Program areas at ILF
Direct service - afghanistan, west bank, tunisia, and myanmar: see schedule oin 2023, The ilf defended hundreds of vulnerable detainees, secured positive case outcomes and increased respect for The rule of law in even The most challenging environments around The world.the ilf's Legal aid offices in afghanistan have remained operational since august 2021. Throughout 2023, The ilf focused on conducting research and analysis on newly enacted laws, decrees, and Legal documents in afghanistan and their impact on The rights of persons arrested or detained. These laws were selected for analysis because they were either facially vague and/or ambiguous, because they were contrary to sharia or other enforced laws and because they were directly or indirectly related to The work of defense lawyers and Legal aid providers. The aim of this research and analysis is to ensure better implementation of laws and secure The rights of individuals within The current Legal aid context, while educating stakeholders. In addition to The Legal research and analysis, The ilf afghan Legal team worked on developing a comprehensive training program for afghan lawyers, including women lawyers, The training manual is explaining to Legal professionals how The rights of The accused can be protected while taking into consideration The changing role of defense lawyers in afghanistan. In 2023, The ilf continued to defend The rights of vulnerable persons in myanmar, despite ongoing conflict and instability. In total in 2023, The ilf represented 1,229 people in myanmar including 242 women and 276 children. Importantly, The ilf's myanmar advocates were able to reach their clients at The pretrial stage in 52% of cases. As a result of their effective representation: 21 people were acquitted of all charges, 87 people received non carceral sentences, and 19 people were released from pretrial detention. Also in 2023, The ilf made a novel argument before The union supreme court on behalf of a 12-year-old child. Specifically, The ilf appealed a decision that The child had sufficient maturity to be prosecuted. Of note, this was one of The few cases that was admitted for final hearing by The union supreme court. Unfortunately, however, after an extensive hearing, The petition was dismissed on The ground that The boy tried to run away from The police and therefore was deemed competent. The ilf also took a leading role in defending The rights of The rohingya community. In 2023, The ilf filed appeals for 142 rohingya clients challenging The length of their sentences and arguing for probation for women and young adults. People belonging to The rohingya community are frequently arrested for lack of identification documents. To address this issue, The ilf has been helping rohingya clients obtain civil documentation needed for safe travel and assist clients work towards a possible path to citizenship. In 2023, The ilf represented 312 clients suspected or accused of criminal offenses in tunisia, including 91 children, 32 women, and 26 migrants (and provided Legal advice to 18) and reached their clients pretrial in 60% of cases. As a result of our effective representation: 20 people were acquitted of all charges, 65 people received non carceral sentences and 210 people were released from pretrial detention. In The 12 cases where appeals were filed, all 12 receive positive outcomes, including acquittal, a reduced sentence, or having The charges/ convictions/ overturned. The ilf focused heavily on addressing gender discrimination in 2023. Specifically, The ilf conducted field research to determine The root causes of women and girls' involvement in The criminal justice system in tunisia and The impact it has on their lives. A key finding is that many women and girls are being arrested though they are victims of gender-based violence, and they are not receiving meaningful Legal representation. The ilf also researched The reasons for The discriminatory arrest of women and girls for adultery.in The west bank, The ilf represented 290 people including 187 children and 8 women in The west bank civilian court systemsecuring 18 acquittals and 8 non-carceral sentences. One success involved an acquittal of a 30-year-old man who had been arrested for possession and abuse of narcotics. He was illegally detained without an arrest warrant and without evidence linking him to The crimes. Throughout his lengthy detention, he was severely beaten and tortured into confessing that he sold narcotics. The client was convicted by The trial court and sentenced to ten years imprisonment. The ilf then filed an appeal and on may 24, 2023, The jerusalem court of appeals finally found in favor of The defense. Despite challenges related to The conflict that began in late 2023, The ilf also secured new multiyear funding at The end of 2023 to expand significantly its Legal aid services and strengthen relationships with justice and Legal stakeholders to advance The creation of a strong Legal aid system in palestine. In 2023, The ilf met with The palestinian bar association to discuss a strategy for The adoption of an institutionalized public defender model. Following The meeting, The pba has initiated The referral of clients to ilf, marking a significant step forward in our collaboration. Additionally, there is a mutual agreement to provide The pba with comprehensive performance and eligibility standards, drawing upon our internal expertise and International best practices. At The end of 2023, we reestablished all four of our Legal aid offices across The west bank, and rehired many of our long-time lawyers.
