Several African legal experts gathered in Kigali yesterday called for more legal aid to be extended to the poor especially those in rural communities. This was announced during a conference that has attracted over two hundred participants including the legal experts, professors, human right activists and legal practitioners to discuses legal aid in Africa. The activists called upon legal practitioners to take their services to village as stipulated in the Lilongwe Declaration which advocates for legal aid to ensure that human rights are respected. “There is need to have legal organs, legal aid bodies and paralegal established near to the rural areas because in cities we have enough lawyers,” said Karol Limondin, the head of the Danish Institute for Human Rights. In his opening remarks, Deputy Chief Justice, Sam Rugege said that in Rwanda, justice was being extended to the rural communities through the Abunzi (Mediators) who are charged with solving arising minor desputes in the communities across the country. He however told the activists that the judiciary was in the process of establishing legal aid offices in different parts of the country to assist in criminal administration in the rural areas. “Rwanda is in the process of setting legal aid bureaus in all districts of the country to advise the disadvantaged who have limited access to lawyers,” Rugege told the participants of the conference that took place at Hotel Novotel Monday. Signed in 2004, the declaration which was signed in the Malawian Capital advocates for a legal aid programme providing legal assistance at all stages of the criminal process including investigation, arrest, Pre-trial detention, bail hearings, trials and appeals and any other proceedings. “We are expecting a lot as we share experiences but also we expect to announce another declaration to stress on the need of these legal aid systems are set and all having access to justice,” Justice Dunstain Mlambo, a South African judge told The New Times in a separate interview. Ends
