International Bridges to Justice’s India Country Program (IBJ India) strives to create a just society empowered to protect human rights. To this end, legal rights awareness campaigns are a central part of our work. Only those who understand their rights can protect their humanity. In India, much of the population remains unaware of their legal rights and how to access counsel. To educate those in need, IBJ India conducts monthly prison legal awareness events to promote a basic understanding of the rights of inmates, prison standards, and legal aid.

From June 2^nd to June 11^th, 2018, IBJ India visited eight prisons in the Tihar and Rohini Jail Complexes to work with inmates and facilitate a Legal Rights Awareness and Legal Aid Camp. The camp worked with over 1,500 jail inmates. These sessions aimed to educate inmates about their rights and duties within the prison. In particular, IBJ India volunteer lawyers and staff taught inmates how to access free legal counsel, how to file for bail, and the role of legal aid in a just society. Prisoners, administrators, and the IBJ India team worked together to develop an interactive and practical program. A diverse set of activities, trainings, and other educational services created a worthwhile experience for the inmates. Presented in a substantive, yet concise, manner, these lessons were crafted such that people of any educational background could understand them.

IBJ India returned to conduct awareness campaigns in 2019. Using the previous year’s efforts as a foundation, IBJ India tested creative new ways of providing legal awareness to those without literacy. Seeking to bridge the gap between informative workshops and engaging storytelling, IBJ staff put on a skit depicting potential pitfalls in the criminal justice system. This engaging, relatable content resonated with inmates and may allow them to better apply the knowledge they gain from awareness campaigns.

Ongoing Challenges

Awareness campaigns are crucial to reduce the stigma surrounding legal aid in India. While Indian lawyers are not supposed to accept compensation in legal aid cases, some nonetheless demand payment. This unfair practice engenders distrust toward providers of legal aid among those most in need of counsel. Inmates ought to have confidence in those representing them. Awareness campaigns and training sessions seek to dispel myths surrounding sarkari lawyers, who are assigned by the government to work on legal aid cases. Empowering inmates to report corrupt lawyers builds trust in legal aid and prevents instances of malpractice. IBJ India’s direct interaction with prisoners rebuilds lost trust and instills confidence that justice can be achieved. By fighting corruption in the legal profession, IBJ India is doing its part to advance both its own work and the work of advocates across the country.

IBJ India continues to innovate new ways to deliver on its mission to protect human rights, including through its Legal Rights Awareness and Legal Aid Camp. This sustainable model for awareness campaigns can be used at other jails across the country. Teaching prisoners to leverage their rights will allow them to improve their circumstances and receive humane treatment. IBJ India’s commitment to human rights through legal education and service truly makes a difference in the lives of those most in need.

On June 24, 2017, the Burundi Bridges to Justice (BBJ) team conducted a rights awareness event in Mubimbi District of Bujumbura Province which was attended by 114 people, culminating in the presentation of a play depicting an arrest. The attendees represented 76 grassroots communities, each of which counts at least 10 members. The event aimed to improve the population’s understanding of the legal safeguards that protect arrested persons in Burundi, with a particular focus on the right to not be subject to torture. The educational action also encompassed other rights such as the right to initiate legal action against the torturer, the right to be assisted by a lawyer, the right to be brought before the judge within a fair and reasonable timeframe, and the right to be informed of the reasons for arrest.

Community members from Mbimbi gather to learn about Burundian and international torture prevention laws

The BBJ Team gives a presentation on fundamental rights

Over the years, the BBJ team has developed a wide array of methodologies to facilitate ordinary citizen’s understanding of the legal rights and safeguards of arrested persons. The tools and strategies used are designed to be inclusive of illiterate communities, as in 2015 nearly 15% of adults in Burundi were estimated to be illiterate. Therefore, each event relies as much as possible on interactive and participatory audio/visual activities. The Mubimbi event included a film projection, a PowerPoint presentation, a Q&A session, role plays and a final evaluation.

