Program areas at ILF
Direct service - afghanistan, west bank, nepal, tunisia, and myanmar: see schedule oin 2022, 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 enabling ilf lawyers to learn to navigate The courts under The taliban. Ilf lawyers incrementally had success gaining access to courts and prisons in 2022, provided Legal representation to clients, and achieved positive case outcomes. As illustration, from 17 september to 30 november 2022, The ilf's female led Legal aid office in herat represented a total of 312 indigent clients, out of which 92 were female (65 women and 27 girls). Of The cases The ilf resolved, 9 clients were acquitted including two women; 21 clients were given time served, including 7 boys and 3 women; five cases were dismissed due to lack of evidence; one accuser dropped The charges; and one client was released based on reconciliation. The ilf has been leading The defense of women and girls and pushing back on discriminatory prosecution and sentencing. As one example, The ilf encountered a girl sentenced to death by stoning for committing adultery but was able to get The conviction overturned. Additionally, The ilf has led International advocacy to drive donor support for civil society organizations fighting for justice in afghanistan. In 2022, The ilf convinced The International Legal assistance consortium (ilac), an International nongovernmental consortium of organizations and experts that includes The ilf, to conduct a survey on The state of access to justice in afghanistan under The taliban regime. The report, "justice matters: a status report on afghanistan since The taliban takeover" recognized that non-governmental organizations are on The frontline of efforts to fight for rule of law and human rights in afghanistan, and it is critical that The International donor community support their work.in myanmar, The ilf provided high-quality Legal aid services to 948 clients (431 males, 185 females, 332 juveniles). The ilf made great strides in defending The rights of rohingya and political prisoners. Despite The sensitivity surrounding representing rohingya cases, in 2022 The ilf filed post-conviction appeals/revisions for 202 rohingya clients in pathein and yangon. The ilf filed The first-ever appeal in rohingya cases before The union supreme court challenging The legality of a 2-year sentence delivered to a group of 76 rohingya for failing to have proper identification. To get to The root of these arrests which are common among The rohingya community, The ilf in partnership with unhcr launched a project to provide assistance with The civil documentation process, particularly for ethnic minorities and stateless communities. During The pilot, The ilf conducted 3 community awareness sessions that were attended by 43 rohingya participants and 14 persons from The idp rakhine community, informing them about The importance of civil documentation, The process to apply and The rights of detainees. Additionally, to address crackdowns on protesters and activists across The country and help ensure The rights of activists are protected, The ilf provided representation in 153 political cases.in tunisia, The ilf continued its work as front-line defenders responsible for ensuring The rights and safety of poor and vulnerable accused persons. In 2022, The ilf provided high-quality Legal aid services to 295 people. Of particular note, demonstrating The remarkable impact skilled lawyers can have in defending children, by The end of 2022 in The governorate of kairouan, ilf's work succeeded in getting all children released from detention. Additionally, The ilf represented 47 migrant clients in 2022 and as of The date of this report, all of them have been released. In general, The ilf lawyers have been The leaders in advocating for pretrial release with a 58% success rate and in pushing for diversion, especially for children, concluding cases with mediation in 31% of all cases, and in 65% of juvenile cases. In 2022, The tunisia office also launched a gender justice unit and migrant rights unit, recognizing that these marginalized groups have particular needs which require advanced training and specialization.the office's strategic litigation work also advanced in 2022 under two new projects. One is a partnership with The world organization against torture (omct) that is working on documenting, litigating and building an advocacy campaign to address The prevalence of torture and institutional violence by state officials during The investigation period. The second is a partnership with The clooney Foundation for justice to research, document, and litigate gender discrimination in tunisia.in The west bank, The ilf represented 163 clients, mostly juveniles. Through The zealous representation, ilf lawyers were able to secure pretrial release in over 70% of cases contracted in 2022. Additionally, many positive case results were attained; 15 cases ended in mediation, 19 closed cases ended in acquittals, and about 87% of convicted closed cases resulted in a non-incarceration sentence. The ilf also continues to build its holistic Legal aid practice in The west bank, which combines high-quality criminal defense representation with community-based support services. The team has been implementing a screening tool to help The Legal team understand The diverse needs of each client. Additionally, The ilf is using pretrial motions to argue that children who are less than 15 years of age should be exempt from incarceration. We are also advocating for The right to speedy trial, and objecting to poor accused being held on cash bail which they have no ability or power to pay. 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 total number of cases represented in 2022 was 163. Throughout 2022, pds-nepal took a leading role in addressing The many rights violations that children in conflict with The law are facing in nepal. Through proactive and strategic litigation, pds-nepal has brought and won several arguments before The supreme court and high courts of nepal, leading to child-friendly interpretations of The act relating to children 2018 and The release of many illegally detained children. Systemic violations that pds-nepal has litigated include The unlawful imprisonment of children below The age of 16, and unlawful pretrial detention of children that are too young to be detained.
Advice and assistance: 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 2022, 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 17 International fellows who provided 2,232 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. In 2022, The ilf completed a two-year mentoring program with yayasan lembaga bantuan hukum indonesia (The indonesian Legal aid Foundation or ylbhi) that bolstered The capacity criminal Legal aid lawyers in and around jakarta to provide quality Legal representation. The ilf also completed a baseline assessment on The capacity of The indonesian defense bar to provide quality defense services, including barriers to lawyers and other Legal professionals, like training resources and systemic shortcomings, and provided recommendations for improvement. The clear takeaway is an overwhelming lack of criminal Legal aid services and no culture of defense, due in large part to a lack of understanding of The role of The various parties in an increasingly adversarial system to protect rights and due process.the ilf also launched a new partnership with The government-supported Legal aid service in Georgia in 2022. The ilf provided hundreds of hours of intensive case-based mentoring to dozens of Georgia Legal aid services (las) lawyers in tbilisi and surrounding cities in The eastern region of Georgia. The mentoring has been well received and The improvement in lawyers' capacity is reflected in several positive case outcomes. The ilf also successfully got The las to adopt The 10 practice principles found in The ilf's publication measuring justice: defining and evaluating quality for criminal Legal aid providers, as a key part of its quality assurance program. To ensure The delivery of high-quality Legal aid services. In 2022, The ilf began development of an assessment of The juvenile justice system in trinidad and tobago. The assessment is intended to describe The trinidad and tobago youth Legal system as it exists in law and compare it to International norms and best practices; describe The experiences of youth who become involved with The Legal system; work collaboratively with system stakeholders in trinidad and tobago to create a climate receptive to reform; and make reform recommendations to bring The youth Legal system in line with International and national norms and best practice. The ilf is also collaborating with incarceration nations network ("inn") and college of science, technology and applied arts of trinidad and tobago ("costaatt") to introduce positive youth development concepts and principles to rehabilitation that will support The use of diversion and alternatives to incarceration.