Kinshasa, 3 June 2019 – Access to justice is more crucial than ever to ease the existing tensions in the North and South Kivu provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which have been torn apart by violence for decades. On 21 and 23 May 2019, ASF, RCN Justice & Démocratie (RCN) and TRIAL International launched a shared project to fight impunity in those regions. Two workshops, held in Goma and Bukavu, gathered over a hundred people playing a part in the prosecution of international crimes.
In North and South Kivu, many human rights violations stem from conflicting attempts to secure natural resources, regional rivalries and ethnic tensions. Although hundreds of victims already saw their perpetrators prosecuted and punished between 2016 and 2018, there is much more to be done for all the people responsible to be brought to justice and all the victims to receive reparation.
“Promoting efforts to fight against impunity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo”, a three-years project funded by the European Union, is meant to foster access to justice for people and communities that fell victim to international crimes.
A response that matches the stakes
“The intervention benefits from the joint experience and expertise of our three organizations, which makes for a fitting response to the stakes identified in the region, whether one is looking at the demand for justice or its delivery”, according to Gilles Durdu, ASF’s Country Director.
“The key to success lies in increased coordination, not only among our organizations but also among all the people involved in that sector”,Daniele Perissi, Head of the Great Lakes program at TRIAL International, corroborates. “Together, we hope to devise a truly efficient national strategy in order to prosecute the gravest crimes.”
The workshops used to launch the project were precisely designed to allow the players who had been invited to reflect on the current stakes and challenges in the fight against impunity and international crimes in DRC, as well as to reassert the importance of a joint operation to promote a holistic response.
Joel Phalip, Head of Mission for RCN, specifies that “part of that response will be to reinforce the technical capacities at the disposal of the justice professionals, including civilian and military courts and tribunals. We also wish to increase the involvement of the victims in all the steps of the lawsuits and their collaboration with the judicial actors
A shared will to join forces
The people attending the workshops also underscored the importance of coordination and collaboration in the sector, as Walid Henia, a Military Consultant on investigations at MONUSCO and the person in charge of the Bukavu Task Force, remarks. He said: “We need to work together, to join forces and act as one to provide the judicial authorities with better support in the fight for the victims against impunity in severe or mass crimes.”“We must find tools and means to coordinate our knowledge and the ways that we act together”, two other participants added. “For greater transparency, we truly need to collaborate, all of us – courts and tribunals, NGOs, civil society organizations, technical and financial partners, the media… This will allow us to do away with many clichés and stereotypes attached to justice and the prosecution of international penal crimes, and to recreate trust with the people.”
Kampala, 16 May 2019 – In Uganda, ASF has been providing continuous support to communities who have been victim of the crimes for which Kwoyelo is being tried under the International Crimes Division (ICD). Last April, ASF led joint efforts with the Victim’s Counsel, the ICD Registrar and the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) to inform the victims’ communities of the latest trial developments, while collecting and relaying their views to relevant instances.
During the various sessions held within the communities of Obiangic, Abera, Lamgoi, Perecu and Pabbo, many participants deplored their lack of information about the developments in the case. At the same time, a substantial number of them showed a rising loss of interest in the case. As put by one of the participants:
“This meeting is not important to us. We need to hear only results from the trial. This trial has been ongoing for so long. It should end soon so that we can get compensation for the harm we suffered.”
Perceivably, this attitude arises from the lack of direct involvement in the case as well as the protracted trial process which commenced in July 2011. The legal entitlements encapsulated in the various statutes providing for participation of victims are at risk of being rendered meaningless if these concerns are not addressed.
The fact that victims keep suffering from the conflict’s aftermath (orphans unattended for, physical and mental impairments, etc.) only adds to the risk of diminishing the worth of legal proceedings to their eyes, as they are no longer seen as likely to improve the victims’ current condition. While an important complement to truth seeking and justice efforts, interim measures, projects and interventions by both government and non-government actors have either beeninsufficient or ineffective in meeting the victims’ most basic needs.
