International Bridges to Justice

Myanmar - Despite the security threats that lawyers face due to the military coup, IBJ Myanmar has continued to respond to the country's justice needs. The IBJ Justice Centers have earned a strong reputation as formidable legal service providers, offering direct legal representation to poor and vulnerable defendants. In 2023, IBJ's Justice Centers represented 2,482 marginalized individuals accused in 2,666 criminal defense cases, of which 875 were politically targeted cases against pro-democracy and human rights activitists. Of the clients, 17% were female, 10% were juveniles, 2% were members of the LGBTQ community, and 5% were persons with disabilities. Fifteen percent of these cases were directly referred to IBJ from judges, police officers, court clerks or prison officials, demonstrating the mutual trust between justice stakeholders and IBJ. In addition to direct high-quality representation, IBJ's legal helplines at each of the five Justice Centers provided 2,318 holistic legal advice and referral services, of which 63% were directed towards non-criminal cases. These included 1,811 instances of free legal advice for various legal issues, such as 25% marital issues, 10% inheritance, 5% land issues, 11% civil lawsuits, 9% monetary issues, 2% labor issues, 4% minor drug abuse issues, and 16% estate and property issues. Additionally, there were 507 effective referrals to various psychosocial, healthcare service providers, and UN agencies.The Justice Centers also emphasize raising public legal awareness through 'Know your Rights' campaigns, reaching more than 2,938 individuals, 60% of whom were female, and client legal empowerment through Focused Group discussions reaching 210 clients and families, 57.2% of whom were female. The program has continued to build the capacity of the lawyers in the country, training more than 802 lawyers in 2023. To enhance awareness of gender issues and cultivate gender- responsive access to justice programs, IBJ organized a national roundtable on International Women's Day, March 8, 2023, reaching 87 participants from multiple disciplines.

MENA (Syria) - IBJ continued its mission in Syria in 2023 to uphold the rule of law and combat investigative torture. In partnership with the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, IBJ empowered a dozen women lawyers by providing legal training and honing their leadership skills. Supported by this initiative, IBJ's women lawyers were able to offer proficient legal counsel, and some were even promoted to judges in an area where women's inclusion is sorely lacking.Through a project funded by the European Union, IBJ carried out the following activities in 2023:Capacity Building for Lawyers: IBJ implemented an intensive Training of Trainers capacity-building workshop for Syrian lawyers in the northwest region of Syria. The training was held in Gaziantep and covered international norms on due process and fair trial rights as well as practical legal skills.Human Rights Monitoring: IBJ began police and prison monitoring visits to curb human rights violations, ensuring adherence to international standards within the criminal justice system.Tunisia: IBJ launched its first program in the North Africa region in 2023 in Tunisia. In September, IBJ launched a nationwide rights awareness campaign with local partners to inform the public about their due process and fair trial rights. Additionally, IBJ organized a three-day capacity-building workshop for defense lawyers in Tunisia, followed by a series of training sessions in collaboration with the Young Lawyers Association of Tunisia. In total, IBJ trained 120 lawyers who will be part of the team representing the most vulnerable detainees in Tunisian prisons. The rights awareness launch event and the training workshop were also attended by the Tunisian National Bar Association and leading social justice civil society organizations in Tunisia.

China - In 2023, IBJ continued to support Chinese lawyers with online training resources. Our China eLearning website currently hosts over 100 modules on topics ranging from basic advocacy skills such as developing a theory of the case, reviewing a case file, and cross-examination, to more complex topics such as understanding forensic evidence and defending clients with mental or physical disabilities. In 2023, we developed new modules to respond to emerging needs. For instance, with the enactment of a new regulation on bail which greatly expanded the applicability of bail, we updated our existing module on bail and created a second module to highlight the changes, provide practical tips to lawyers, and flag some issues on implementation. We also developed two new modules for duty lawyers, and one on cross-cultural representation skills to help lawyers better represent clients from ethnic minority populations. Our modules attracted over 1,707 new viewers in 2023, not including returning learners. We also created an interactive educational platform to raise awareness about the legal rights of people with disabilities reaching over 18,000 people.

Other Program Services - Africa - In 2023, the IBJ programs in Africa demonstrated their dedication to Strengthening the rule of law through providing legal assistance to vulnerables, monitoring of detention centers and police cells, training justice actors and raising rights awareness among ordinary citizens, including detainees and high school pupils during youth school visits on crime prevention. In Burundi, DRC and Rwanda, IBJ has developed strong relationships with key justice stakeholders through roundtables and trainings to 346 criminal justice actors (lawyers, correctional centers agents, judges, judicial police officers, Magistrates), including more than 60% of women. This has enabled and facilitated IBJ to provide legal representation to 1,496 vulnerable arrestees from the police stations to court. In Burundi, IBJ has strengthened and improved its strategic relations with those involved in the criminal justice system through memorandums of understanding with Inspectorate General of the National Police, the Ministry of Justice and the Bar Association, and by maintaining its collaboration with NGOs and CSOs. Thanks to these relationships, IBJ Burundi has been able to remain one of the few human rights NGOs working to protect the legal guarantees of vulnerable people from the earliest stages of criminal proceedings. This has been made possible through mentoring sessions for defense lawyers on capacity-building issues, capactiy-building for stakeholders involved in criminal proceedings in collaboration with the Independent National Commission on Human Rights, the Monitoring of Places of Detations, and so on.IBJ was also able to raise awareness among thousands of ordinary citizens via a radio station with nationwide coverage on the special procedure of flagrante delicto, the prevention of certain offenses such as sexual harassment, and the subjective and objective grounds for lack of criminal responsibility or mitigation of sentence.