IBJ launches pioneering project to create Women Defenders’ Network across 10 countries in Africa

IBJ has launched a groundbreaking project to develop an African Access to Justice (AA2J) Women’s Network. Funded by the Swedish Postcode Lottery Foundation, this innovative effort will establish a 10 country-wide network for 100 African women legal defenders to provide representation for vulnerable African women accused. 

Women detainees at risk. According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 700,000+ women are in prison around the world, and that number is growing much faster than men. Many governments in Africa criminalize reproductive health decisions, as well as alleged acts of sex work, adultery, apostacy, blasphemy, and witchcraft, all of which disproportionately impact women. This criminalization of womanhood in Africa has vastly increased female incarceration. The OHCR reports that, “Many women detainees face inhuman and degrading treatment during arrest, interrogation and in custody, including being stripped; invasive body searches; rape and threats of rape; so-called ‘virginity testing’; and other acts, insults and humiliations of a sexual nature.”

AA2J Activities: For this launch period, AA2J Women’s Network activities will be piloted in 10 African countries before being scaled across Africa. An IBJ AA2J Fellow in each country will spearhead the establishment of each AA2J country chapter with local women legal defenders. The majority of activities and legal representation conducted by AA2J lawyers will take place at police stations, detention centers, prisons and courthouses. Ongoing training and networking will occur on the AA2J Women’s Network Platform — a digital community launched for the project on IBJ’s Justice Hub Platform. 

A wise African proverb says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” I know that together, African women are unstoppable. At IBJ, we remain committed to supporting the vital and courageous work of women legal defenders across Africa and across the world. The AA2J Women’s Network will be an important step in ensuring representation for vulnerable women accused on the African continent. We are thankful for the Swedish Postcode Lottery Foundation’s visionary support. 

Karen Tse, IBJ Founder & CEO

For more information on the AA2J Women’s Network, contact Chris Martin at cmartin@ibj.org.

Astere Muyango, IBJ Burundi Country Fellow

The topic of legal guarantees for detained persons is highly relevant in Burundi. There are several articles in the Code of Criminal Procedure that offer legal guarantees to accused persons. Basic and essential rights such as the right to know the reason for an arrest at the time of arrest and the right to have legal assistance at all stages of the criminal process are mandated by law. Unfortunately, accused people’s rights are rarely honored in practice. As roundtable participants discussed, this is due to a lack of lawyers to defend the rights of the accused, as well as a lack of awareness of these rights among the criminal justice actors who are responsible for carrying out these laws on a daily basis, such as police.

IBJ Legal Fellow Maître Janvier Ncamatwi stated that a standard of law only becomes effective when it is legal and legitimate. He also added that the effectiveness of legal guarantees of charged persons can only come from the actors who are dealing with these matters on a day-to-day basis. That is why it is so important to have the different kinds of stakeholders in the justice system come together to discuss these matters and get new ideas and refreshed energy to work for change. Indeed, productive discussions ensued. The president of the Gitega Bar Association, Rafhael Gahungu, urged that detainees should be treated with humanity. He stressed that everyone should be able to agree that it is preferable that an accused persons be discharged rather than detained; in other words, the notion of a presumption of innocence should guide the treatment of an accused before anything has been proven.

Although there still is need for many improvements in the Burundian justice system, what is uplifting is that the participants were engaged in working for a better tomorrow. The strategies for change they presented were, among other, sensitizing all different actors involved in the juridical processes, informing citizens about legal principles, and maintaining police officers’ awareness through training sessions. The group discussed the fact that, at times, prosecutors want accused persons to be held in jail with the argument being that this is necessary to ensure their security. One prison officer showed his discontent with this practice by saying that the prison is not like an embassy, meaning that detaining someone in prison is no way to secure a person from harm.