Participants prepare a short play on the rights of the accused

After presenting the Burundian and international laws that safeguard due process rights, the BBJ team led discussions with the attendees that gave them an opportunity to share their experience of undergoing or witnessing human rights violations, bringing to light many strong testimonies. The exercise revealed that, prior to the event, many thought torture was allowed in some situations, or did not know that to be assisted by a lawyer is a sacred right of every arrested person regardless the offence they may be accused of. It also clearly appeared that the population was eager to acquire more knowledge around human rights topics.

Finally, a highlight of the event was the participation of the attendees in a play where a person was arrested and subject to human rights violations, including arbitrary detention and torture. Each of the participants played the part of a stakeholder (police, prosecutor, lawyer, arrestee) implicated either in the respect or violation of the legal procedure. Thus, they demonstrated their knowledge of the awareness campaign material.

At the end of the event, a questionnaire was distributed to evaluate the level of understanding acquired by participants regarding human rights and due process rights.  The results were very positive and participants committed to sharing this newly acquired knowledge with their community members. Participants also recommended that the BBJ team conducts more of such participatory human rights educational events.

Members of the UN Committee of the Rights of the Child with IBJ senior staff at the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva: (L-R) Ms. Kirsten Sandberg, Rapporteur of the CRC, Yasmeen Shariff, Vice-Chairperson of the CRC, Karen Tse, Founder and CEO of IBJ, Mr. Benyam Dawit Mezmur, Chairperson of the CRC, Judge Renate Winter, Vice-Chairperson of the CRC and Sanjeewa Liyanage, International Program Director of IBJ

Geneva, Switzerland – On February 8, members of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) met with IBJ’s CEO and Founder, Karen Tse, and International Program Director Sanjeewa Liyanage to sign the Declaration on Access to Justice to Prevent Torture. IBJ is extremely encouraged by the incredible work the CRC is doing to improve the rights and well-being of children around the world. The support of the Committee on the Rights of the Child for the Declaration marks an important step in mobilizing the international community in a global commitment to ending torture and advancing access to justice.

“Not to prevent torture means to deny access to justice,” stated CRC Vice President Justice Renate Winter. “Access in practice, not only in theory”.

Echoing Winter’s support, Ms. Hynd Ayoubi Idrissi from Morocco added, “the prevention of torture is one of the common responsibilities of humanity.”

IBJ 2010 JusticeMakers Fellow and Vice-President of the UN Committee of the Rights of the Child, Yasmeen Shariff, signs the Declaration on Access to Justice to Prevent Torture

IBJ is particularly proud to have Yasmeen Shariff, who is a 2010 Asia JusticeMakers Fellow, as the CRC’s outgoing Vice-Chairperson, and of her decade-long work improving child rights and juvenile justice in her home country, Malaysia.

The full list of signatories from the CRC includes:

Ms. Sara de Jesùs Oveido Fierro, Ecuador (Vice Chairperson)

Ms. Yasmeen Muhamed Shariff, Malaysia (Vice-Chairperson)

Ms. Kirsten Sandberg Norway (Rapporteur)

Ms. Hynd Ayoubi Idriss, Morocco

Mr. Clarence Nelson, Samoa

Ms. Maria Rita Parsi, Italy

Mr. Hatem Kotrane, Tunisia

Ms. Olga a. Khazova, Russia

Eminent jurist, Judge Renate Winter of Austria who is Vice-Chairperson of the UN Committee of the Rights of the Child with IBJ Founder and CEO, Karen Tse

Mr. Gehad Madi, Egypt

Ms. Suzanne Aho Assouma, Togo

Mr. Wanderlino Nogueira Neto, Brazil

Geneva, Switzerland – December 1, 2016 – Today, International Bridges to Justice (IBJ) is announcing the launch of its 2017 JusticeMakers Prevention of Torture Competition in Francophonie Africa. JusticeMakers is the world’s first global, online, innovative platform in the area of criminal defense.

