto allow Law students benefit from anadequate legal training.In addition, it has to be reminded that everycitizen, every relationship is affected by laws,which in more regulated societies aregoverned by often complex rules andenforcement mechanisms.


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Research:

major legal problems raised by the population because facts that needintervention of lawyers keep on increasing. E.g. conflicts related to succession, sexual violence against women andespecially children, claim for property, genocide trials, etc.

Service to the community ,

the following reasons explain the need of intervention of the legal clinic: Often people do not know the law or their individual rights; Others who might know their entitlements will lack the resources or confidence in the law to take cases forward. Ordinary people wishing to assertor clarify their rights therefore need the services of knowledgeable serviceproviders or professionals to guide them through the maze of the law: access tojustice. Good legal services (advice and assistance) are essential if the peopleof Rwanda are to recover confidence in going to the law.


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Research:

major legal problems raised by the populationbecause facts that need intervention of lawyerskeep on increasing. E.g. conflicts related tosuccession, sexual violence against womenand especially children, claim for property,genocide trials, etc.


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S ervice to the Community

the following reasons explain the need of intervention of the legal clinic: Often people do not know the law or their individualrights;

Others who might know their entitlements will lack theresources or confidence in the law to take cases forward.Ordinary people wishing to assert or clarify their rightstherefore need the services of knowledgeable serviceproviders or professionals to guide them through themaze of the law : access to justice . Good legal services(advice and assistance) are essential if the people of Rwanda are to recover confidence in going to the law.


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Only few professional lawyers are willing to offer their services in rural areas; professional lawyers are mostlyconcentrated in the main cities. The few professionallawyers working in rural areas are often too expensive

for the ordinary citizen. Apart from a geographicaldistance and a financial threshold, one often sees asocial distance between professional lawyers in the citiesand individuals in rural areas who need their assistance.These considerations combined show a lack of awareness of the law and individual rights, someweaknesses of legal assistance and access to justice.The universities legal aid clinics can play a major role inaddressing those issues


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S ince 2001, there has been a satisfyingprogress in the activities of the Legal Clinic. In2008, 1987 case were handled, while at thebeginning of its activities only 52 cases wereregistered


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MISSION AND OBJECTIVES OF THELEGAL AID CLINIC

The mission of the legal clinic in general is topermit the population to know about theirrights, to get back their rights and to facilitatethem for an easy access to justice. Thismission is realized through three objectives


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1. Assistance

This is offered in 4 ways:a . Legal ad vice : The persons with legal problems are given a legal adviceon how to proceed with their cases. This concerns enlightening themabout their rights, the procedures in courts of law especially the delay forlodging claims, appeals and execution of judgments. They are helped in

writing the arguments to be used in courts conclusions. In some cases, thelegal clinic makes visits to the field to verify information given by thepopulation.b . Rep resentation in cou rts : The legal clinic provides qualified lawyers torepresent in courts persons with complex legal problems that are analyzedby the administration of the legal clinic to be in the interest.c. Administ rati ve assistance : Sometimes local administration of sectors,districts and regions make decisions that violate the rights of the citizens,mostly by ignorance. Thus the legal clinic writes to them not as acommanding institution but reminding them of what they are required todo by the law.


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In precarious situations, the persons working with the legalclinic, that is administrators and lecturers working with thelegal clinic make visits to the administrative offices to helpits clients with administrative problems.

d . M ediation : Most of the legal problems that are broughtbefore the legal clinic involve relatives that are fathers andsons, mothers and daughters, cousins and nieces and otherpeople with blood relationship. The most cherished idea of the legal clinic in doing mediation is that justice is servedbut also maintaining strong family ties. Very often theclients are advised about the option of mediation and whenboth parties agree with the idea, then it is the privilege of the legal clinic to re-establish the broken social fabric.


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Resea rch

This one aims at knowing the reality on important legal questions thatpersons ask themselves after a thorough intervention.

Dissemination of laws

This is done through: Sensitisation

This sensitisation is done through teaching people by training them abouttheir personal rights and other related rights and through media.

P ub lication of legal info rmation

Brochures containing responses to questions that persons always askthemselves about different themes of law are published.


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ETHICS AND COM P ONENTS OF THELEGAL AID CLINIC

Legal Clinic is a compulsory course in the third-year law curriculum, counting for 12 creditsS tudents attend their clinical sessions onThursday afternoons in groups of 12-14. Theirinvolvement lasts one month, and other studentson the roster attend during the following months.

In addition, between 10 and 16 fourth-yearstudents serve their internship at the Clinic.


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This takes 2 basic forms:

At the beginning of the year, a substantial, three-hour briefing takes place during which studentsare informed of the outline of all the coursesundertaken for the year, and the expectations of their lecturers. Clinic staff use the opportunity toexplain the workings of the Clinic.