Participants in discussion on commitments

At the end of the program, participants were encouraged to commit themselves to making concrete changes, to take responsibility for achieving the progress they all could agree was needed. They committed to, among other things, being more persistent in their opposition to interference by authorities within the judiciary, processing cases without delay, and informing prisoners on their rights and duties. During the event, the participants confirmed that the roundtable process was very productive, as they suggested similar happenings be held for professionals not only in the justice system but also other sectors of Burundian society. Participants left the roundtable better equipped and more motivated than before to devote themselves to working towards a brighter future for accused persons in Burundi.

Selene and Maître Janvier at IBJ's office in Bujumbura

In January 2010, Selene’s employer accused her of embezzlement. He provided a statement to the police and Selene was subsequently arrested and put in pretrial detention. Her denial of the accusations were completely ignored. Selene explains, “These were his words against mine, and that was enough to send me to prison without even having a trial.”

Selene was detained in prison over 100 kilometers from her family, including her two young children, which made her life in isolation even more difficult. Due to the poor conditions in prison, Selena’s health deteriorated and she had to be hospitalized several times. As the months passed, Selena was self-represented at court hearings and attempted to defend her case. Despite the fact that her former employer did not even bother to appear in court to substantiate his accusations, the charges against her, and her imprisonment, were maintained.

The law in Burundi provides that accused persons should not be held in pretrial custody for lengthy periods of time if there is a lack of evidence to support the charges. There is a great disparity, however, between the law and its implementation. Essentially, Selena was languishing in prison despite there being no competent evidence to prove her guilt. With no access to a lawyer, Selena had, in her words, “lost all hope.”

In June, Maître Janvier visited the women’s prison as part of a program developed by IBJ Burundi to address the legal needs of minority groups such as women and children who are being held in pretrial detention. This is where he met Selene. Previously unaware that she had a right to be represented by a lawyer, Selene was grateful that someone would listen to her story, and was uplifted by the possibility that justice could be done.

Selene holds up a rights awareness poster prepared and distributed by IBJ's team in Bujumbura.

Janvier promptly secured hearing dates and represented Selene at court appearances. He was able to overcome the typical inefficiencies in Burundi’s court system and managed to schedule Selene’s hearing the same day as other matters he had pending before the court.

During the case’s late autumn hearing, her accuser’s representative argued that a sentence of six months imprisonment would be appropriate punishment. At this point, Selene had already been imprisoned for over 12 months! Janvier helped Selene understand the choice she had to make, between continuing to fight against the charges and hoping for her eventual exoneration, or accepting an unjust verdict that would result in her immediate release from prison. Selene understood the choice, and took the opportunity to regain her freedom.

Selene was exhausted by the endless processes of the criminal justice system which had treated her so unfairly. She longed to get back to her two young children and the life she once enjoyed. Even after suffering through a year of imprisonment for a crime she did not commit, Selene considers herself lucky.

Selene’s story exemplifies the many shortfalls in Burundian criminal justice, where the basic right to a fair trial is not afforded due respect. It also illustrates how the intervention of an IBJ lawyer can give voice to marginalized people, and provide hope to those who have been abandoned by an uncaring and unforgiving system.

Story by IBJ volunteer lawyer Kathryn McMillan, reporting and photography by Krzysztof Racón.

Burundi signed and ratified the convention on child rights in 1990. But until now the situation has not yet improved in practice. The penal code of 2009 has brought about many reforms in the protection of minors, including raising the age of penal responsibility from 13 to 15. Under these new provisions, if the minor had been sentenced to life imprisonment, he must be resentenced to between five and ten years of penal servitude; if the minor incurs a time sentence or a fine, the penalties that can be imposed against him may not exceed four years.

With this new penal code, many measures of protection of the minor accused of crime have been provided, such as: warning, reminder of the law; returning them to their parents, guardians or an otherwise trustworthy person; providing educational assistance; institutionalization in a social institution, school or other educational institution authorized by the court. These measures must intend to match the imprisonment with a measure of protection such as educational assistance or institutional care.