IBJ is reaching out to lawyers, human rights defenders, justice and law enforcement officials for innovative proposals and strategies to promote criminal justice in Francophonie Africa. The Competition will award US$5,000 in project funding to lawyers/defenders who have the most innovative and sustainable access to justice projects aiming to prevent/eradicate torture as an investigative tool and increase awareness and enforcement of due process rights in their communities.

“Investigative torture is not an exception but a norm in many developing countries. IBJ has courageous JusticeMakers Fellows around the world working to prevent torture and protect the most vulnerable,” said Sanjeewa Liyanage, International Program Director of IBJ. Mr. Liyanage further stated, “We are pleased to seek defenders in Francophonie Africa and recognize them for what they do and support them in the long run.”

As of today, IBJ has built a global community of 59 JusticeMakers Fellows from 38 countries throughout the world. One of its main components is the online competition, which identifies, trains and funds hidden heroes of justice worldwide who are committed to advocating for positive reform within their respective countries.

The JusticeMakers Competition requires individuals to submit proposals detailing an innovative strategy for promoting criminal justice implementation at grassroots level.

IBJ initiated the JusticeMakers Program in 2008 in an effort to connect defenders in their quest to curb torture and legal rights abuses in their respective communities. Since then, IBJ has conducted six global and regional JusticeMakers competitions.  The JusticeMakers Program fuels the international movement towards ensuring that every man, woman and child has the right to competent legal representation, a fair trial and protection from torture as well as cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment.  As the result of collaborative efforts and through the use of web technologies, an online community platform was launched, which serves the purpose of building a unified network of defenders, facilitating discussions and hosting competitions which fund projects to curb the abuse of legal rights within participants’ respective communities.

The Competition winners and previous JusticeMakers Fellows form lasting relationships with hundreds of partner organizations across the globe, including but not limited to: governmental and civil society organizations, universities, and national bar associations.

For more information about the JusticeMakers Community and to apply for a 2017 JusticeMakers Fellowship 2017, visit http://www.justicemakers.ibj.org.

For specific questions please send an email to justicemakers@ibj.org.

The 2017 JusticeMakers Competition is sponsored by Global Affairs Canada.

About International Bridges to Justice (IBJ)

In recognition of the fundamental principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Bridges to Justice (IBJ) is dedicated to protecting the basic legal rights of ordinary individuals in developing countries. Specifically, IBJ works to guarantee all individuals the right to competent legal representation, the right to be protected from cruel and unusual punishment, and the right to a fair trial. IBJ currently has programs and projects in over 40 countries in the world, including Burundi, Cambodia, China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, India, Rwanda and Zimbabwe.

Press contact:

Sonia Liang

Email: sliang@ibj.org, justicemakers@ibj.org

Telephone: +41 22 731 2441

Sokem and Sophoes, IBJ Lawyer Assistant at the Court of Appeal in front of IBJ office in Phnom Penh

Sokem was living in a village nearby and had already been to see Veng and his family in the surroundings. On December 31, 2004, he was arrested by judicial police officers. Sokem did not understand what was happening and he was taken straight to the prison, to be held in pretrial detention. From that day on, he was to stay in jail for ten years. Shortly after his arrest and detention, he was taken to court where he was informed that he was charged with premeditated murder and use of illegal weapon, incurring life imprisonment according to article 200 of the Cambodian Criminal Code. No one informed him of his right to seek legal representation. He was languishing, waiting in prison prior to being summoned for his trial on March 13, 2006.

Before the first trial hearing, the court assigned Sokem a lawyer that he just met one time before the lawyer had to defend his case in front of the judges. Sokem did not know whether he was a private lawyer, or a lawyer from the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia, assigned to represent his case pro bono. As a matter of fact, he was charged with a felony and, in this case, legal representation at the trial hearing is mandated by the Cambodian Criminal Code of Procedure.