A further briefing aims at introducing studentsto interviewing techniques, and how they are toapproach the problems presented at the Clinic


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Thu rsday afte rnoon clinic sessions

These sessions are held on the veranda and grounds of the legal aid Clinicpremices , as the main venue is often booked for other meetings.This is a key component of the clinical programme. Clients arrive from Huye andsurrounding areas long before the sessions commence, often travelling greatdistances. In the early years the clinic consulted an average of 8 clients per week,but recently this number has increased to between 80 and 100 per week and 60% of them a re womenS tudents typically welcome the clients and obtain a broad outline of the client sproblem. T his is accomplished by allowing the client to speak freely, while thestudents took notes, pausing occasionally to ask questions for clarification.Once this is completed, the client is excused, and the students present their viewsof the problem posed by the clients, and are questioned by the supervisor aboutpossible approaches. Depending on the nature and complexity of the problem, theclient is called in and given advice about the way forward.The commonest problems relate to land and succession disputes . Other familydisputes, as well as the problem of executing judgments also featu re .


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Supe rv ision b y Lectu re rs

Supervision of students is undertaken by Clinic staff and volunteerlecturers. The supervisors are present throughout the duration of the clinic session which usually runs from 2.00 to 5.00 pm, andoften longer, depending on the number of clients present.The supervisors allow the students to conduct the interview,observing all the while, and intervene only occasionally if studentsomit to elicit relevant information. Thereafter, they lead thedebriefing of the interview and explore the ideas and solutionsgenerated by the students, engaging in collective problem solving.Occasionally, supervisors move from group to group, observing anumber of different interviews in progress. This enables them toidentify common trends in the issues brought to the Clinic as well asproblems encountered by students.


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Case follow-up

A recent addition is the Monday case follow-upsessions, following the Thursday client interviews.S

tudents are required to prepare their casereports in writing, which they then present totheir peers and supervisors. This provides themwith an opportunity to offer and receivecomment and criticism on their work.Other follow-up takes place as the work on a fileprogresses. S tudents are required to remainupdated.


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Field visits

These are essentially site visits to localities tofollow up cases received by the clinic.The objective is to hold discussions with localleaders, the disputants, their relatives andneighbours, in order to establish the facts and

attempt to find an amicable solution.The approach draws heavily on principles of mediation and pa r ticipato ry justice .


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RESEARCH

With financial support from PRODAD in 2006,it has carried out a multidisciplinary researchon the causes of the crime of rape againstchildren.In 2007, it carried out a research on the

causes of nationality conflicts in the regionsbordering with Burundi. The case study wasdistrict Nyanza and Gisagara


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Publications

13 brochures that help people to know their rights have been published. Those are:

Les successions lgales au Rwanda, Butare, 2003 ;De la gestion des biens des mineurs orphelins en droit rwandais, Butare, 2003 ;La protection des mineurs orphelins en droit civil rwandais, Butare, 2003 ;Droits et mesures de protection de l enfant contre la violence au regard de la loi n 27/2001 du

28/04/02001, Butare, 2003

L indemnisation des victimes d accidents de roulage, Butare, 2004 ;Les successions testamentaires au Rwanda, Butare, 2004 ;La protection des biens de l absent en droit rwandais, Butare, 2004 ;Guide du travailleur au Rwanda, Butare, 2004 ;Les droits de l inculp au Rwanda, Butare, 2005 ;Les violences domestiques au Rwanda, Butare 2005 ;Avenues in criminal redresses in Rwanda Law, Butare , 2005.- Guide du contribuable ;- A cquisition de la nationalit rwandaise ;- Ex cution des jugements ;- O rganisation, fonctionnement et comptence judiciaires


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LEGAL AID CLINIC STRUCTURE

FACULTY COUNCILMANAGEMENT COMMITT EECOORDINATOR NUR /LAC

DEPUTY COORDINATOR- NUR LEGALAID CLINIC IN CHARGE OFCLIENTSCLAIMSDEPUTY COORDINATOR - NUR LEGALAID CLINIC IN CHARGE OFEDUCAT ION,MOBILIZAT ION ANDRESEARCH1 Legal Assistant in charge of general ClaimsLegal Assistant in charge of Human Rights and HIV/AID S relatedClaims1 LEGAL Assistant n charge of Education, Mobiliation and ResearchNUR Legal Aid Clinic SecretaryNUR Legal Aid Clinic Administrative assistant


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PARTERNS HIP/ SATAKEHOLDERS

Legal aid ForumMinijustOffice of Ombudisman

CNLSHrdiDIHRWE-ACTUniversity Law ClinicBar association Etc

women’ rights ppp

Documents