In practice, these provisions are not yet implemented in daily practice, because in prisons we still find minors accused of crime who have been waiting for trial during several months or even years. Some prosecutors still are pushing for life imprisonment. Also, many jurisdictions have not yet set up special sessions for minors, they are still heard in public hearings as adults and there is no separation of them from adults in jail and this situation exposes them to different kinds of abuse, according to results of IBJ rights awareness campaigns to detainees conducted in different prisons. In addition, the infrastructure is not in place for education.

In the perspective of helping  to reinforce the implementation of existing criminal provisions in the area of juveniles, International Bridges to Justice organized a roundtable discussion in September. On the 23^rd of September, IBJ gathered prosecutors and judges who have been nominated as “focal points” in juveniles’ cases by the ministry of justice within the courts of Bujumbura township and Bujumbura rural. Clerks and secretaries of these courts also participated in the discussion.

Judges and prosecutors of courts (TGI & Parquets) of Bujumbura township and Bujumbura rural

After discussing many challenges encountered by the actors who were present, many solutions were adopted in favour of those of the accused who deserve special protection. Representatives of these courts committed to set up special sessions for minors, and to schedule many cases to be heard at the same dates and in private hearings. All this will be in coordination with IBJ which will provide the accused with qualified legal representation. Law clerks and secretaries committed to facilitating the paperwork of minors’ cases and communicating with IBJ when such cases are scheduled to be heard.

After these important measures were agreed upon, another crucial gathering was held on September 28. This was with lawyers who participated in the July training in order to follow up on the training. After reviewing modules of the previous training and discussing challenges encountered in meantime, lawyers committed to assist in cases provided by IBJ on a pro bono basis.

Group of lawyers after the roundtable

Each of these actions identify the gaps between the criminal laws of Burundi and their implementation, and show how these gaps can be bridged when key actors collaborate on constructive solutions. It is in this way that IBJ builds bridges between the law as it has been written and its just implementation in practice.

Lawyer’s group discussion on the implementation of criminal law provisions protecting juveniles accused of crime

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Opening speech by the Batonnier de l’Ordre des Avocats du Burundi (the Burundi Bar Association)

Drawing 45 Burundian lawyers, IBJ’s four-day training event in Bujumbura, Burundi, opened on July 12th with a speech by the Batonnier de l’Ordre des Avocats du Burundi, or the Burundia Bar Association.

Lawyers in Bujumbura, Burundi learn about building the theme and theory of a case

The first part of the training began with lawyers learning to build a theme and theory of a case and the importance it can play when preparing a case. IBJ’s Training Director, Kellie Krake, provided training on direct and cross-examinations of witnesses. Skills workshops allowed participants to practice what was being taught through a mock crime scene that could only be reconstructed through formulating and asking questions to witnesses.

Participants in the training construct a mock crime scene

Moreover, a refresher on various defenses under the Burundian Penal Code, including nullities and implementation, constituted a prelude to develop participant’s creativity into using broader local law resources and international conventions in preparation of strong defenses or in invoking nullities of procedure. IBJ’s Burundian Legal Fellow, Astère Muyango, spoke of the importance of putting in place a competent legal aid system.

The last two days of the training included other participants coming from across the spectrum of Burundi’s criminal justice system. These included magistrates, judicial police officers, and prison officials. A special guest speaker discussed the criminal proceedings involving juveniles. Presentations included international standards and Aline Njimbere, an IBJ Legal Fellow, explored with participants the changes to the Criminal Procedure Code. Mock demonstrations were conducted for participants to identify and discuss irregularities in procedures.

Judicial police officers and legal aid lawyers receiving training side-by-side

An overarching goal of this training was to strengthen understanding and dialogue amongst the different actors working in the system to build a sense of community with a common purpose, to improve Burundi’s justice system. Participants were encouraged to share their personal stories and values, to imagine the ideal of fairness in the justice system and to identify ways to work towards those ideals, and to pinpoint other issues they are face together as stakeholders in Burundi’s justice system. The training proved to be a great success. Whether it was a new way of thinking, preparing a better defense, or improving their technical skills, almost all participants thanked IBJ for contributing to their professional development.