At that point, Sokem still did not know why he had been arrested and he did not understand the criminal procedure which was unfolding before his eyes. For the first hearing, Veng’s family who had joined the procedure as civil parties gave confused answers about the description of the alleged perpetrators. During the second trial hearing, they presented witnesses who did not clearly remember the physical appearance of the offender. But when they saw Sokem, they affirmed that they knew him. The court followed their testimony and sentenced Sokem to 15 years of imprisonment. Sokem does not remember what his lawyer said for his defense at that time, but he had clearly not brought exculpatory evidence in favor of his client. Yet, after the announcement of the decision, the lawyer advised Sokem to appeal the judgment. After that, Sokem did not hear anything on the development of his case. He was still in the Correction Center 3, a provincial prison located in the neighboring province of Kampong Cham, and only knew that his cases had been sent to Phnom Penh for the appeal process.

The Court of Appeal opened the case on February 19, 2010, six years after the fact. Sokem was not informed of the hearing and was not able to attend it. In compliance with Cambodian criminal procedure, when the accused does not appear for trial and there is no proof that he had knowledge of his citation to the court hearing, the Court of Appeal issued a “default judgment” in his absence². In this decision, the Court of Appeal upheld Sokem’s sentence.

Late 2014, IBJ received the case as part of one of its projects with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHOCHR) in Cambodia. Sokem’s case was one on the list of people identified by the UNOHCHR with appeal proceedings pending for more than five years and with no trace of their trial documents. The IBJ lawyer and lawyer assistant investigated at the Court of Appeal on Sokem’s case and found out that he was never notified of the Court of Appeal’s hearing and judgment. The IBJ team met Sokem in prison and informed him of the current status of his case. In these circumstances, the only action available for the defense of the accused person is to submit a motion against the default judgment once the accused has got actual knowledge of it. The motion has the effect of voiding the judgment which was issued in the absence of the accused. The IBJ lawyer submitted the motion to the Court of Appeal on December 24, 2014. As a result, the Court of Appeal had to entirely re-examine Sokem’s case.

In preparation for the new hearing, the IBJ lawyer met with Sokem’s family and friends and found out that he had an alibi against the accusation which had already cost him heavily. His friends could testify that at the time of the incident, Sokem was fishing with them in another place, far from the crime scene.

The IBJ lawyer convinced the witnesses to provide their testimony at the Court of Appeal, while at the same time arranging Sokem’s transportation for the 225 km separating CC3 from Phnom Penh for him to attend his trial. During the trial hearing, on February 20, 2015, the lawyer called the witnesses who, by their testimony, brought in the case an important exculpatory element. The lawyer also backed his defense strategy on the civil party’s hesitations and unclear answers regarding the identification of the offender. Becoming convinced of the weaknesses of the accusation against Sokem, the Court of Appeal acquitted him.

After 10 years spent in jail in very unclear circumstances, Sokem was able to walk out of the court room cleared of all charges when the Court of Appeal announced its final decision on March 9, 2015. Before this misfortune, Sokem did not know that organizations such as IBJ existed. He went through a very difficult time in prison, lacking proper food, appropriate care when he fell sick, and with only one or two visits from his family per year. His wife and four children could not afford frequent travels to the prison. Sokem entirely feels the meaning of the five years of imprisonment he was saved from thanks to IBJ’s intervention. Still recovering from this painful experience, Sokem is taking time to rest before having to find a new job to support his family and ensure that they have a brighter future.

Jeanne Salomé, March 2015

A prison guard removes the handcuffs from the client Mao Rom before the trial starts.

Hundreds of thousands of people identified as drug users in China and across Southeast Asia are held without due process in centers where they may be subjected to torture, and physical and sexual violence in the name of “treatment”, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper released in July.

International donors and United Nations agencies have supported and funded drug detention centers that systematically deny people rights to effective HIV and drug dependency treatment, and have ignored forced labor and abuse.