Advocacy - national and International level: see schedule othroughout 2023, The ilf continued to engage in advocacy aimed at strengthening The right to high-quality Legal representation for everyone arrested or detained. On november 27 and 28, 2023, Legal aid providers, judges, ministers, members of civil society, and other justice experts from across asia, africa, and The pacific convened in new delhi, india at The first-ever conference focused on access to quality Legal aid services in The countries of The global south. This two-day event was The first regional conference of its kind and was intended to initiate, facilitate, and support partnerships that increase access to Legal aid services across The global south. Hosted by national Legal services authority of india (nalsa) and co-organized by The International Legal Foundation, undp, and unicef, The conference brought together 191 participants from over 51 countries across asia, africa and The pacific.the ilf also continued to be an active member of The campaign to decriminalize poverty and status and advanced key initiatives toward reducing The criminalization of poverty and status globally. The ilf engaged in significant advocacy in The lead up to and during The may 2023 32nd session of The united nations commission on crime prevention and criminal justice (ccpcj). In addition to many one-on-one meetings and email outreach, The ilf, along with partners in The campaign to decriminalize poverty and status held a hybrid side event featuring speakers from south africa, The united states, brazil, and The un office of The high commissioner on human rights. On may 26th, in The final hours of The convening, The ccpcj adopted an important resolution on access to justice. Due in part to The staunch advocacy of The ilf and its partners in The campaign to decriminalize poverty and status, The resolution does two important things: it spotlights discrimination in criminal justice systems as a critical global issue and it calls for a meeting of experts "to share information on challenges, lessons learned, best practices and enabling factors need to enhance The functioning of The criminal justice systems to ensure equal access to justice for all." Subsequently, The resolution was adopted by The un general assembly. In october 2024, The ilf received funding, based on this success to launch an advocacy effort aimed at establishing International standards for preventing and addressing discrimination in criminal justice systems.
Advice and assistance - global: see schedule othe ilf provides in-depth mentoring, training, information, and technical assistance to Legal aid providers, justice stakeholders, and local communities in all The countries where we work. Throughout 2023, The ilf continued to build The capacity of local lawyers to engage in impact litigation that curbs unlawful and arbitrary actions of authorities. This work was supported by day-to-day, case-by-case mentoring by 12 International fellows who provided 3,265.5 hours of mentoring. This innovative professional exchange has transformed local lawyers from passive participants in The justice system to proactive advocates for The rights of their clients. In addition to this work, The ilf has continued to share expertise with International organizations, governments, and Legal aid providers around The world. The ilf has continued to advance a stronger Legal aid system in Georgia through its technical assistance and mentorship program. The Georgia Legal aid service (las) formally adopted The 10 ilf measuring justice performance standards (see measuring justice: defining and evaluating quality for criminal Legal aid providers) in their new las performance standards manual. This manual is a key element of The new las quality assurance program, every aspect of which has been developed with The close and active support of The ilf. Further, The ilf began working with las on more clearly understanding The training needs of lawyers and The capacity of The newly established training unit, as well as areas of practice that require attention to ensure The delivery of quality, people-centered Legal aid services. In 2023, two full-term (3 month) in person ilf International fellows mentored Georgia Legal aid services (las) lawyers, in two distinct regions of Georgia. In total 98 las lawyers received 553 hours of mentorship on 205 cases in 11 of The 14 Legal aid service bureaus across The country. The ilf's mentoring program has been very well received, as reflected in an independent mid-term mentoring evaluation report, which reflected The value and impact that both las management and mentee lawyers experienced. With The ilf's support, las has established a formal mentoring program with senior las lawyers mentoring more junior lawyers and any lawyers needing support. To ensure sustainability of The program, The ilf supported las in The development and capacity building of The las mentoring team, including through revisions and improvements to The las mentoring guidelines and resources.in 2023, The ilf, penal reform International (pri) and The indonesian institute for criminal justice reform (icjr), worked in partnership to support The indonesian government in developing a child justice system monitoring tool to improve protection of The rights of children in conflict with The law. The monitoring tool was developed primarily for use by The directorate of human rights instruments (hri) under The ministry of law and human rights (molhr) to monitor The indonesian child justice system. It provides a framework for The assessment process, including The relevant areas of The child justice system to monitor, indonesian and International law and standards (e.g., children's rights as protected under The convention on The rights of The child (crc)), quantitative and qualitative indicators to track, and justice system actors who hold data and can report on those indicators. Additionally, there is a scorecard at The end of The tool which can be used to provide an overall assessment of The protection of rights and progress towards targets. The ilf also supported The development of an assessment tool, designed to be used by indonesian probation officers in The course of preparing social inquiry reports for children who come into contact with The criminal justice system. The tool involves gathering information and facilitates analysis of this information to help understand The child's behavior and helps in formulating evidence-based recommendations to support children's rehabilitation and reintegration.in 2023, The ilf made significant headway on its research project intended to identify The Legal and practical barriers to access to justice for children in conflict with The law in trinidad and tobago. First, an advisory council of trinidad and tobago lawyers, social workers, and academics was established to guide The project, and interviews and/or focus group discussions were held with key stakeholders. In addition to completing extensive desk research on The trinidad and tobago youth justice system, over The course of several months in 2023, The youth justice survey for young people in detention was finalized, and The ilf's local consultant administered The surveys in november 2023. 33 surveys were completed, and data cleaning and analysis is now underway. Preliminary findings indicate that children are largely unaware of their rights; that impoverished youth have limited, if any, access to counsel; and that their cases are stalled with no resolution in sight. In 2024, The ilf will work with system stakeholders to make reform recommendations to bring The youth Legal system in line with norms and best practice.in nepal, The ilf worked with its local partner, The public defender society (pds) of nepal, to ensure The representation of poor and vulnerable accused and to combat fines and fees that are keeping people in detention due to poverty. The ilf also supported pds-nepal to challenge discriminatory laws argue for alternatives to youth incarceration. The ilf and pds-nepal also continued to work on a report on a survey of children in detention that pds-nepal conducted in 2022.