The Batonnier ended the training with a final inspirational speech and the awarding of certificates to the participants. With all these actors moving together to apply the skills learned and values shared in the training, Burundi is one step closer to realizing the kind of fair and equitable justice system that had been envisioned in the training.

All images courtesy Krzysztof Racoń and Michal Wojtysiak, copyright 2011.

Kellie Krake and John Tawanda Burombo share legal skills at IBJ's training workshop in Kigali, Rwanda

It was quite hot in Kigali on July 20^th 2011. Despite the heat, 30 defense lawyers gathered at IBJ’s Rwanda office for a skills building training workshop to strengthen their ability to advocate for the rights of their clients. Kellie Krake, IBJ’s Training Director and an American lawyer with years of criminal defense experience, and John Busco Bugingo, the head of IBJ Rwanda, were at the helm of this intense training workshop.

Participants were very eager to share their values, stories, and to learn. Ideas and answers to questions came from all sides. The workshop focused on cross-examination techniques where lawyers analyzed a fact scenario to identify what to ask clients to get the most information out of them. Lawyers were also trained on how to build the theme and theory of the case. A presentation on early access to counsel and international standards followed. After the morning session, participants received a certificate of attendance identifying the skills they had just learned.

Rwandan attorneys take note of the criminal defense practice tips IBJ delivers

The second half of the daywas dedicated to training the trainers. The purpose of a Train the Trainers program is to get more experienced lawyers to be able to pass their skills onto others. Participants learned how to conduct a good and competent training session, and learned how to focus their efforts. They were also provided with materials to facilitate this task. Under IBJ’s current program, over 180 Rwandan lawyers have been trained in the last three years. In order to capitalize on this success, IBJ is now deploying the more skilled criminal defense lawyers to train others and thus multiply their impact.

IBJ Skills Training Workshop

The workshop was also a valuable networking opportunity for participants, who were given the opportunity to get involved as IBJ volunteer lawyers.

All images courtesy Krzysztof Racoń and Michal Wojtysiak, copyright 2011.

Reflecting back on the discussions that took place throughout, IBJ and the participants all found that the objectives were met. The participants identified challenges in the justice and penitentiary system that cause congestion and overcrowding in remand prisons. Among these challenges were the poor functioning of the criminal justice system, the inability of ordinary citizens to pay legal fees, the slow process of criminal procedures and lack of coordination among the different actors of the system. The discussion continued by looking for practical solutions to the problem and ways in which lawyers can alleviate overcrowding in the remand prisons, with particular attention being paid to the lawyers collaborating with IBJ in a future legal aid pilot to be possibly launched in Bulawayo province. Lawyers committed to assist in providing legal assistance. This is a great step towards giving a sense of responsibility to lawyers from that province.

Participants found the discussion useful for their daily jobs and relevant to the challenges that Zimbabwe’s criminal justice system faces.  A participant acknowledged that this was “only the beginning” and encouraged IBJ to “set up proper structures” for the engagement of lawyers in legal aid activities across the province.

In the same light, another participant stressed the importance of IBJ to engage senior partners in law firms in mentoring junior lawyers to assist indigent arrestees. He stressed the need to “make senior lawyers understand that the project will also go a long way in developing junior lawyers’ skills”. Another suggested the need to engage prosecutors and magistrates to help resolve the problem of overcrowding. IBJ is committed to creating a collaborative platform for discussion with the different segments of the justice sector of Bulawayo province.

Participants welcomed the provincial pilot legal aid project and asserted their commitment to assist indigent arrestees. They all expressed a strong desire to follow up, attend future roundtable discussions and training events, and contribute to legal assistance efforts so that one day, every man, woman and child accused of a crime in Bulawayo has effective access to quality legal counsel.

