Centre for Applied Legal Studies Launches its Community Engagement Policy

On Thursday, 29 May 2014, the Centre for Applied Legal Studies launched its own Community Engagement Policy. Given the existence of codes of conduct and rules that guide the conduct of lawyers when working with individual clients, this policy was developed to address the particular skills, dynamics and challenges involved in working with urban and rural communities. Taking into consideration the dynamics in engaging with people who are often marginalised, the policy articulates a standard of community engagement, intended to facilitate meaningful representation, partnerships and mitigate power imbalances. A number of guiding principles are devised and elaborated on, drawing on international standards and personal experiences.

Attended by members of legal and non-legal civil society organisations across South Africa, the launch was opportunity for participants to learn about the policy and its development and to learn more of particular case studies and share experiences. With Benchmarks Foundation, Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Resources Centre, Natural Justice representative Stephanie Booker gave reflections on the policy and case studies based on her own experiences working with communities impacted by extractive industries and infrastructure projects. 

Namati Hiring

Natural Justice-partner Namati is hiring! Namati, which develops, implements and evaluates models for delivering quality legal aid at scale, has three positions open: Director of Finance and Administration; Director of Communications and Advocacy; and Director of Research and Evaluation. Completed applications should be emailed to employment@namati.org by January 31, 2013. 

Learn more about the positions, and Namati, here. Follow Namati on Twitter here, like them on Facebook here, and subscribe to their Youtube channel here.

UN Resolution on Legal Aid

Via namati.org

The United Nations Commission for Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice has unanimously adopted a resolution for the groundbreaking UN Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems. The principles and guidelines are the first international instrument on legal aid.

According to analysis by Namati, some of the most significant components of the resolution are:

• Prompt access to legal aid at all stages of the criminal justice process and a right to be informed about a right to legal aid and other procedural safeguards before any questioning and deprivation of liberty; 
• The involvement of a diversity of legal aid providers including lawyers, CSOs, university legal clinicians and paralegals; and 
• The development of a nationwide legal aid system that is sufficiently staffed and resourced to ensure effective and quality legal aid services delivery. 

Read more of Namati’s analysis on the principles and guidelines here.