Legal Aid in Cambodia: Practices, Perceptions and Needs - PRAJ

2Legal Aid in Cambodia: Practices, Perceptions and NeedsA Study based on a National Surveylegal aid lawyers too late, and otherwise hampering timely and effective legal aidinterventions.Issues faced by providersIn survey interviews potential clients and providers both said that legal aid providers lackadequate human resources and do not budget sufficient resources for office equipment(particularly IT-related equipment), salaries, and investigation expenses. Legal aidprofessionals also noted a lack of needed legal resources such as the texts of current laws.Interview respondents suggested improving legal aid services by promoting greater linkagesbetween clients and local government authorities, and also by improving the formal justicesystem in terms of capacity, transparency, accountability, fairness and independence.Key stakeholders made recommendations in four areas: budgets and financing, institutionsand infrastructure, human resources, and client awareness. Specifically they proposed:Budgetary & financing• Creation of an informal national network of representatives of Government institutions,BAKC (Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia), NGOs focusing on legal aid, anddonor agencies to discuss challenges and ensure cohesion in legal aid interventions.• Involvement of business and trade associations, and larger private sector enterprises, infinancing specific legal aid initiatives.• Government allocation of specific budgets for legal aid and the development of legal aidpolicies, with budget funds channeled through BAKC or some other central coordinatingbody.Institutions and Infrastructure• Development of alternative channels, for example commune or village authorities, socialworkers, police and court personnel, to work with the justice sector to increase theoutreach of legal aid services.• Dissemination to community and peer networks of knowledge and skills relating to legalaid, so that information about legal aid services is more readily available.• Creation of (a) an outreach program with the participation of the private sector, includingbusiness associations and larger private sector enterprises; (b) a toll-free central legal aidreferral phone line for citizens to ask about legal issues and legal aid services; (c) morelegal aid offices with more lawyers at the provincial level; and (d) databases,documentation centers and libraries of important laws.• Implementation by BAKC of a standardized recruitment, placement and M&E process,including a means test and fee structure, so that it can hire and place volunteer lawyers asa way of meeting its mandate and ensuring that poor people get legal aid.• Development of a Legal Aid Foundation to serve as a conduit for funds and to develop alegal aid infrastructure. Foundation members would include representatives of the justicesector, legal aid NGOs, BAKC, donors and private businesses.Human resources• Training on basic rights and legal aid services for social workers and commune andvillage authorities in areas where legal aid clients are most in need - land law, domesticviolence and criminal matters.• Training for ‘points of first contact’ such as social workers and commune or villageauthorities so that they can advise their clients about basic rights and legal aid services.• Training to improve the skills of legal aid professionals in trial conduct and advocacy,client investigations, and interviewing, especially interviewing trauma victims.• Removal of the current limit of 50-55 lawyers that can be sworn in by the Bar and enterpractice in any one year, so that market-led demands can be met.