Besides, whereas the call for accountability is resounding in many victims’ communities, there concerns towards reparations are also consistently brought up: whowill receive reparation, who will pay them and what form will these reparations take?
Beyond legal entitlements, criminal processes can only achieve restorative and healing functions if perceived as meaningful by victims and their communities.In the instant case, this can be done by:
Ensuring constant and meaningful interaction between the victims and their legal counsels, since the latter ensure their participation in the trial.
Managing victims’ expectations regarding participation in the trial and ensuring that victims understand the scope of their own agency in the justice process before the ICD: this also implies for the ICD and the Government of Uganda to clarify some relevant aspects of victim participation, suchas their right to reparation.
Promote victims’ agency in exercising their participation rights: proposed efforts include physical attendance of the trial to follow court proceedings by victims through representatives.
Better target interim support to victims: pending completion of the trial, there is a need for meaningful, effective and holistic interim efforts to support the victims where it matters the mostto them. ASF continues to advocate for the adoption of the draft Transitional Justice Policy in this regard.
Victim participation-related provisions and the incorporation of international criminal principles into the Ugandan domestic legal systemhave opened up unprecedented possibilities for victims to obtain justice in Uganda. As those are being used for the first time in the Kwoyelo trial, it is crucial that the right precedents are set so that victims’ right to participation can be considered a meaningful part of Transitional Justice efforts in the country.
Tunis, 2 April 2019 – ASF and eight of its partners formed the Alliance pour la Sécurité et les Libertés, calling on Tunisian deputies not to adopt the bill for the organisation of a state of emergency in its current form. Far from improving security in the country, it endangers people’s rights and freedoms and curtails constitutional protections.
The state of emergency is a measure permitting the authorities to take exceptional steps if the country is in imminent danger. Those measures, which are accompanied by a strengthening of executive powers in relation to other powers, are by their nature oppressive. It is therefore essential that they respect the principles of proportionality and necessity set out in Article 49 of the constitution. The judicial and legislative authorities must be able to oversee the restriction of rights and freedoms. People who are affected by the measures must be notified of them and be able to appeal against them before a judge.
“However,” as Oumayma Mehdi, ASF Project Coordinator in Tunisia, explains, “the bill proposed by the President of the Republic offers no such guarantees. It contains many ambiguities and inaccuracies that could lead to serious violations of the fundamental rights and freedoms protected by the constitution.”
The bill defines a state of emergency as “when serious events occur,” without defining the terms “event” or “serious”. It does not specify that the objective of administrative measures taken in the context of a state of emergency must be to guarantee a rapid return to normalcy for institutions. In its current form, the bill decrees that the state of emergency could last up to six months and then be extended by three months, without specifying a limit on the number of times it can be renewed.
The bill grants near-absolute power to the executive through administrative measures that are inappropriate and that restrict freedom, and the conditions of which are lacking in detail: refusal of the right to remain, house arrest, prohibition of meetings, gatherings, marches, and demonstrations, interception of phone calls and correspondence, suspension of the activities of associations, etc. Furthermore, the bill does not propose sufficient and effective means of recourse and does not require the oversight of parliament. It also imposes excessive and discriminatory sentences for cases of non-compliance with the measures taken by the authorities.
“In its current version, the bill is a tool for justifying the abuse of measures that restrict freedom, not a way of ensuring a rapid return to the rule of law. For all these reasons, we call on the deputies not to adopt this bill in its current form and to comprehensively amend it,” states Oumayma Mehdi.
>> Download the complete analysis of the bill in French and in Arabic
* Consisting of Al Bawsala, the Forum Tunisien pour les Droits Economiques et Sociaux, Jamaity, the Ligue Tunisienne des Droits de l’Homme, Mobdiun, the World Organisation Against Torture, Psychologues du Monde-Tunisie, and Solidar Tunisie. Continue reading “Tunisia: a state of emergency to justify the restriction of rights and freedoms”
Kampala, 8 March 2019 – Joining in the celebration of women across the world today, ASF releases its analysis of the progresses and shortcomings in achieving women’s rights in Uganda’s extractive industry context.
