Legal Aid Board Signs MoU with IHRC

By Mustapha Dumbuya

The Executive Director of the Legal Aid Board, Ms. Fatmata Claire Carlton-Hanciles and the International Human Rights Commission (IHRC) Envoy to the ECOWAS Region, HE Dr. Momodu Conteh have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in the head office of the Legal Aid Board in Freetown in the presence of representatives of both agencies.

Both hailed the MOU as a step towards promoting access to justice, protection of human rights, good governance and democracy in Sierra Leone. ‘We welcome this MOU which adds to the over 300 partners of the Board,’ Ms. Carlton-Hanciles said, adding, ‘It will increase the poll of resources we can tap into in the provision of legal aid services around the country.’

The Signing of the agreement will facilitate the exchange of ideas and information to strengthen access to justice, protection of human rights and public safety, with particular emphasis on providing free legal services including legal advice and legal representation to missing children and victims of human trafficking in Sierra Leone.

The MOU will also further strengthen structures to enhance access to justice, protection of human rights, fight against corruption, and effective collaborate in the fight against terrorism, international organized crime, illegal migration, drugs and weapons trafficking, money laundering and economic crimes, elections monitoring, training of observers of local elections and implementation of programs dedicated to the same.

The establishment of the Sierra Leone Legal Aid Board (SLLAB) has been a long drawn out process. Its genesis lay in an Open Society Justice Initiative in 2002 that explored options to support transitional justice in Sierra Leone, in the aftermath of the civil war and the general elections that followed it.

At the same time, the judiciary and bar association gave pushback to the institutionalization of paralegals in the country because they perceived the paralegals to be competitors. To convince them that the paralegals are going to perform tasks that lawyers are not interested in, supporters of the programme utilized the media and held legal conferences with them.

In 2009, the Justice Sector Development Programme of the Sierra Leone set up a Pilot National Legal Aid scheme (PNLA).  In 2011 the UN Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems were drafted. With support of the Open Society Justice Initiative, the then Attorney-General, Frank Kargbo, worked towards getting the Legal Aid Act in Sierra passed in May 2012. The Act both established the Legal Aid Board and formally recognised the role of paralegals, but there was no solid financial support or provision for funding made by the government.

After much delay, in 2015, the Legal Aid Board secured financing commitments from both government and bilateral and multilateral aid agencies. The government committed to providing a million dollars a year in funding whereas the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and the Global Fund provided another half a million. To sum up, the Sierra Leone Legal Aid Board began as a community and civil society led initiative and was later assimilated into the government. It is therefore overseen by the government and enforces its actions through the formal legal system.

To prevent and resolve disputes, the Legal Aid Board provides justice seekers legal representation and provides support to widows and women who are survivors of domestic violence including expulsion from their matrimonial homes via paralegals. The paralegals provide guidance on dispute resolution methods to administrators of local and informal and traditional courts. They also conduct legal education, awareness and empowerment activities during town hall meetings, community and school outreach events and community radio phone-ins. The Legal Aid Board monitors justice institutions such as police stations, correctional centres, local courts, informal courts (presided over by traditional authorities) and magistrate courts. It oversees child maintenance matters when couples separate. The Board also seeks to educate people on the rights in both the formal local courts and the informal or traditional courts.