In January, 2011 JusticeMakers Fellow Alex Argo Hernowo started a year-long programme to increase legal empowerment for the community of people living with HIV/AIDS in Jakarta, Indonesia. The programme aimed to emphasize the role of HIV-infected community members and commenced with a meeting of the LBH Masyarakat paralegals who would be working with the HIV/AIDS Community[1]. The goal of this meeting was to pinpoint the most urgent legal problems that HIV-infected people face, whether it is legal discrimination, stigmatization or any other types of inequity and unfairness.
After isolating a number of problems, the paralegals agreed to take strategic measures to combat all forms of discrimination and other harmful acts against people with HIV/AIDS. Alex divided the group into smaller training teams to provide counseling in various HIV/AIDS communities throughout Jakarta.
Alex Argo Hernowo conduction legal education seminars in HIV/AIDS communities in Jakarta
The first phase of legal counsel sessions was conducted in February in two HIV/AIDS communities. In Jakarta, the paralegals visited the Manggarai community and a community that is based at the Tebet Methadone Treatment Center. This initial stage existed of a series of legal education seminars in order to raise legal rights awareness and train a group of new paralegals. At Manggarai 10 people took part in the seminar and at Tebet 15 participated.
The first legal education seminars covered the general criminal justice process in Indonesia. Members of the two selected communities were bestowed with basic knowledge of the criminal justice system and received instructions on how to act if someone is facing criminal prosecution. The community members were also informed about the rights that must be upheld by law enforcement officials during criminal procedures.
The paralegals at LBH Masyarakat have received positive feedback on the first legal education seminars in the Manggarai and Tebet communities. People from these communities have also shown serious interest in other legal education seminars, and to meet these demands, LBH Masyarakat will organize at least two additional legal education seminars focused on employment and health law.
In May, Alex will complete the legal education seminars by inaugurating the 10 new paralegals from the HIV/AIDS communities. This group of freshly trained paralegals will continue the job the current LBH Masyarakat paralegals are carrying out – providing counsel to people from the HIV/AIDS communities. Through his train-the-trainer approach, Alex will increase the sustainability and impact of this JusticeMakers project.
[1] Alex Argo Hernowo is a lawyer at LBH Masyarakat in Jakarta, Indonesia.