Following the conduct of a justice survey around knowledge, perception and attitude in Liberian communities it was underscored that when citizens face legal challenges, the lack of legitimacy, affordability, accessibility and timeliness of the formal justice system often prevents any feasible recourse. Extensive bureaucratic red tape coupled with transportation and legal costs, lawyer fees and opportunity costs of foregone work make the justice system not only physically but also financially unavailable to many. As pointed out in the UNDP/UNMIL Strengthening the Rule of Law in Liberia project documents, even before the civil war, the formal justice system was perennially weak. In a 64-page report published by Human Rights Watch, “No Money, No Justice’: Police Corruption and Abuse in Liberia,” describes the multiple criminal activities by corrupt police officers, from charging crime victims for every stage of an investigation, to extorting goods from street vendors. Similar accusations are also attributed to the courts and this has greatly undermined every sense that wrongdoing will be punished. It has hollowed out trust in public processes more broadly. In very low income, highly dense urban settings, disputes are frequent and other traditional justice mechanisms which still endure in rural areas are often absent because of the more transient, multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic nature of communities.
Given the above, we mobilized residents for town hall meetings in each community where the surveys were being conducted. Once they were mobilized, we provided a defense lawyer to interact with the community about issues raised from the survey, amongst other things, most people felt comfortable resolving their conflicts outside of the formal justice system. The defense lawyers supporting the informal resolution of cases said, it was right under the rule of law when people reach peaceful settlement without the involvement of the court. It is when people are unable to solve their differences peacefully then the formal justice or court process is sought. Alternative Dispute Resolution is best practice under the law. Others may think resolving cases outside the formal justice system is taken bread from their mouths but that isn’t the case as not everyone can afford the processes of the formal justice system and these people need to be heard to resolve their grievances peacefully and satisfactorily.
That said, during our follow up engagement with the communities on the findings of the survey reports, both chairpersons and local residents opted to be trained in dispute resolution to help resolve community disputes and this led to the formation of our Community Justice Teams (CJTs). These mediators or CJTs, having acquired the skills, tools and knowledge, developed the confidence to bring conflicting parties together and solve disputes. They get to know the local police and judicial authorities and build relationship with them. This allow the possibility for some of the civil and minor offenses reaching the formal justice system to be referred back to the community for the mediators to resolve. Parties involved in cases mediated by the CJT expressed satisfaction over the resolution process without any single instance of recidivism as the mediators followed up on resolved cases months later. Town crier walks around the community announcing the CJT that is nearby and accessible to solve disputes emanating from the community between conflicting parties. Criminal cases brought to the attention of the mediators are referred to the formal justice system through the police.
The results of the surveys conducted in the four locations where we work including West Point and Logan Town in Monrovia, Montserrado County, Bassa Community in Kakata, Margibi County and Kokoya/Demetae Road in Gbarnga, Bong County affirms the USIP Perceptions of Justice Report (2009), that Liberians pursue justice almost entirely in informal ways. This work helps to bridge the gap between the informal and the formal justice systems by both strengthening and bringing agreed procedures to trust-building and mediation; and by working with the formal system to reduce caseloads and improving efficiency, while also working with the concern parties to resolve disputes alongside their community— which helps to monitor the outcome. These mediators as members of their Community Justice Teams, play an important role in bridging the gap between informal resolution mechanisms at the community level—which can often turn violent—and the formal justice system—which is perceived as inaccessible to many
Alternative Dispute Resolution gives parties in dispute the opportunity to work through disputed issues with the help of a neutral third party. It is generally faster and less expensive than going to court. When used appropriately, they are flexible, cost-efficient, time-effective, and give the parties more control over the process and the results.
Thank you for sharing in detail, John. Adding to Given’s point, it’s important to know that alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and/or non-judicial mechanisms are available for communities to access. The high costs (not to mention time and energy needed) is a major turn off for some communities to take their cases forward.
There is need that law regarding the Constitution, Citizenship Act and Regulations that regulate the Registrars office to be explained to stateless individuals/ communities. This will entail simplifying these laws and highlighting the inconsistences and discriminatory sections of the laws. Such empowerment of such laws will enhance understanding and appreciation of what the position of the law is regarding citizenship. The stateless individuals/ community must strategies on how they can effect change of the discriminatory law either through alignment of discriminatory laws with the Constitution.