The 23-page document, Torture in the Name of Treatment: Human Rights Abuses in Vietnam, China, Cambodia, and Lao PDR, summarizes research with individuals who had been detained in Vietnam, China, Cambodia, and Lao PDR. More than 350,000 people identified as drug users are detained in the name of “treatment” in these countries for periods of up to five years. In many centers, drug users are held alongside homeless people, people with psychosocial disabilities, and street children, and are forced to perform military drills, chant slogans, and work as “therapy.”

International health and drug-control agencies, including the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), and the World Health Organization, recommend comprehensive, community-based harm reduction services, including evidence-based drug-dependence treatment and access to sterile syringes as essential to protect the health and human rights of people who use drugs. Drug detention centers that hold drug users for long periods of time without providing evidence-based treatment violate these standards and are widely believed to be ineffective. Research in China and Vietnam has found high rates of relapse among individuals held in drug detention centers, as well as increased risk of HIV infection from being detained.

Depending on the country, so-called treatment consists of a regime of military drills, forced labor, psychological and moral re-education, and shackling, caning, and beating. Human Rights Watch documented forced labor in detention centers in China, Vietnam, and Cambodia, though the nature and extent of forced labor varied within and between countries.

In Vietnam, “labor therapy” is stipulated as part of drug treatment by law, and drug detention centers are little more than forced labor camps where tens of thousands of detainees work six days a week processing cashews, sewing garments, or manufacturing other items. Refusing to work, or violating center rules, results in punishment that in some cases is torture. Quynh Luu, a former detainee who was caught trying to escape from one center, described his punishment: “First they beat my legs so that I couldn’t run off again… [Then] they shocked me with an electric baton [and] kept me in the punishment room for a month.”

Access to drug dependency treatment within the centers was either restricted to a small subset of the center’s population, who were also required to adhere to a rigid and punishing forced labor regimen, or nonexistent. Huong Son, who was detained for four years in a drug detention center in Vietnam, said, “No treatment for the disease of addiction was available there. Once a month or so we marched around for a couple of hours chanting slogans.”

Human Rights Watch also found evidence that children were detained in drug detention centers in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Lao PDR, and subjected to the same “treatments,” including forced labor, military exercises, and physical and sexual abuse.

“Drug detention centers jeopardize the health and human rights of detainees,” said Joe Amon, director of the Health and Human Rights Division at Human Rights Watch. “They are ineffective, abusive, and are detaining people in violation of international law.” Mandatory HIV testing was common in China’s drug treatment centers, but test results were not always disclosed to patients. A former detainee in Guangxi Province, China, said, “I was tested in detox twice for HIV but was never told the result. Then when I got out I was so sick that I went to the clinic. I was scared of getting arrested, but I have a son and I didn’t want to die. They tested me and told me I have AIDS.” Unprotected sex and unsafe drug use occur in the treatment centers, but condoms and safe injecting equipment are not available.

Read more

Questions and dialogue from other participants centred on the right to information, particularly in remote areas, and questions around how JusticeMakers Bangladesh are working with sexual minorities currently and the goals for future operations in this area. Mr Islam responded that he has begun interviewing sexual minority individuals and organizations in order to discover the rights and violations involved and how LGBT rights are viewed in Bangladesh.

Sanjeewa Liyanage and Professor Wang Xiu Mei

Mr. Liyanage began by giving a comprehensive description of where torture is brought up in international law, and eventually went on to define torture, citing the UN Convention Against Torture. He explained how the Convention prohibits investigative torture, detailing torture clauses in various international treaties and statutes. He described how freedom from torture is non-derogable, meaning there are no exceptional circumstances whatsoever that may be invoked to justify torture, including war, threat of war, internal political instability, public emergency, terrorist acts, violent crime, and any form of armed conflict. From there, bringing the argument back to the students in the room, Mr. Liyanage highlighted that torture is prohibited in several countries in Asia, including China, and in particular under Chinese criminal law and criminal procedure law.

