Legal Aid Needs to be Taken to the Countryside - CJ
Kampala. The Chief Justice, Hon. Justice Bart Katureebe, has appealed to legal service providers and Legal Aid Associates to work at ensuring that their services extend to rural areas. He made the remarks during the opening of the first Legal Aid Innovations Conference at Hotel Africana on September 8, 2017.
The Chief Justice cited research from The Hague Institute for Innovationand the Law that shows that 80 per cent of advocates in the country are basedin urban areas.
"A report by The Hague Institute for Innovation and the Law (HiiL) on Justice Needs 2016 revealed that 88% of Ugandans experienced difficulty in accessing justice in the past four years with land and family cases being rated as the top two most critical disputes,"he said.
The study according to the Chief Justice,found the justice system complex to navigate, expensive and in many cases not capable of producing fair outcomes. "This report attributed this lack of accessibility to both physical and functional constraints."
He added that the Justice and Law Order Sector (JLOS) annual report 2014/2015 estimates that only 18% of Ugandans receive legal aid services annually. This leaves the majority, especially the poor and most vulnerable, unable to access justice.
Court of Appeal Justice, Hon. Remmy Kasule,called upon universities that offer Law courses to emulate Makerere University Law School by setting up Law Clinics through which they can directly participate in solving community problems.
Various legal Aid Providers who include Public interest Law Clinic (PILAC), National Union of Disabled Uganda (NUDIPU),FIDA, Law Development Center (LDC) Legal clinic and African Prisons Project took part in the event showcased and interacted with participants on their duties regarding Legal Aid projects.
About the conference
The Legal Aid Conference is going to bean annual event and platform where best practices and innovations in legal aid are shared with a creative approach towards access to justice as a necessary catalyst to improve legal aid service provision. It will provide a space for sharing current progressive thinking and will enable key actors to recognize and implement innovations in legal aid service delivery especially low cost initiatives that increase efficiency in accessing justice.
Posted 15th, September 2017
