About Grasroots Lawyers
Thursday • 24 august 2006 • Parnaiba
CÁRITAS BRASILEIRA
The GRASSROOTS LAWYERS pilot project is a strategy for tackling the problem of access to justice for the marginalized in the Parnaiba region, Piauí in the North-East of Brazil. It seeks to capacitate community leaders on legal rights issues and equip them with the skills to
- mobilise communities around socio-economic, land, labour and related rights;
- deliver basic legal services which don't require a qualified lawyer.
Piauí is one of Brazil’s most economically underdeveloped states with 57% of families living on a monthly income of R$270 (US$100) per month, and the ten poorest percent of the state’s population surviving on R$13.19 (US$5) per month per person. The index of illiteracy is also disturbingly high at 28%, with figures for functional illiteracy upwards of 55% according to 2000 statistics.
A significant aggravating source of vulnerability for already socio-economically marginalized sectors of society in Piauí, northeast Brazil is the lack of access to basic legal advice. Many people are unaware of their basic rights – constitutional or legislative – or where they are, do not realise that it is not necessary to have a lawyer to initiate a wide range of proceedings, such as many labour law actions, habeas corpus applications against illegal arrest, and others. Formal judicial resolution of disputes is prohibitively expensive, and remains the preserve of the wealthy. Moreover many lay people occupy positions on councils, which require a basic familiarity with health legislation, or the children’s statute (ECA) to properly exercise their functions.
The project hopes to address this aspect of social exclusion by providing a “grassroot lawyer” course for lay people from basic communities in and around Parnaiba, which will train them in basic legal issues across a range of themes. The goal is to equip them with the skills to act as a first point of reference for legal advice within their communities and to deliver basic services, which don’t require a qualified lawyer. In tandem with this, it is sought to make viable, alternative, consensual, mediation mechanisms to deal inexpensively and efficiently with small disputes. It is hoped through these processes, combined with training on public expenditure monitoring, to trigger greater civil society awareness in demanding transparency and legal accountability of public institutions in the region.
A significant aggravating source of vulnerability for already socio-economically marginalized sectors of society in Piauí, northeast Brazil is the lack of access to basic legal advice. Many people are unaware of their basic rights – constitutional or legislative – or where they are, do not realise that it is not necessary to have a lawyer to initiate a wide range of proceedings, such as many labour law actions, habeas corpus applications against illegal arrest, and others. Formal judicial resolution of disputes is prohibitively expensive, and remains the preserve of the wealthy. Moreover many lay people occupy positions on councils, which require a basic familiarity with health legislation, or the children’s statute (ECA) to properly exercise their functions.
The project hopes to address this aspect of social exclusion by providing a “grassroot lawyer” course for lay people from basic communities in and around Parnaiba, which will train them in basic legal issues across a range of themes. The goal is to equip them with the skills to act as a first point of reference for legal advice within their communities and to deliver basic services, which don’t require a qualified lawyer. In tandem with this, it is sought to make viable, alternative, consensual, mediation mechanisms to deal inexpensively and efficiently with small disputes. It is hoped through these processes, combined with training on public expenditure monitoring, to trigger greater civil society awareness in demanding transparency and legal accountability of public institutions in the region.
posted by Niall Buckley @ 8:55 pm
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