IBJ’s International Program Director Sanjeewa Liyanage and Beijing Normal University

Mr. Liyanage also spoke at lengths about the current global torture situation. He mentioned where, when, and how torture is practiced, and that torture still regularly occurs in countries where it is expressly prohibited by law. He then posed the contradiction that there are several organizations around the world that work on torture issues, but they, for the most part, address the problem after the torture has already occurred. Instead, Mr. Liyanage argues, the most effective way to prevent torture from happening is to provide the accused with early access to competent and committed counsel. That way, with the presence of a lawyer at the time of arrest, a collaborative dialogue with stakeholders in the justice sector, and public awareness of individuals’ rights, we can prevent torture before it begins. He backed this argument by juxtaposing it with concrete examples of how IBJ programs have contributed significantly to reducing torture as an investigative tool in many countries and localities where IBJ lawyers are actively engaged in safeguarding basic legal rights of ordinary people. Finally, Mr. Liyanage concluded with an optimistic pronouncement that the solution is before us, and that torture can, indeed, be ended during the 21st century. He argued that, at one point, slavery and the apartheid were viewed as something that could not be easily brought to an end. But relentless and strategic efforts by social movements have ended these practices. He explained that to end torture we need to have the will to do so and a viable strategy, remarking that the strategy employed by IBJ could be expanded to reach this goal.

Masters and PhD Law Students at Beijing Normal University

The lecture was very warmly received, and the students confidently posed questions. Many of the law students were so impressed, that they wondered how they could get involved with IBJ efforts in China.

On 12 February 2011, Mr V was called to the police station for questioning over a stolen ring. After giving his statement explaining that he was receiving medical treatment for his injured leg the police held him overnight in a tiny cell. The next day, the police continued to question him. Mr V maintained his innocence. Irritated, the police threw Mr V to the ground and began to kick him in the ribs, head and back. Enduring these barbaric acts, Mr V was forced to confess to a crime he did not commit.

During an interview with IBJ, Mr V described how he wanted to commit suicide, banging his head on the table, because he simply did not commit the crime.

Mr V was then formally arrested for a felony offense and taken to Kampot Provincial Prison[1] where he was forced to share a room, 15x15m2, with 60 other prisoners – a mix of pre-trial detainees and the convicted. Nine months later he is still awaiting trial. A month after Mr V’s arrest, the case was referred to IBJ at which point he was for the first time informed of his legal rights.

Mr V’s story highlights the problems imbedded with Cambodia’s criminal justice system in two ways:

Intern, Kaitlin Bella interviewing the client at Kampot Provincial Prison

Under Cambodian law, all felony and juvenile cases are to be represented by lawyers. Although the Bar Association of Cambodia has established a legal aid referral system for these types of cases, funding is so limited that lawyers cannot always be provided. What happens in these circumstances is that a judge cannot proceed with the trial and the accused would remain in prison until a lawyer could be appointed, or more simply, indefinitely.

Moreover, without access to a lawyer, Mr V would never be able to prove that his confession was forced. A judge simply would not believe him and he would have remained in prison, unable to collect evidence to prove that he was tortured. By the time he came to trial his bruises would have faded and scars would have healed – all but the scar in his memory.

Because of IBJ’s intervention in this case, Mr V’s confession will be challenged. Moreover, on 3 November 2011, a judge ruled that IBJ could provide two witnesses to testify to Mr V’s innocence. This will happen on 17 November 2011. While Mr V remains in prison, now he has some hope. None of this would have occurred without the thorough investigation of IBJ’s Investigator Mr Vanny nor the representation provided by IBJ’s lawyer, Mr Vibol.

IBJ’s Investigator Mr Chan Vanny, interviewing the Commune Chief as a witness for the client.

By  Kate Flower, Project Officer and Kaitlin Bella, Intern

* Kate Flower is a volunteer with the Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development (AYAD) Program. The AYAD Program is part of Australian Volunteers for International Development, an Australian Government, AusAID initiative.

---

[1] On IBJ’s visit dated 3 November 2011, there were 424 prisoners.  The prison is estimated to have maximum capacity of 160.  Kampot’s provincial prison is therefore grossly overcrowded at 265% capacity.