The Poor,Vulnerable and Marginalised fail to access justice in Uganda
- 22 January 2016 -
- Written by Laspnet
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At the close of 2015, LASPNET delivered a key document to the justice sector in Uganda, in the form of a research report on Poverty, Marginalisation and Vulnerability in the context of Access to Justice. The report which was launched on 15th December 2015 in Kampala, by Lady Justice Elizabeth Alividza who represented the Principal Judge Yorokamu Bamwine, highlighted the staggering differences between rural and urban dwellers in accessing justice and the court system.
Mr.Robert Mugagga, from Pro-Initiatives, which conducted the research on behalf of LASPNET noted that only 18.2 % of people in rural areas were able to access a magistrate’s court within a 5km radius compared to 56% in urban areas. This, he said, was compounded by most justice centers being located in urban areas making it hard for those seeking justice to travel the long distances due to the costs involved such that they ultimately give up on their right to access justice.
It was also noted in the report that the significant reduction in poverty over the years had not translated into sustained progress in the general welfare of Ugandans. This was according to statistics by the Uganda National Household Survey for 2012/13 which indicated a decline in absolute poverty by 4.8% from 24.5% in 2009/10.
Other bottlenecks cited in the report that limit access to justice by the poor, vulnerable and marginalized included; high illiteracy levels which make it difficult to understand legal matters, lack of confidence in the justice system with many seeing it as partial and therefore non-transparent, high user fees for filing court cases and lawyers’ fees as well as corruption which undermines the reliability of the outcomes from the system hence promoting bias and discrimination against those who are unable to facilitate it.
Speaking at the opening of the launch, Mr.Mads Mayerhofer, the DGF Chairperson commended LASPNET as a worthy partner in the promotion of access to justice and for taking the lead in commissioning such a key research. “Hopefully the research will influence pro-poor policy reform and standardization of Legal Aid Service delivery”, he said. He also called on government to pass the legal aid policy which was long overdue.
The General Secretary of LASPNET Mr. Fredrick Walulya who spoke on behalf of the Chairperson explained that the purpose for the report was to serve as a reference tool to guide interventions by all legal aid service providers. “It is a baseline to uplift a poor person, vulnerable person, marginalized person. It will inform us on how to lay interventions that will lift the person from poverty to prosperity’’, said Mr.Walulya.
In her remarks, Ms.Sylvia Namubiru Mukasa, the LASPNET Executive Director said the study would help establish the categories of the poor, marginalized and vulnerable that state and non-state actors should target in legal aid service provision and related interventions. The report also highlighted the need to identify who the poor are and where they are located as another reason for conducting the study.
Ms.Namubiru recognized the contribution of DGF, Pro Initiatives and the LASPNET membership towards the successful completion of the research.
Lady Justice Alividza noted that having court structures near the people did not necessarily guarantee access to justice. She urged LASPs to go to police stations and start the process from there to avoid human rights violations and speed up the justice system as opposed to waiting to go to court as that was usually the last place. “Courts should be seen as a place of refuge and it our responsibility to ensure that justice is served”, she stressed.
The report recommended to: extend the reach of legal aid to include counseling and psychosocial support including training of lawyers to offer counseling services; go beyond indigence and include vulnerability and marginalization when providing legal aid; automatically waive court fees for indigent persons; and provide state legal aid to children in both criminal and civil matters, as some of the measures to improve access to justice for the poor, vulnerable and marginalized.
The research was conducted between September and October 2015 with consultations covering the districts of Gulu, Moroto, Kabarole ,Buikwe and Kampala, a scope that was dictated by the limited resources available.