This can either be done by taking the relevant authorities to court to challenge the constitutionality of the laws and compel the parliamentarians to effect the necessary amendment. There is a great opportunity to combine the power of the people with the power of the law in bring an end to statelessness of citizens.
Lessons can be drawn The Road to Securing Community land rights Kenya. The involvement of the community paralegals in communities and helping them to understand elements of the law is very crucial in the legal empowerment process. An empowered community was able to use knowledge gained to map out laws and elect local committees. The end result is that the knowledge acquired and ability to put it in action resulted in them confronting their challenges and duty bears and getting justice.
The videos and Information provided in videos and articles are great. If I put the problem I mentioned in my earlier lesson, I would see that the good way to solve that problem will be to teach someone from the community about the rights of women and then they can take a lead and help other women in the community who are have difficulties in life due to domestic or sexual violence. They can get help from the community trained leaders and can be able to solve the problem on their own and get justice. They can also get a psychological support by speaking with someone in the community which can help them also to relieve their mental stress.
Your point on psychological support is a great one – thanks for sharing that. The whole process is a stressful one, and mental wellbeing is as important so we can do our work effectively.
Gender inequality have been the major obstacle to women’s land and property rights here in Kenya, lack of legal awareness on access to justice especially to rural women have also contributed to women’s human rights violation.
There are so many laws that still needs awareness e.g. Matrimonial property Act, Law of succession Act, Land registration Act.
The issue with arbitrary detention and prisoners sleeping in shift at the Monrovia Central Prison attributable to overcrowding as a result of increase number of pretrial detainees led my Organization, “Citizens Bureau for Development and Productivity” to engage with the Ministry of Justice through a letter to the Minister of Justice, Republic of Liberia, in an effort to solicit stakeholders input, having people incarcerated without regards to the due process of law.
The Office of the Minister of Justice who is the Attorney General of the Republic of Liber attention our letter to the Assistant Minister of Justice for Correction and Rehabilitation and we met face to face with the Assistant Minister and the Director of the Bureau of Correction and Rehabilitation. We learned from them, there are more pretrial detainees across Liberian prison facilities and the situation burdens the Ministry of Justice and by extension the Liberian government in terms of feeding, medication and transportation of detainees, thus acknowledging that Civil Society efforts in the direction to engage government to protect the rights of all citizens under the rule of law is welcoming.
Everyone deserves a fair trial by facing their accuser in a competent court of jurisdiction. The government did not always observe these prohibition and rights. Police officers and magistrates frequently detained citizens for owing money to a complainant. The Independent Commissioner on Human Rights (INCHR) reported, magistrate court judges continue to issue writs of arrest unilaterally without approval or submission of the city solicitors.
We are forming collaboration with other Civil Society Organizations while at the same time engaging with defense lawyers from the judicial branch of government to use the law in addressing the alarming rate of pretrial detainees with focus on releasing those who are not charged legally and whose offense when adjudicated and sentenced who have met spending not more than 3, 6 or 12 months in jail for example, instead are languishing behind bars for over 12 months or more without any prospects of being accorded the due process of law.
In demanding justice for people suffering arbitrary detention, we intent to construct a data base to independently document pretrial detainees, particularly at the Monrovia Central Prison to determine why and for how long they have been prisoned to advance evidence base advocacy with the relevant government authorities against arbitrary detention.
To overcome the challenge of limited access to justice for vulnerable group, it is crucial to start with knowing and understanding the law. There are key laws that impact people’s lives such as family law, land laws and criminal laws that has to be known so that they can fight for their legal rights.
For example in my country paralegals played a key role in advocating for women’s rights and now we are happy for the improvement in policy and legal framework.
Thank you for sharing this! Great to note that there are improvements in policy and legal frameworks in women’s rights – in case you wanted to share some of these improvements here, please feel free!
Lessons drawn from these videos is that putting the Law in the hands of the people always changes how things are done, empowering people to fight for their rights and claim what’s theirs is crucial in fighting injustices
Women are still marginalized especially those living in the rural setup, legal awareness in terms of land and property rights is essential for equality and therefore laws that are critical to women access to justice should highlighted in every forum that women empowerment is discussed.
