The Access to Justice Project
The Global Conscience Access to Justice programme seeks to improve and expand access to the justice system for low and moderate income people. The project was conceived against the background of the increasing abuse of the rights of mostly indigent individuals to the available justice systems in Cameroon.
The request by the police/gendarmes and the legal department of fiscal stamps on complaints; XAF 1000.00 for summonses; XAF 12.500 for warrants of arrest; 5% of claims for registration of civil suits, all deny indigent populations the right to seek redress in judicial settings for abuses of their fundamental human and constitutional rights.
The Project is aimed at training Community based persons on a range of Legal issues faced by their Communities on a daily basis. The concept of Community based persons being trained as Paralegals is borne out of the fact that Lawyers are not able to adequately provide Legal Services to the Rural Urban poor because primarily their number is grossly inadequate in relation to the population. Even their geographical distribution is such that the majority of Lawyers in Cameroon can only be found in big towns.
The project trains Paralegals from various rural communities in Cameroon. The training focuses on the role of a Paralegal, Powers of the Police and the Right of the Accused, Women's Rights, the Family and Domestic Violence, Property Rights, Succession and Inheritance, Children's Rights, Sources of Law, the Court System and the Legal Process, Local Government and Powers of Local Councils
Read about our Centres for Arbitration and Mediation