Legal Aid

JWF has an experienced panel of lawyers who have already taken the initiative to start with various pro bono works for the poor people of the Bangladesh. While legal awareness is the natural starting point for legal empowerment, it has often to be followed by pro bono service and legal assistance in actually accessing rights. This is especially so for marginalized sections whose protracted vulnerability makes access to justice particularly difficult. Legal assistance can range from legal advice and counseling, to representation in court through litigation. JWF provides free legal assistance to the poor and the marginalized e.g. women, children, persons with disabilities, the poor.JWF wishes to instigate its Legal Aid component in order to provide legal support and make the government courts accessible to the poor and destitute. Through its legal aid clinics, it is the hoped to be the first port of call for those seeking legal redress. Legal awareness and legal literacy lie at the base of any effort toward legal empowerment. Critical knowledge of legal provisions and processes, coupled with the skills to use this knowledge to realize rights and entitlements will empower people to demand justice, accountability and effective remedies at all levels. JWF wishes to conduct legal awareness workshops for activists and the community, and also trains state functionaries on legal provisions and procedure. JWF’s legal aid initiative has nurtured an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanism. It has worked towards making legal offices, courts, and counsels, more transparent in the delivery of equitable justice, spread gender awareness, and promoted a unique human rights based culture for its clients. In this way, our programme has harmonized its legal aid component with the legal literacy module to create the momentum to improve legal legislation and the judicial system. A panel of lawyers practicing in the Supreme Court of Bangladesh also undertakes litigation and advocacy on law and policy reform. BLAST is governed by a Board of Trustees comprised of eminent jurists, lawyers and human rights advocates with experience in domestic and international protection of human rights, who provide critical leadership to the organization. It is also supported by a Consultative Group, comprised of young professionals, including researchers, lawyers, and human rights advocates. We strengthen the capacity of a large network of Panel Lawyers for research, litigation, ensuring transparency in the formal legal sector, and monitoring case results. With this, clients receive due protection under the law, the rights to a fair trial, and do not face unnecessary delays resulting from the negligence of various actors in the formal judicial system. By this process, we ensure proper and equal access to justice for poor and marginalized people.