Justice Defenders
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Mission Statement
Defending justice with defenceless communities in Africa through legal education, training, and practice.
About This Cause
The lack of meaningful access to justice currently impacts nearly two of every three people worldwide. 253 mil defenceless people live in extreme conditions of injustice. From developing countries like Uganda to the United States (which has the highest population of people in prison globally) – we are living amidst a global justice crisis. This crisis is called the justice gap: the difference between the justice people want and need, and the justice received. The justice gap impacts 5.1 billion people Half of prisoners in low-income countries are detained pending trial. In Kenya, the official capacity of prisons is 27,000 while today’s population stands at 57,000. 4 of 5 prisoners in Kenya won’t ever meet an attorney – not even during their hearing. In Uganda, prisons have an occupancy level of nearly 300%. More than 250 Ugandan cases have been in the court system for 10+ years. Program: Education Against all odds, we provide unlikely students with access to a world-class legal education. The education offered to those in prison should be of a similar standard to that offered to those who make laws and send people to prison. We work with justice defenders from any background. Those willing and able to study, often in difficult and challenging circumstances, to reach a degree-level education. Our partnership with world-class universities, such as the University of London, enables us to provide a legal education through distance learning. Our classrooms are found in men’s and women’s prisons in Africa, where students are taught by qualified law tutors, visiting academics and professionals. Our students are following in the footsteps of Nelson Mandela, who studied law from prison in South Africa. Limited internet access, resources and security restrictions – even basic classroom facilities are hard to arrange. But in 2019 we had a class of more than 50 law students – both prisoners and prison staff. Working together, studying alongside their other responsibilities, and often acting as paralegals in our legal offices. As of 2019, 22 of our students have completed their Bachelor of Law undergraduate degrees [LLB] from UOL. In recent University of London law exams – taken by tens of thousands of students around the world – our students scored a 91% pass rate. It was our highest ever, and our students have consistently performed at the highest levels when compared to students who are free. We have also been amongst the University’s best performing in human rights law and jurisprudence. Just think. Our best performing law students – many who meticulously study by flash light in dark cells – are those who have been sentenced to death. Program: Training We provide in-house training for people in prison and prison staff to become peer educators, paralegals, and lawyers. This means they can provide simple, accessible legal services to those in need. This involves sharing simple, accessible information about the court process, as well as potentially life-changing legal advice. By the end of 2019, 250 trained paralegals worked across more than 40 prisons. We also provide professional development opportunities for prison officers, members of the judiciary, and allied professions. This UK secondment programme – in partnership with the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission – selects prison staff who have a track record of excellence. We build their capacity via rigorous training, networking, and leadership skills. And we work together to bring about strengthened justice systems and criminal justice reform in Africa. Program: Practice We provide free legal services to those without access to justice. Those who have trained with us as paralegals provide critical legal services within their community. Like overseeing legal practices, file tracing, advocating on individual cases, collaborating with pro bono partners for court appearances, conducting alternate dispute resolution, and seeking diversion from the formal court system. This practice takes place across Africa’s prisons, where we staff our legal offices with prisoners and prison officers alongside our team and volunteers. Some practices occupy their own building, newly built or repurposed, within the prison’s walls. Others take place under a tree or tarpaulin, or in a cell block where prisoners will sleep that night. In 2019, our legal awareness sessions reached more than 100,000 people. We are equipping the judiciary to make more effective decisions, because they get to hear both sides of the story. We are not acting as judges. Rather, we’re helping the judges to follow due process, by ensuring that each defendant can effectively engage at their hearing. When we imprison only guilty people, we do right by victims of crime. We reduce the number of future victims. And we help governments invest more resources in those who truly need to be rehabilitated. Impact Justice Defenders' impact creates a more equitable justice system in Uganda and Kenya. To date, we have worked in 46 prisons, with graduates of our legal education and training program having served over 24,000 prisoners in individual case resolution, resulting in over 12,600 releases and 24 overturned death sentences. Over 100,000 individuals have been reached with increased legal awareness. This year we enabled 13.340 virtual court sessions. Through strong cooperation with key government partners, there are now 250 active paralegals (51 of whom are currently enrolled in the UoL law program) in 23 prisons across Uganda and Kenya. These paralegals have the skills to prepare themselves and members of prison communities for court representation. In terms of improving access to justice for prisoners in general, an evaluation we recently completed with inmate respondents across 13 prisons in Uganda showed our program’s remarkable progress towards our goal. 83.31% of the inmates we interviewed reported that the protection of their fundamental rights has improved by Justice Defender’s work. 74.5% of inmates indicated that they understood their rights, and our paralegals completed 86.4% of the total active cases handled within the 18-month evaluation period. Beyond the numbers, qualitative feedback from our program participants gave us more insight into the wider impact of our program and how to improve our approach: Program graduates have remarked how their paralegal experience with Justice Defenders has helped them reintegrate into society despite the social stigma that typically comes from being an ex-inmate. Moreover, a few of our graduates have gone on to become well-respected and admired legal advocates and leaders. Susan Kigula, for instance, was our program’s first female law student and led a case, “Susan Kigula and 417 Others vs. Attorney General, 2009,” that resulted in the abolishment of mandatory death sentences for murder and armed robbery in Uganda. Another program graduate from Kenya, Morris Kaberia, also led a successful petition that led to the Supreme Court ruling against the discriminatory exclusion of sentenced prisoners from remission considerations.