Transforming Access to Justice through Legal Aid Centres
The context for the project
Access to justice and legal support is a significant and long-standing challenge in Ethiopia, especially for those in vulnerable groups, such as women detainees, people living in poverty or with disabilities, those under the age of 18 and those living on the streets or in remote, rural areas. Enshrined in Ethiopian law is the right to appear before a court within 48 hours of being arrested and to receive legal representation, provided for free by the state if necessary. However, these rights are reportedly often not known by the authorities, including the police, or detainees and therefore are frequently not exercised.
As a result of insufficient access to legal support, many detainees are not granted bail and are detained for far longer than they legally should be - in some cases, people have been arrested for minor offences, such as robbery, and detained at the pre-trial stage for a longer period than the sentence itself. This not only causes overcrowding in cells but constitutes a violation of rights.
Since October 2022, with support from the Civil Society Innovation Fund (CSIF), a consortium of Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), Advocates Ethiopia (AE), and Mizan Young Lawyers Center (MYLC) has been working to transform access to justice for detainees by establishing free legal aid centres in and around police stations in Hawassa, Adama and Addis Ababa. Specifically, these centres focus on providing pre-trial support to secure detainees’ bail rights in criminal cases; they are the first of their kind and have the potential to benefit over 2,000 detainees.
The project interventions and strategies
CSIF has provided funding to the consortium for workshops, legal aid centres and supporting emerging CSOs, as well as a series of training sessions.
LHR held several workshops on February 9, 16 and 23 2023 in Addis Ababa, Adama and Hawassa, respectively to improve the awareness of detainees' right to legal representation at the pre-trial stage specifically. Over 60 key stakeholders attended these workshops, including high-ranking officials from Sidama Justice Bureau and the Commissioner of the Sidama Police Commission in Hawassa.
LHR also set up nine legal aid centres: three in the Addis Ababa sub-cities of Akaki Laity, Nifas Silk and Gulele, three in the Adama sub-cities of Lugo, Buta, Aba Geda and another three in the Hawassa area. LHR had intended that these centres be located within police stations, however, this was refused by the police in Addis Ababa and Adama. Instead, they secured office space near to the stations in these areas. While the exact reasons for such resistance are unclear, it is reportedly likely due to the newness of the initiative and the consequent belief held by authorities that it would benefit detainees and work against the police.
By contrast, LHR was successful in securing offices within Hawassa police stations, including Tabor and Addis Ketema, because of the support they received from the officials that attended the previous workshops. The first two fixed stations began their operations in September 2023, while the third started in January 2024. Support from CSIF in setting up of these legal aid centres included furnishing the spaces as well as the recruitment and training of additional lawyers, paralegals and secretaries.
The changes achieved so far
Following establishment of the centres, LHR has provided free legal aid services to a total of 967 detainees, of which 763 were men and 204 (21%) were women. While not all these detainees had been arrested for bailable crimes, 215 acquired their bail right directly through the service (173 men and 42 women). Female detainees received support from female legal aid providers, and the project also facilitated the transfer of female detainees with medical issues to more suitable police stations. Lawyers have also been able to provide legal support to some of the families of detainees.
As a result, overcrowding in police stations has significantly reduced. For example, prior to the project, there were over 100 detainees held at any one time in Tebor Police Station, Hawassa, one of the most overcrowded stations. This has reduced to around 30.
Despite the project successes, the services in Addis Ababa and Adama experiences ongoing resistance from the police. This is caused by a lack of understanding of the service and consequent distrust. Because the legal aid centres are not based within the police stations, LHR have difficulties in physically accessing the detainees and informing detainees about the service.
However, improvements are being made. The project continues to receive support from a number of high-ranking officials - for example, the Sidama Head of Justice Bureau (Hawassa) proposed institutionalising the intervention by signing a memorandum of understanding to strengthen the service and expand it to other stations. The Deputy Head Police Commissioner has expressed excitement for the project. Some police are beginning to inform detainees of the service, while certain stations in Addis Aababa and Adama have started allowing the centres to advertise and promote its services within the stations, which was previously limited to brochures and social media. MYLC reports that the service and police have started helping one another in Tebor.
Learning so far, and next steps
The project has so far demonstrated that there is a need for free legal aid services to be scaled up and extended beyond pre-trial bail support. However, because it is a pioneering concept, further work is needed to break down distrust and resistance amongst the police and to raise awareness of the service amongst detainees. The success of the project in Hawassa shows that situating the centres within police stations is the most effective method of accessing detainees.
The success in Hawassa is largely due to the support received from high-ranking officials there. Therefore, LHR plan to work with the Justice Bureau in Addis Ababa to help address the challenges of police resistance and accessing detainees.
LHR have learned that legal aid services are most effective when carried out in collaboration with CSOs who operate in complementary areas, such as providers of shelter, medication, psychological support and employability training. Therefore, they will continue to create partnerships.
Moving forward, LHR’s priorities are to continue the operations of the existing nine stations and start a mobile legal aid centre.