Overview
Access to justice is about helping poor people get legal counsel. It is also about improving knowledge of the law, and accessing ways to solve disputes outside the formal justice system. In addition, it is about issues such as accessible courthouses, court files and judicial decisions, and proper protection for witnesses and victims.
To this end, PRAJ is implementing a strategy which involves building partnerships with government and non-government sectors. PRAJ is achieving this by:
- Assisting the Government to implement the legal aid strategy of the Legal and Judicial Reform Action Plan, and to follow through on the recommendations of the national legal aid survey;
- Expanding the reach of legal aid services; and
- Strengthening the capacity of Cambodia's existing legal aid NGO providers.
PRAJ's work with legal aid NGOs is particularly significant because most people in Cambodia get legal aid and learn about the law from human rights NGOs. NGOs also offer legal services in poor and remote areas, where there are few or no lawyers. PRAJ provides grant funding, training and technical assistance to key human rights NGOs working in the access to justice field.
The access to justice NGOs that PRAJ supports include organizations working on the rights of prisoners and detainees, and on women and children who are victims of human rights violations. Among them are:
- Cambodia Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC)
- Buddhism for Development (BFD)
- Community Capacities for Development (CCD)
- Cambodian Defenders Project (CDP)
- Cambodian Woman Crisis Center (CWCC)
- Friends International (FI)
- Legal Aid of Cambodia (LAC)
- Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO)
- Legal Support for Children and Women (LSCW)
PRAJ supports improvements to the quality and quantity of legal aid services in Cambodia by working not only with legal aid NGOs, but also with government institutions and individual legal aid lawyers in the following ways:
Capacity Building and Technical Assistance
Support to Lawyer Working Groups
Development of a Long-term Strategy for Legal Aid
Future Plans
- A national legal aid survey undertaken for the Royal Government’s Council for Legal and Judicial Reform (Long-term Strategy) shows that the majority of Cambodians have little understanding of their legal rights and how these rights can be protected. PRAJ will be working with selected NGOs and government institutions to improve the way information about legal rights is disseminated.
- PRAJ is exploring new ways for the legal community to get legal aid to poor and disadvantaged groups. These include the use of legal assistants, social workers and the private bar.
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