What i have learnt is that despite challenges that there may be there is always a way, such as with through knowledge there is true power and upliftment. I was really intrigued by the factor of protecting womens rights in brazil as GBV is one area of focus within the work i do, i feel that more women should have the opportunity to educated on there rights and given the opportunity for there cases to be heard.
Following the lack of knowledge and understanding around human rights and responsibilities for young people in Malawi, that is why they are continuously being victimized and taken advantage of, from the lesson learnt from Brazil, Malawi can also adopt the translation of the laws, the documented right and responsibilities to the local language that could easily be comprehended by young people and from this they would be able to identify the injustices around them and fight for their change
In Liberia, the complexity is not always about knowing the law. We have a lot on books, and people may not know all, but the central problem is the government and government actors’ willingness to obey the provisions of the law.
In the Forest Sector, for instance, we have seen some improvement, but communities are confronted with new challenges:
conflict among themselves, lack of clear local development plans to use funds coming to them as benefits, and the role traditional leaders are playing in fueling conflicts and the like.
Learning from the various video, I have learned that the foundation of a strong community is their unity, ability to stand up for each other, and creating that common destiny and goal is the bedrock of all advocacy.
I am really learning things that can make a change.
Thanks
Concerning the need to seek freedom of association and assembly for LGBTIQ organisations to legally register and operate, communities need t be aware of the law, acts and policies. These include the constitution and penal code of the country. It would also be beneficial to know human rights treaties that the government has signed on to and ratified, such as the CEDAW, ICCPR and use these with the African Commission’s Res 275 to make a case for the need to be granted legal status as an LGBTIQ+ organisation. It would also be advantageous to obtain stories and testimonies on how the law has negatively impacted the daily lives of LGBTIQ+ people and the gaps and means to navigate; this is through the continuous collection of evidence documentation, as we have seen in the Keyan video on land rights.
Such knowledge can be used through writing letters to the UN and AU special rapporteurs and alerting them on the human rights situation in the country and requests for action. A community can make petitions and deliver them to the member of parliament or ministry and create social media campaigns for awareness and garnering support from society and other movements. One can shape the law through more community participation and action, highlighting best practices.
When it comes to GBV worldwide, there are many ways to implement legal empowerment.
The first step of knowing the law, I would use the methodology from the Myanmar case study, which entails having creative ways to teach about the law to the affected communities. Sometimes laws may seem too complicated, and having songs, cartoons, plays that exemplify what they mean, make them more accessible to everyone.
In terms of using the law, I really liked the example from the US and Brazil, where the community showed authorities that the victim wasnt alone. When it comes to GBV, as mentioned in the Brazillian case study, most times police dont want to “meddle”. In my work, through data dashboards we show police and government that victims are not alone, and that cases are not a “stand off”, but rather a recurring factor. This way, they understand that something needs to be done.
Finally, in terms of shaping the law, I would use the tatics from Myanmar and Kenya, which are to keep contacting authorities and courts with petitions to change the wording to make them more expansive to protect women and girls, especially in public spaces.
I think the major is building capacity and sensitising communities so as to equip them with legal knowledge to fight for their rights. Gender equality in this plays a key role in balancing the voices of change in the approach to human rights violations.
I learned about the value of taking different approaches in Knowing the Law, especially in terms of translating a highly technical piece of document into something that can be understood by people who live the reality of which such laws were created. The video from Myanmar has shown how a law can be more easily communicated with people through a song, or if it was translated to local languages as what they did in Brazil. I could take this learning into my own work by finding ways to explain laws to communities I work with using creative approaches.
Based on the message highlighted in the video, it is good that people to know their rights and duties, which are enshrined in the laws, starting with the Constitution. To the extent that people get used to participating in understanding, applying and changing the law, those who have a problem related to the law will know how to follow it. As a result, this will help reduce the problems of injustice.
