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

Legal Aid in Cambodia: Practices, Perceptions and Needs 17A Study based on a National Surveyrights violations. 24 CWCC’s four lawyers provide legal advice and representation at its officesin Bantey Meanchey, Siem Reap and Phnom Penh.3.2.7 LICADHO (Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of HumanRights)LICADHO provides services directly to vulnerable clients from its main office in PhnomPenh and 12 provincial offices. It is supported by a number of volunteers and up to 450provincial network members throughout the country. It has six lawyers, two each in KampongThom, Kampot and Phnom Penh.LICADHO aims to help victims gain access to resources for seeking redress andrepresentation; to pursue cases by legal means; and to identify and address human rightsviolations such as unjust pretrial detention, torture, and inadequate prison standards and healthcare for prisoners. It ensures legal services for ten to twelve cases per year in identifiedcategories of human rights violation; and is currently exploring ways to expand its legal andother services so as to maximize impact and the quality of its client services. 253.2.8 ADHOC (Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association)ADHOC has a prison monitoring program that monitors the situation in prisons throughoutthe country and provides legal assistance to prisoners. 26 It also has an ECCC (Khmer RougeTribunal) program which aims to provide ECCC victims and witnesses with legal advice. 27ADHOC’s two lawyers are both located at its office in Phnom Penh.3.2.9 CLEC (Community Legal Education Center)CLEC has a high-impact legal advocacy project, PILAP (Public Interest Legal AdvocacyProject), supported by USAID through EWMI, which aims to use the legal system to assertand protect poor citizens' rights, especially their land rights, and to encourage governmentaland private sector transparency and accountability. It is in the process of mainstreaming thePILAP approach in all its other activities. These other activities include a community justiceproject on workplace relations and the resolution of labor disputes, as well as legalconsultancies and training for poor people. Its six lawyers are all based in its office in PhnomPenh.3.2.10 OthersVarious other organizations have staff lawyers who give legal advice and representation topoor and vulnerable people, as well as giving training, undertaking advocacy and doing otherlaw work. Some of these organizations maintain linkages with legal aid providers such asCDP and LAC, enabling the organizations’ clients to get follow-up services.• Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE) employs a lawyer in Phnom Penh to provide legalservices to child victims of sexual exploitation.• AFESIP (Agir pour les Femmes en Situation Précaire) provides legal services tofemale victims of sexual exploitation and trafficking from an office in Siem Reap,which has a lawyer.24 CWCC (2004), Global Report, p.925 Sourse: LICADHO website: www.licadho.org26 ADHOC (March 2005- February 2006), Annual Plan of Activity and Budget Breakdown, p.627 ibid, p.20