A local NGO that provides free legal services to vulnerable people has called for more sensitisation on people’s rights to justice.The Legal Aid Forum (LAF) says many Rwandans are still ignorant about their rights to justice despite various efforts to enable them understand the law regarding judicial matters.Andrews Kananga, the Executive Secretary of LAF, told The New Times, on Wednesday, that more sensitisation campaigns were still needed especially at the community level.The sensitisation, he said, should dwell on how to access justice.“We have created partnership with the judiciary to enable the population understand their rights and how to channel their complaints to get their grievances redressed, but some are still ignorant on how to go about it, which calls for more awareness campaigns,” he stated.Kananga was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting between the Ministry of Justice and its partners. The meeting aimed at assessing progress made by the Justice Sector in 2011/2012 and chart a way forward for this year.“We want all the judicial services to be decentralised up to the grassroots,” he noted.Pascal Bizimana Ruganintwari, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, said that the ministry is focusing on enabling the local population understand the laws and their rights.“We have established access to justice houses at the district level countrywide. We have three legal aid workers who assist people to learn more on how they can access justice,” he said.Ruganintwari stated that the work of mediators in educating residents and resolving conflicts in the community is on the right track, adding that it has enabled the ministry to concentrate on the bigger cases.He said that most of the work in the judiciary during the past year was successful, citing the now effective online filing of cases as one of the success stories of the year.