Following the conduct of a justice survey around knowledge, perception and attitude in Liberian communities it was underscored that when citizens face legal challenges, the lack of legitimacy, affordability, accessibility and timeliness of the formal justice system often prevents any feasible recourse. Extensive bureaucratic red tape coupled with transportation and legal costs, lawyer fees and opportunity costs of foregone work make the justice system not only physically but also financially unavailable to many. As pointed out in the UNDP/UNMIL Strengthening the Rule of Law in Liberia project documents, even before the civil war, the formal justice system was perennially weak. In a 64-page report published by Human Rights Watch, “No Money, No Justice’: Police Corruption and Abuse in Liberia,” describes the multiple criminal activities by corrupt police officers, from charging crime victims for every stage of an investigation, to extorting goods from street vendors. Similar accusations are also attributed to the courts and this has greatly undermined every sense that wrongdoing will be punished. It has hollowed out trust in public processes more broadly. In very low income, highly dense urban settings, disputes are frequent and other traditional justice mechanisms which still endure in rural areas are often absent because of the more transient, multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic nature of communities.
Given the above, we mobilized residents for town hall meetings in each community where the surveys were being conducted. Once they were mobilized, we provided a defense lawyer to interact with the community about issues raised from the survey, amongst other things, most people felt comfortable resolving their conflicts outside of the formal justice system. The defense lawyers supporting the informal resolution of cases said, it was right under the rule of law when people reach peaceful settlement without the involvement of the court. It is when people are unable to solve their differences peacefully then the formal justice or court process is sought. Alternative Dispute Resolution is best practice under the law. Others may think resolving cases outside the formal justice system is taken bread from their mouths but that isn’t the case as not everyone can afford the processes of the formal justice system and these people need to be heard to resolve their grievances peacefully and satisfactorily.
That said, during our follow up engagement with the communities on the findings of the survey reports, both chairpersons and local residents opted to be trained in dispute resolution to help resolve community disputes and this led to the formation of our Community Justice Teams (CJTs). These mediators or CJTs, having acquired the skills, tools and knowledge, developed the confidence to bring conflicting parties together and solve disputes. They get to know the local police and judicial authorities and build relationship with them. This allow the possibility for some of the civil and minor offenses reaching the formal justice system to be referred back to the community for the mediators to resolve. Parties involved in cases mediated by the CJT expressed satisfaction over the resolution process without any single instance of recidivism as the mediators followed up on resolved cases months later. Town crier walks around the community announcing the CJT that is nearby and accessible to solve disputes emanating from the community between conflicting parties. Criminal cases brought to the attention of the mediators are referred to the formal justice system through the police.
The results of the surveys conducted in the four locations where we work including West Point and Logan Town in Monrovia, Montserrado County, Bassa Community in Kakata, Margibi County and Kokoya/Demetae Road in Gbarnga, Bong County affirms the USIP Perceptions of Justice Report (2009), that Liberians pursue justice almost entirely in informal ways. This work helps to bridge the gap between the informal and the formal justice systems by both strengthening and bringing agreed procedures to trust-building and mediation; and by working with the formal system to reduce caseloads and improving efficiency, while also working with the concern parties to resolve disputes alongside their community— which helps to monitor the outcome. These mediators as members of their Community Justice Teams, play an important role in bridging the gap between informal resolution mechanisms at the community level—which can often turn violent—and the formal justice system—which is perceived as inaccessible to many
Alternative Dispute Resolution gives parties in dispute the opportunity to work through disputed issues with the help of a neutral third party. It is generally faster and less expensive than going to court. When used appropriately, they are flexible, cost-efficient, time-effective, and give the parties more control over the process and the results.
Thank you for sharing in detail, John. Adding to Given’s point, it’s important to know that alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and/or non-judicial mechanisms are available for communities to access. The high costs (not to mention time and energy needed) is a major turn off for some communities to take their cases forward.
There is need that law regarding the Constitution, Citizenship Act and Regulations that regulate the Registrars office to be explained to stateless individuals/ communities. This will entail simplifying these laws and highlighting the inconsistences and discriminatory sections of the laws. Such empowerment of such laws will enhance understanding and appreciation of what the position of the law is regarding citizenship. The stateless individuals/ community must strategies on how they can effect change of the discriminatory law either through alignment of discriminatory laws with the Constitution.
This can either be done by taking the relevant authorities to court to challenge the constitutionality of the laws and compel the parliamentarians to effect the necessary amendment. There is a great opportunity to combine the power of the people with the power of the law in bring an end to statelessness of citizens.