The two-day conference included presentations on various relevant topics of interest for the legal community of East Africa. The topics that were discussed were harnessing democracies in East Africa; progress towards the East African Common market; the quest for free and fair electoral processes in East Africa and access to justice for all. Papers on these topics that were written for the purpose of the discussions will be available soon on the EALS website.

With the growing standardization and harmonization of laws across the East Africa Community (EAC), the language barrier between the Anglophone Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and the mostly Francophone Burundi and Rwanda becomes particularly challenging. Even within Rwanda the situation is tricky as lawyers can plead in court in French, English or Kinyarwanda, making the procedure at times very complex, labor-intensive and time-consuming. To get lawyers excited about the upcoming manual, IBJ developed a 50-page glossary of English/French and French/English legal terms pertaining to the field of criminal law with the support of the EALS, the Burundi Bar Association and the Kigali Bar Association. The glossary translates more than 800 legal terms from English to French and vice versa. 400 printed copies of the manual have been distributed at the East Africa Law Society Annual General Meeting and Conference on November 19^th and 20^th 2010 in Bujumbura, Burundi, creating a sensation within the East African legal community. Many lawyers appreciated the glossary and showed interest in IBJ’s work in the different communities of East Africa. At the end of the conference, only ten of the 400 copies were left. Additionally, a reception that was organized for those attending ensured that lawyers could interact informally and enabled our fellows to meet interesting people – including the newly elected President of the EALS, the CEO of the EALS and of the national bar associations, as well as individual lawyers – and spread the word about IBJ.

This meeting was an excellent platform to increase IBJ’s work visibility across East africa, launch the IBJ East Africa project and to reassert IBJ’s commitment to improving the legal system and legal integration in East Africa.

Above: IBJ Rwanda Fellow John Bosco Bugingo (left) and Burundi Fellow Astère Muyango (right) meet with the EALS CEO Tito Byenkya (middle) (Photo by Janvier Ncamatwi).

Above: IBJ Burundi Fellows Astère Muyango and Janvier Ncamatwi congratulate the new President of the EALS (far left) (Photo by Aline Nijimbere).

Above: IBJ Rwanda and Burundi Fellows pose with the CEO of the EALS (far left) and the Burundi expert of the drafting committee of the IBJ/EALS defense manual (far right) (Photo by Aline Nijimbere).

Above: The newly elected committee of the EALS (Photo by Astère Muyango).

All attendants felt that the role and challenges had been identified and what’s more, that recommendations that were brought forward could have a direct impact on the criminal justice system in Zimbabwe. Participants indicated the discussions were ‘informative, vital and an eye-opener.’

The participants agreed that the media have power and an important role in influencing public and government policy.  That is why accurate reporting of cases is seen as an important tool and a method of deterrence to keep the system accountable to its own rule. It was highlighted that the Zimbabwean media has the power to influence the nation’s conscience and it needs to be aware of that power. The tendency to report exclusively on highly political cases, leaving the cases of ordinary people unheard, was debated.

The journalists highlighted their need for training on human rights issues, including the right to privacy.  The issue of privacy was further discussed, with journalists commenting that most journalists or editors were unaware that it is inappropriate to expose the identities of victims of sexual violence or their relatives. Legal procedure, human rights and ethics were other areas journalists requested to be trained in. IBJ will therefore look for partnership with schools to explore the possibility, so that journalists can be provided with the desired training.

Another point of discussion was the need for journalists to be seen as partners of the criminal justice system, both to educate the public and to highlight its failings/mistakes and need for reform. The journalists felt that stakeholders within the criminal justice system view the media with suspicion and are reluctant to cooperate. Closer cooperation between the media and IBJ will be a first step towards changing this.

Lack of accessibility to justice, as well as media, was discussed as it is a problem for those who live in rural areas and those who do not speak English and Shona. There are no newspaper distributors in many rural areas, meaning that newspapers reach these places when the news is already out of date.  Radio and television broadcasts also do not cover more than half of the country.

