Overall Objective:
To promote access to justice for the poor and vulnerable persons in Uganda.
The Legal Services Unit aims at promoting sustainable access to justice and advocates for the best practice in the administration of justice in Uganda. FHRI provides legal aid services to poor and vulnerable persons, sensitizes leaders on basic human rights, and carries out capacity building for the judiciary. FHRI envisages that as a result, there will be better standards of human rights observance, improved awareness of human rights and the avenues through which to access justice, hence improving the criminal justice system.
The Legal Services Unit builds on the work of the preceding projects namely; Citizens’ Advice Bureau, Legal Resources, Access to Justice, as well as Technical and Advisory Services. FHRI has worked with the Judiciary and other stakeholders where discussions centred on the challenge of access to justice by ordinary persons; as well as eradicating corruption within the judiciary were made. Through the range of services offered by FHRI over the years, the legal services unit has contributed to increased access to justice and has positively changed the lives of some of the most vulnerable and poor women, men, and children.
The Unit provides services through:
Legal Aid Assistance.
Objective: To provide free and accessible legal services to poor and vulnerable groups.
Under this component, FHRI continues to extend its pro-bono and legal aid services to the disadvantaged and vulnerable persons, especially women, children, Persons with Disabilities, the elderly, and minorities in Uganda. FHRI runs a fully-fledged legal aid clinic at the Human Rights House which provides legal assistance on human rights-related issues and legal procedures. In addition, FHRI also runs two legal aid field offices in Kalangala and Wakiso districts. FHRI uses the community legal aid model which focuses on outreach and legal empowerment in deprived and hard-to-reach-areas. This is occasionally done in partnership with member community-based human rights groups in selected districts both at the district and county levels to run legal aid camps.
FHRI handles human rights abuses arising from different areas of the law ranging from family, succession and matrimonial law, land law, natural resources, labour law, to property rights among others of both criminal and civil nature. FHRI undertakes legal representation for vulnerable persons before courts of law and the tribunals where appropriate. Other methods undertaken in handling cases between disputing parties include counselling, mediation and referrals. Together with other legal aid service providers, FHRI also advocates for the support and implementation of a state-funded National Legal Aid Policy emphasizing easy access and non-discrimination to legal aid services.
Through legal rights awareness sessions, FHRI empowers community members by teaching them their land rights and procedures. The Unit has a toll-free line (0800100016) to support FHRI’s rapid response mechanism to human rights violations.