Lessons can be drawn The Road to Securing Community land rights Kenya. The involvement of the community paralegals in communities and helping them to understand elements of the law is very crucial in the legal empowerment process. An empowered community was able to use knowledge gained to map out laws and elect local committees. The end result is that the knowledge acquired and ability to put it in action resulted in them confronting their challenges and duty bears and getting justice.
Great summary. Thank you, Given!
The videos and Information provided in videos and articles are great. If I put the problem I mentioned in my earlier lesson, I would see that the good way to solve that problem will be to teach someone from the community about the rights of women and then they can take a lead and help other women in the community who are have difficulties in life due to domestic or sexual violence. They can get help from the community trained leaders and can be able to solve the problem on their own and get justice. They can also get a psychological support by speaking with someone in the community which can help them also to relieve their mental stress.
Your point on psychological support is a great one – thanks for sharing that. The whole process is a stressful one, and mental wellbeing is as important so we can do our work effectively.
Gender inequality have been the major obstacle to women’s land and property rights here in Kenya, lack of legal awareness on access to justice especially to rural women have also contributed to women’s human rights violation.
There are so many laws that still needs awareness e.g. Matrimonial property Act, Law of succession Act, Land registration Act.
The issue with arbitrary detention and prisoners sleeping in shift at the Monrovia Central Prison attributable to overcrowding as a result of increase number of pretrial detainees led my Organization, “Citizens Bureau for Development and Productivity” to engage with the Ministry of Justice through a letter to the Minister of Justice, Republic of Liberia, in an effort to solicit stakeholders input, having people incarcerated without regards to the due process of law.
The Office of the Minister of Justice who is the Attorney General of the Republic of Liber attention our letter to the Assistant Minister of Justice for Correction and Rehabilitation and we met face to face with the Assistant Minister and the Director of the Bureau of Correction and Rehabilitation. We learned from them, there are more pretrial detainees across Liberian prison facilities and the situation burdens the Ministry of Justice and by extension the Liberian government in terms of feeding, medication and transportation of detainees, thus acknowledging that Civil Society efforts in the direction to engage government to protect the rights of all citizens under the rule of law is welcoming.
Everyone deserves a fair trial by facing their accuser in a competent court of jurisdiction. The government did not always observe these prohibition and rights. Police officers and magistrates frequently detained citizens for owing money to a complainant. The Independent Commissioner on Human Rights (INCHR) reported, magistrate court judges continue to issue writs of arrest unilaterally without approval or submission of the city solicitors.
We are forming collaboration with other Civil Society Organizations while at the same time engaging with defense lawyers from the judicial branch of government to use the law in addressing the alarming rate of pretrial detainees with focus on releasing those who are not charged legally and whose offense when adjudicated and sentenced who have met spending not more than 3, 6 or 12 months in jail for example, instead are languishing behind bars for over 12 months or more without any prospects of being accorded the due process of law.
In demanding justice for people suffering arbitrary detention, we intent to construct a data base to independently document pretrial detainees, particularly at the Monrovia Central Prison to determine why and for how long they have been prisoned to advance evidence base advocacy with the relevant government authorities against arbitrary detention.
Thank you for sharing this. The steps (know-use-shape) your organization took are very clear!
To overcome the challenge of limited access to justice for vulnerable group, it is crucial to start with knowing and understanding the law. There are key laws that impact people’s lives such as family law, land laws and criminal laws that has to be known so that they can fight for their legal rights.
For example in my country paralegals played a key role in advocating for women’s rights and now we are happy for the improvement in policy and legal framework.
Thank you for sharing this! Great to note that there are improvements in policy and legal frameworks in women’s rights – in case you wanted to share some of these improvements here, please feel free!
Lessons drawn from these videos is that putting the Law in the hands of the people always changes how things are done, empowering people to fight for their rights and claim what’s theirs is crucial in fighting injustices
Women are still marginalized especially those living in the rural setup, legal awareness in terms of land and property rights is essential for equality and therefore laws that are critical to women access to justice should highlighted in every forum that women empowerment is discussed.
i truly agree with you, hopefully the factor of being seen, heard and GBV Cases made an importance can be achieved on a global scale.
Agree with you Vincent, intersectionality is very important.