Oil and mining industry developments in Uganda are filled with promises of economic and social improvements. Yet, respect for the human rights of local communities amongst economic interests remains far from achieved. As in other similar contexts, numerous violations of the rights of women and increasing gender inequalities are observed. Indeed, while men are more likely to get a greater share of the benefit in terms of employment and income, women are more exposed to the negative consequences – social disruptions, environmental degradation – affecting their sources of income and physical integrity.
In a recent research covering extractive industry hot spots in the Bunyoro and Karamoja regions (oil and mining), ASF investigated how women are able to deal with economic transformations and their impacts. The report highlights how, in environments characterised by patriarchal dynamics, poor law enforcement and high power asymmetries, women manage to take initiatives to answer immediate needs of an economic nature but have limited ability to react when facing other types of injustice, such as gender based violence or violations of their rights to access land, to health and to a clean environment.
Several factors appear to enable or constrain women in their ability to react to, mitigate or adapt to the changes they face due to mineral exploitation. Savings groups, for instance, have proven to be an enabler of action as they offer a basis for collective women initiative in male-dominated public spaces. On the other hand, our findings point that women’s power to take action or redress injustice amidst extractive developments is constrained when they have to rely on external avenues.
Considering Uganda’s imperfect institutional and law-enforcement background, this conclusion is little surprising. Our data shows, however, that the arrival of powerful private actors backed by government elites contributed to further weakening supporting structures such as local governments, community leaders and local conflict-resolution actors. In the increasingly asymmetrical context that resulted from industrial developments, local structures are left ill-equipped to provide adequate support to aggrieved women and communities. Companies and national government actors do not, on the other hand, offer valid solutions to mitigate the negative consequences of their activities – sometimes even using existing institutional weaknesses in their own interest. Eventually, very few avenues exist for women and communities to claim and enforce their rights amidst extractive industry developments.
To address those shortcomings, ASF advocates for a multi-facetted legal empowerment programme, targeting actors across the whole justice spectrum. On the demand side, women and communities affected by industrial developments must be equipped to not only redress the injustices they face, but also take an active role in socio-economic developments and hold their elites accountable. On the supply side, efficient and coordinated justice mechanisms must be made available. Actions range from strengthening the capacities of community-based justice actors to adopting and implementing laws through which powerful extractive industry stakeholders can be held accountable.
>> Download ASF’s report Digging for power: Women empowerment and justice amidst extractive industry developments in the Albertine and Karamoja, Uganda
>> Watch the video
With the support of the Belgian Development Cooperation.
Tunis, 28 February 2019 – For the victims of human trafficking, Tunisia could be their country of origin or their destination country, or they could be in transit. Since 2016, Tunisia has had a strong legal framework for combatting the phenomenon, but how can effective collaboration between the actors involved be ensured? On 23 January, National Day of the Abolition of Slavery, ASF and the Instance Nationale de Lutte Contre la Traite des Personnes (the national anti-trafficking body) organised an international conference to take stock of the issue.
“To combat trafficking, it is essential that the different actors involved collaborate and coordinate,” explains Zeineb Mrouki, ASF Project Coordinator in Tunisia (photo). “The Instance Nationale de Lutte Contre la Traite des Personnes is responsible for establishing a National Referral Mechanism (NRM) to organise cooperation between governmental agencies and civil society. It should make it possible to identify victims, to signpost them to the appropriate services, and to assist and protect them.”
Ministries, law-enforcement and customs officials, social workers, labour inspectors, child protection officers, civil society, etc. came together to share their experiences of victim referral and to develop recommendations for the establishment of the future NRM.
Two main considerations emerged from the discussions: the need for the actors involved to be trained in the provisions set out in Organic Law No. 2016-61 on preventing and combatting trafficking in persons; and the need for each of the actors to bring their practices into line with the law.
Illegal aliens have, for example, the right to protection when they have been victims of trafficking. More often than not, however, they are expelled from the country by the police without recourse to that protection, because they are not identified and recognised as victims of trafficking. Furthermore, the techniques for investigating and for providing assistance to victims are not suitable for trafficking cases.
