BRAC Annual Report 2011 51
Human Rights and Legal Aid Services
Our approach: Three pillars of rights and justice Protect and promote human rights of poor and marginalised citizens and help them become agents of social change
BRAC’s work in human rights and legal aid services (HRLS) is one of the most impressive large scale legal aid programmes in the world today. A passion for justice is felt throughout the BRAC team, from the head of HRLS, Dr. Faustina Pereira, to every shebika (barefoot lawyer) who cares for their clients. But most importantly, when travelling with BRAC, you realise that clients trust BRAC completely as a professional organisation: they share their stories readily without fear of reprisal, and while expecting that their grievances will finally be heard. Not only are they heard, but these cases are mediated and even adjudicated. Stephanie Cohn Rupp Principal, Investments Omidyar Network
Legal education
Legal aid
Mobilisation
Empowering the poor, especially women, by building knowledge
Clinics numbering 530 nationwide to provide one-stop service
Raising awareness for action by engaging community leaders
volunteers, barefoot lawyers and staff
BRAC’s HRLS programme provides an enabling environment for people to seek equitable justice through formal and informal systems. Our blend of legal literacy initiatives throughout the country, with comprehensive legal aid services, helps to spread the awareness necessary to mobilise communities in advocating against injustice, discrimination and exploitation. Our legal education initiatives aim to empower people by building knowledge among women in particular, informing them of their basic legal and human rights so that they can defend themselves and resist discrimination and exploitation within their communities. We have 530 countrywide legal aid clinics run by field organisers. These ‘one stop’ service centres provide holistic legal aid and support services to clients who seek justice. Our community mobilisation activities engage community leaders through workshops to improve gender perceptions and build awareness for practical action in light of rights violations that occur
within the community. Participants from the local community leaders’ workshops form Human Rights Implementation Committees dedicated to strengthening the existing constitutionally guaranteed rights in the community. Our barefoot lawyers are critical leaders and key access points within communities who make legal representation and awareness-building sustainable. Our odhikar shebis, or legal aid volunteers, are trained to help clarify the legal process and make it easier for the disadvantaged to achieve justice in the wake of human rights infringements. Our legal aid services rely on a large network of panel lawyers for litigation, ensuring transparency in the formal legal sector and monitoring case results to ensure that clients’ cases are processed and receive fair judgement. An extensive network of like minded partners helps us conduct the writing of petitions, public interest litigations and knowledge generating exercises to collectively achieve mutual strategic goals.