What i have learnt is that despite challenges that there may be there is always a way, such as with through knowledge there is true power and upliftment. I was really intrigued by the factor of protecting womens rights in brazil as GBV is one area of focus within the work i do, i feel that more women should have the opportunity to educated on there rights and given the opportunity for there cases to be heard.
an approach that enables communities facing injustice to use legal mechanisms to pursue transformative improvements to laws and systems.
Following the lack of knowledge and understanding around human rights and responsibilities for young people in Malawi, that is why they are continuously being victimized and taken advantage of, from the lesson learnt from Brazil, Malawi can also adopt the translation of the laws, the documented right and responsibilities to the local language that could easily be comprehended by young people and from this they would be able to identify the injustices around them and fight for their change
In Liberia, the complexity is not always about knowing the law. We have a lot on books, and people may not know all, but the central problem is the government and government actors’ willingness to obey the provisions of the law.
In the Forest Sector, for instance, we have seen some improvement, but communities are confronted with new challenges:
conflict among themselves, lack of clear local development plans to use funds coming to them as benefits, and the role traditional leaders are playing in fueling conflicts and the like.
Learning from the various video, I have learned that the foundation of a strong community is their unity, ability to stand up for each other, and creating that common destiny and goal is the bedrock of all advocacy.
I am really learning things that can make a change.
Thanks
These lessons and the different examples given on each topic helped to realise how legal empowerment is important to fight any kind of injustice.
In Nigeria it’s easy to know the law because it is widely available, it is a little bit harder to use the law and it takes more time to shape the law
I agree and this is the case in Zambia too. Too often the law is insulated with institutional rigidities.
Concerning the need to seek freedom of association and assembly for LGBTIQ organisations to legally register and operate, communities need t be aware of the law, acts and policies. These include the constitution and penal code of the country. It would also be beneficial to know human rights treaties that the government has signed on to and ratified, such as the CEDAW, ICCPR and use these with the African Commission’s Res 275 to make a case for the need to be granted legal status as an LGBTIQ+ organisation. It would also be advantageous to obtain stories and testimonies on how the law has negatively impacted the daily lives of LGBTIQ+ people and the gaps and means to navigate; this is through the continuous collection of evidence documentation, as we have seen in the Keyan video on land rights.
Such knowledge can be used through writing letters to the UN and AU special rapporteurs and alerting them on the human rights situation in the country and requests for action. A community can make petitions and deliver them to the member of parliament or ministry and create social media campaigns for awareness and garnering support from society and other movements. One can shape the law through more community participation and action, highlighting best practices.
When it comes to GBV worldwide, there are many ways to implement legal empowerment.
The first step of knowing the law, I would use the methodology from the Myanmar case study, which entails having creative ways to teach about the law to the affected communities. Sometimes laws may seem too complicated, and having songs, cartoons, plays that exemplify what they mean, make them more accessible to everyone.
In terms of using the law, I really liked the example from the US and Brazil, where the community showed authorities that the victim wasnt alone. When it comes to GBV, as mentioned in the Brazillian case study, most times police dont want to “meddle”. In my work, through data dashboards we show police and government that victims are not alone, and that cases are not a “stand off”, but rather a recurring factor. This way, they understand that something needs to be done.
Finally, in terms of shaping the law, I would use the tatics from Myanmar and Kenya, which are to keep contacting authorities and courts with petitions to change the wording to make them more expansive to protect women and girls, especially in public spaces.
I think the major is building capacity and sensitising communities so as to equip them with legal knowledge to fight for their rights. Gender equality in this plays a key role in balancing the voices of change in the approach to human rights violations.
I learned about the value of taking different approaches in Knowing the Law, especially in terms of translating a highly technical piece of document into something that can be understood by people who live the reality of which such laws were created. The video from Myanmar has shown how a law can be more easily communicated with people through a song, or if it was translated to local languages as what they did in Brazil. I could take this learning into my own work by finding ways to explain laws to communities I work with using creative approaches.
Based on the message highlighted in the video, it is good that people to know their rights and duties, which are enshrined in the laws, starting with the Constitution. To the extent that people get used to participating in understanding, applying and changing the law, those who have a problem related to the law will know how to follow it. As a result, this will help reduce the problems of injustice.