Since the law on trafficking came into effect, 780 cases of human trafficking have been recorded. More and more victims are pressing charges. To this day, however, nobody has been convicted of trafficking, either because judges don’t understand the law or because they favour shorter sentences.An appeal is therefore being made to the judges in charge of trafficking cases to use the tools that the law has given them.
“We also appeal to the relevant ministries, such as the Ministry for Health and the Ministry for Women, to implement the provisions of the law,” says Zeineb Mrouki. “Those include free health care and the provision of accommodation for victims.”
On 24 January, the day after the conference, awareness-raising sessions were organised in the city centre in Tunis, to inform the general public about the realities of trafficking and the rights of victims.
The conference and the day of awareness-raising were organised by the Instance Nationale de Lutte Contre la Traite des Personnes and Avocats Sans Frontières, with the participation of the Council of Europe, the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations Development Programme, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
On 19 May 2019, ASF will be on the starting line of the Brussels 20 km.
Want to combine sporting achievement and solidarity with people seeking justice in Chad? Join our team!The idea:
The 20 km will take place on Sunday 19 May 2019 at 10 am.
The registration fee amounts €35 and includes your bib, an ASF T-shirt, a snack, and a drink for the race.
Brussels/N’Djamena, 17 December 2018 – Chad has about 12 million inhabitants…and 135 practising lawyers, almost all based in the capital, N’Djamena. Fortunately, they are not the only ones defending people’s rights: supervised and trained by national organisations and by ASF, paralegals provide legal aid services to the most destitute.
Paralegals are men and women who work voluntarily to make the law accessible to everyone. Most of them are ordinary villagers, not legal professionals.
Their work, which complements that of lawyers, is crucial: it enables conflicts to be resolved amicably, in a way that respects everybody’s rights, and promotes peace and social cohesion. They are true ambassadors of the law to the people.
Bedjebedje, aged 60, is a paralegal in Béré: “What motivates me the most is the contribution we are making to society and the way we are educating people about the law. My concern is that justice is done.”
Make a donation: help us to improve the working conditions of paralegals and ensure the quality of the services they provide. For example, 40 euros would cover their travel and communication costs for a month, and thus enable them to reach the most remote areas.Mbaibai (on the right in the photograph), aged 47, mother of five children and paralegal: “Due to a lack of means of transport, I travel on foot. But I consider myself happy and I’m optimistic. I am hopeful that the working conditions will improve one day.”Make a donation:
By bank transfer to the Avocats Sans Frontières account BE89 6300 2274 9185
If the amount that you donate adds up to €40, we will send you a tax receipt in February.
The ASF project with paralegals in Chad is partly funded by the European Union. We need your help to raise the remaining funds so we can carry out all the activities that are planned!
Thank you for your generosity.
We wish you all a very happy holiday season.
PS: We are putting together a team to run the Brussels 20 km on 19 May 2019, to raise money for paralegals in Chad. Join us: you can sign up now!
Like all international NGOs in Burundi, Avocats Sans Frontières had its activities in the country suspended by the National Security Council on 1 October this year, due to failure to comply with the law on foreign non-governmental organisations (FNGO) adopted in January 2017.
The Burundian Minister of the Interior will only lift the suspension on condition that an application, made up of four documents, is submitted and approved before 31 December this year.
Specifically, these consist of a partnership agreement with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a draft agreement with the Ministry of Justice, a commitment to respecting banking regulations and the law on FNGOs, and a plan of action for implementing recruitment measures to ensure that the ethnic composition of our staff meets defined quotas.
After serious consideration, we believe that complying with some of the authorities’ demands would go against the founding principles of ASF and its values. We will, therefore, be unable to have our suspension lifted.
With the deepest regret, after twenty uninterrupted years in Burundi, we must therefore close our offices in Bujumbura and leave the country on 31 December 2018.
We remain committed to working towards access to justice for the Burundian people, and we hope we can contribute to it again in the future.
We are extremely grateful to all the people, associations, and institutions that have supported our activities in Burundi since 1999, and we wish them the best of luck for the future.
