Protecting procedural and constitutional rights through access to justice - ASF



Contract partner: ASF - Avocats Sans Frontiéres Country: Uganda Funding amount: € 1.080.000,00 Project start: 01.11.2020 End: 31.10.2023

Short Description:

Overall goal


Contribute to the realization of the Rule of Law in the administration of justice in Uganda and foster the protection and promotion of constitutional and procedural rights in the administration of justice, with a focus on situations of detention.


Expected results


1) Enhanced capacity for civil society to advocate for the protection of constitutional and procedural rights: this outcome seeks to change civil society’s perceptions around procedural rights.

2) Strengthened legal aid services to uphold procedural rights in the administration of justice.

3) Enhanced influence on Policy through stronger engagement with central institutions: the knowledge gathered and evidence built in outputs 1 and 2 are transformed and availed to decision-makers in order to influence the development of sectoral policies (JLOS-Justice Law and Order Sector).

 


Target group / Beneficiaries


4500 beneficiaries of free legal consultations,

1000 cases of pre-trial detention assisted by lawyers,

3000 people reached by sensitization campaigns;

The project will work with refugees in the districts of Kitgum, Arua and Hoima.

The project’s local partner is the Legal Aid Service Providers’ Network (LASPNET).

 


Activities


Activities will consist of:

the creation, strengthening and facilitation of networks of human rights monitors and the provision of legal aid services to pre-trial detainees;

capacity-building for legal aid providers;

strategic litigation and white paper on policy reforms in Uganda to inform strategy development;

coordination forums with penal chain local actors and national dialogue on procedural rights in the administration of justice will be included;

satisfaction surveys with beneficiaries of legal aid services and local advocacy forums.


Context


In Uganda, detention before trial has become the norm rather than the exception, in breach of the national and international legal framework As of September 2018, 51% of the total detained population was in pre-trial detention. An unknown share is detained outside the protection of the Law.

The project results will contribute to LASPNET’s advocacy efforts for the enactment of the Legal Aid Law and Policy. This law will propel government to establish a National Legal Aid scheme to provide legal aid services to the poor, vulnerable and marginalized including pre-trial detainees. The action is directly in line with the Uganda country strategy of the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) 2019-2025, its thematic focus area 1 “Access to Justice” and its sub-objectives.

The project’s contribution to improve standards of services in governance and the efforts to build the capacity of state and non-state partners make it relevant under the ADC strategic objectives for Uganda.

Finally, in line with ADCs geographical focus, the project partly takes place in Northern Uganda (West Nile and Acholi).

project number 2847-00/2019
source of funding OEZA
sector Staatsführung & Zivilgesellschaft, allgemein
tied
modality Project-type interventions
marker Gender: 1, Democracy: 2
  • Policy marker: are used to identify, assess and facilitate the monitoring of activities in support of policy objectives concerning gender equality, aid to environment, participatory development/good governance, trade development and reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health. Activities targeting the objectives of the Rio Conventions include the identification of biodiversity, climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation, and desertification.
    • 1= policy is a significant objective of the activity
    • 2= policy is the principal objective of the activity
  • Donor/ source of funding: The ADA is not only implementing projects and programmes of the Austrian Development Cooperation , but also projects funded from other sources and donors such as
    • AKF - Foreign Disaster Fund of the Austrian federal government
    • BMLFUW - Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water
    • EU - Funds of the European Commission
    • Others - various other donors are listed in ADA’s annual business report.
  • Type of Aid – Aid modalities: classifies transfers from the donor to the first recipient of funds such as budget support, core contributions and pooled programmes and funds to CSOs and multilateral organisations, project-type interventions, experts and other technical assistance, scholarships and student costs in donor countries, debt relief, administrative costs and other in-donor expenditures.
  • Purpose/ sector code: classifies the specific area of the recipient’s economic or social structure, funded by a bilateral contribution.
  • Tied/Untied: Untied aid is defined as loans and grants whose proceeds are fully and freely available to finance procurement from all OECD countries and substantially all developing countries. Transactions are considered tied unless the donor has, at the time of the aid offer, clearly specified a range of countries eligible for procurement which meets the tests for “untied” aid.
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