After a lively discussion it was agreed that much needs to be done to improve the role of Zimbabwean media and standards of reporting. In this regard many issues need to be considered. These include continual training, with classes tailored to meet specific needs such as education within specialist areas. The need for a self-regulatory body is also pressing, since Zimbabwean journalists lack any form of professional body, which undermines their ability to control their freedoms. It was also highlighted that journalists and relevant professionals need to cultivate professional working relationships. This way, journalists have experts to turn to with questions or requests for editorials, thereby improving the quality of reporting. To that end the IBJ Zimbabwe team ensured all the journalists present had their contact details and expressed their willingness and desire that journalists get in touch whenever they have any legal questions.

After this fruitful meeting, the first step is to build a stronger relationship with editors in media houses and find out how IBJ can contribute to further training of the media. Participants were enthusiastic about this opportunity and future events, with one journalist saying that he “would not want to miss any, so long as I’m available.” The focus on the media shows that IBJ is committed to approach all actors in the criminal justice system. This way, we can fully contribute and improve the justice systems in the countries we work in. This approach has already borne fruit, as several Zimbabwe newspapers have already reported on IBJ’s work. This shows that we are increasingly driving the focus of the media on ordinary citizens enmeshed in the criminal justice system.

Above: IBJ roundtable made headlines in the Harare Metro on November 3rd, 2010

The content of the manual will be jointly developed by an international expert in the field of criminal defense and a team of local experts, nominated by the national Bar associations, who are best poised to make sure that cultural and country-specific issues are tackled in the manual.  The manual will outline best practices and advocacy techniques with a focus on enhancing legal knowledge, practical defense skills – particularly trial skills, education on international norms and standards and some examples of their domestic implementation in all five countries. It will include practical tips about ways to mount a vigorous defense and include forms, checklists, and memos to help lawyers prepare and manage their cases.

It will be distributed through the national Bar Associations of the member countries and will be available online on the EALS website and IBJ’s Elearning platform. A French version will also be made available for Francophone lawyers in Rwanda and Burundi. We expect the first draft of the manual to be completed by April 2011.

Download the IBJ English/French Legal Lexicon

IBJ is committed to contributing to the growing regional integration in other ways aswell. On November 19 and 20, the EALS is hosting its Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Bujumbura, Burundi. IBJ Rwanda and Burundi Fellows John Bosco and Astère and IBJ Burundian Legal Fellows Aline Nijimbere and Janvier Ncamatwi will participate in the lively discussions that will undoubtedly take place, strengthening the relationship with the East Africa legal community. Furthermore, IBJ has produced a glossary of English/French legal terms for the use of East Africa Francophone lawyers which will facilitate the integration of Rwanda and Burundi into the Anglophone East Africa Community. We are hoping to distribute copies of the glossary at the EALS AGM.

Furthermore, this cooperation is an excellent opportunity for IBJ to establish a base to promote access to legal counsel and human rights across East African countries. With this project we have laid the first foundations for a possible East Africa Defender Resource Hub which will support – both at the national and regional level – criminal defender trainings as well as the implementation of coordinated answers to the challenges of the criminal justice system  throughout East Africa. This way, we will reduce the prevalence of torture in pretrial detention and help the accused in East Africa. Therefore, we are very excited to kickstart the development of the manual and future cooperation in East Africa and thank the International Bar Association for their support.

Above: John Bosco (left), IBJ Rwanda Fellow and Astère (right), IBJ Burundi Fellow at the EALS 2009 AGM where the foundations for cooperation between the EALS and IBJ were laid

Above: Astère (left) and Bruce Kyerere, the Uganda Law Society President at the 2009 EALS AGM (Photo by John Bosco Bugingo)

Above: Astère (right) with Dr. Fauz Twaib, the Tanzania Law Society President at the 2009 EALS AGM (Photo by John Bosco Bugingo)