Please contact us for any further information on this subject.
N’Djamena, 26 November 2018 – This autumn, ASF presents a portrait of justice in Chad, through interviews with four people who are active in defending human rights in the country. Guerimbaye Midaye is a lawyer in the bar association of Chad. He has been active for almost 30 years within the Ligue Tchadienne des Droits de l’Homme (LTDH), of which he is now the president. For him, combining his roles as a lawyer and as a human rights defender makes obvious sense. “There is a very strong link between the two.”How did the LTDH come about?Midaye: Founded in 1991, shortly after the overthrow of the Hissène Habré regime, the LTDH is the oldest human rights association in Chad. In the first few years, people were confused and thought it was a political organisation. We had to make the authorities and the people understand that defending human rights has nothing to do with seeking power. We can be critical of governance and the management of public affairs, but that doesn’t make us an opposition party.What does the work of the LTDH entail?Midaye: We campaign for the implementation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and of conventions that have been ratified by Chad. Our activities include raising people’s awareness, popularising the law, speaking out against violations, and providing legal assistance to people whose rights are being threatened. Does the issue of customary law have a significant impact on the work of the LTDH?Midaye: Yes. Under the pretext of tradition, the traditional authorities sometimes take actions that are detrimental to people’s lives or physical integrity. We make them aware of the fact that respect for human integrity is more important than any other consideration, whatever the customs may be. Take, for example, child cowherds: children, sometimes very young children, work as cowherds for cattle farmers in conditions that are often close to slavery. We campaign for their rights to be respected. We also combat the practice of female genital mutilation.You also provide legal advice…Midaye: We advise the people who come to see us as best we can, depending on the nature of the cases they bring to us. If necessary, we assist them in asserting their rights in court. The law states that anyone who is prosecuted in a criminal case must be assisted by a lawyer. In many areas, however, there are no lawyers. To get around this problem, the judge usually designates the role to anyone who can speak French. They may speak French but have no basic knowledge of how to defend people’s rights! In the LTDH, we often take over cases of people who have been in that situation and are facing very heavy sentences. Two years ago, for example, I defended fifty or so people in a trial in Moussoro. We also help people who have been released to return to their families, sometimes on the other side of the country.According to you, there is a very strong link between the work of lawyers and that of civil society organisations like the LTDH.Midaye: The thing is, there are very few legal experts within civil society organisations. My training as a lawyer and my knowledge of legal procedures is an important asset when it comes to defending human rights. There is a very strong connection between those two aspects. Being a lawyer enables me to understand the mechanics of the legal system, to be in contact with the different actors within it, and to give good advice to the victims of rights violations. Often, they don’t know who to turn to. I point them in the right direction.Some people decide to become lawyers in order to get rich. To be a human rights defender, however, you must be prepared to be humble, to serve a cause without expecting remuneration. For me, the greatest reward of all is when someone I have freed from prison says to me, “Thank you very much!” That means more than the money I get for winning a case in court. How would you describe the way justice operates in Chad? Midaye: It’s a catastrophe. I don’t say that lightly. The recurring problem of corruption gives people the impression that only those who are rich can win. However, not everyone is rich. There is also the issue of bilingualism. Some major justice actors – including some judges – have no legal expertise, or don’t speak any French, the language in which our laws are written. When I am arguing a case before a judge who doesn’t understand what I am saying, as a lawyer, I feel like a fraud. I feel like I’m cheating the person who paid me to work for them. One solution, of course, would be to integrate Arabic into how justice operates, but the state in Chad is not taking any measures to do so.What role do you see Avocats Sans Frontières playing in the country?Midaye: The most important thing is that people take ownership of their rights and know how to assert them and to whom. I hope that ASF will support us in that approach.****
ASF has been in Chad since 2012, with the support of the European Union among others, and carries out several projects with justice actors on the ground. This series of interviews presents a sample of ASF’s different partners in Chad.
N’Djamena, 19 November 2018 – This autumn, ASF presents a portrait of justice in Chad, through interviews with four people who are active in defending human rights in the country. Pyrrhus Banadji Boguel is the President of the Collectif des Associations de Défense des Droits de l’Homme (a group of associations for the defence of human rights). A lawyer who has always been driven by the desire to serve his community, he defends human rights in order to “give a voice to people who have none.”What is the Collectif des Associations de Défense des Droits de l’Homme (CADH)?Pyrrhus Banadji Boguel: The CADH was set up in 1998, to strengthen cooperation between human rights organisations* and support them in their role: contributing to the creation in Chad of a state based on the rule of law and to respect for good governance and human rights. Over 20 years, the group has done much to raise the consciousness of the people of Chad and strengthen their ability to act. It has actively participated in the political, economic, and social life of the country, for example by challenging the public authorities on their responsibility to guarantee and protect human rights, and by denouncing violations of those rights. It has provided objective and relevant analyses of the exploitation of natural resources, the struggle against impunity, access to justice for vulnerable people, the struggle against arbitrary and illegal arrests and gender-based violence, and on monitoring the public service.How do you see your role as a human rights defender?P.B.B.: A human rights defender is the person who is closest to those who are marginalised and there are many people in Chad who are marginalised! He or she is a spokesperson for those who have no voice. Many of our fellow citizens are victims of injustice, for example abuse and fraud by the police or the administrative and military authorities. They don’t know who to turn to for help. They don’t have access to basic essential services such as health and education, or food. Our role is to give a voice to those voiceless people and to combat the social injustice, inequality, fraud, and rights violations of which they have been victims. This conviction has always motivated me.What challenges do human rights defenders face?P.B.B.: There are many! Human rights defenders often experience threats, abuse, and intimidation of all kinds. The public authorities don’t appreciate their role and don’t guarantee them a safe working environment.How would you describe the way justice operates in Chad? P.B.B.: Our legal system still has huge challenges to overcome in order to meet people’s deepest needs in terms of access to justice. It is diseased, weakened by the frequent interference of the administrative and military authorities in legal cases. The consequences are violations of people’s fundamental rights, the disappearance of important files, the corruption of judges and others working within the justice system, appointments that don’t respect the basic criteria of seniority, disputes between magistrates’ unions, etc. There are other problems too, such as antiquated infrastructure, the lack of information for people about the law, fees that are too high in relation to the means of the population, the lack of implementation of legal decisions, time delays, etc. All this makes access to justice complex and difficult for the citizens of Chad, who sometimes therefore turn to private justice, based on vengeance. The eventual creation of a legal system that respects peoples’ individual freedoms and fundamental rights needs to be a priority for the political authorities. To rebuild the justice system and restore its reputation, the recommendations of the national conference on justice in 2003 must be implemented and the efforts that have undertaken since then must be continued. A state cannot become stronger without justice.
* The CADH currently includes six organisations: Action des Chrétiens pour l’Abolition de la Torture (ACAT-Tchad), Association pour la Promotion des Libertés Fondamentales au Tchad (APLFT, of which Pyrrhus Banadji Boguel is also the President), Association Tchadienne pour la Promotion et la Défense des Droits de l’Homme (ATPDH), Association Tchadienne pour la Non-Violence (ATNV), Ligue Tchadienne des Droits de l’Homme (LTDH), and Tchad Non-Violence (TNV).
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This interview was carried out by Victor Odent, ASF Country Director in Chad.
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“The key to success lies in increased coordination, not only among our organizations but also among all the people involved in that sector”, Daniele Perissi, Head of the Great Lakes program at TRIAL International, corroborates. “Together, we hope to devise a truly efficient national strategy in order to prosecute the gravest crimes.”
The workshops used to launch the project were precisely designed to allow the players who had been invited to reflect on the current stakes and challenges in the fight against impunity and international crimes in DRC, as well as to reassert the importance of a joint operation to promote a holistic response.
Joel Phalip, Head of Mission for RCN, specifies that “part of that response will be to reinforce the technical capacities at the disposal of the justice professionals, including civilian and military courts and tribunals. We also wish to increase the involvement of the victims in all the steps of the lawsuits and their collaboration with the judicial actors
