Access to justice is a serious problem in the Central African Republic. That is the key finding in a study Avocats sans Frontières has just published. Analysis of the situation on the ground has revealed difficulties in access to lawyers and to a state justice system of adequate quality. Those are the reasons why citizens avoid the formal state system, and instead, turn to local chiefs, religious leaders, non governmental organisations and others. ASF recommends that development agencies draft and implement robust strategies to achieve sustainable improvements. And for them to be successful, these strategies must include all the actors involved, both formal and informal.

In Chad, ASF supports human rights organisations (HROs) with the aim of increasing the impact and scope of their activities. Last March, we went to meet individuals, local authorities, legal actors, and members of HROs, to get their opinions on the work that HROs do. In the interviews, which were carried out in Bongor, Moundou, and Sarh, everyone who was questioned expressed a high level of satisfaction with the activities of HROs.

ASF and eight of its partners formed the Alliance pour la Sécurité et les Libertés, calling on Tunisian deputies not to adopt the bill for the organisation of a state of emergency in its current form. Far from improving security in the country, it endangers people’s rights and freedoms and curtails constitutional protections.

This autumn, ASF presents a portrait of justice in Chad, through interviews with four people who are active in defending human rights in the country. Guerimbaye Midaye is a lawyer in the bar association of Chad. He has been active for almost 30 years within the Ligue Tchadienne des Droits de l’Homme, of which he is now the president. For him, combining his roles as a lawyer and as a human rights defender makes obvious sense. “There is a very strong link between the two.”

This autumn, ASF presents a portrait of justice in Chad, through interviews with four people who are active in defending human rights in the country. Pyrrhus Banadji Boguel is the President of the Collectif des Associations de Défense des Droits de l’Homme (a group of associations for the defence of human rights). A lawyer who has always been driven by the desire to serve his community, he defends human rights in order to “give a voice to people who have none.”

This autumn, ASF presents a portrait of justice in Chad, through interviews with four people who are active in defending human rights in the country.
This week, Delphine Djiraibe, founder of the Public Interest Law Center, talks to us about the fundamental role of paralegals, the first point of contact for people in Chad when they are looking for justice.

This autumn, ASF presents a portrait of justice in Chad, through interviews with four people who are active in defending human rights in the country. This week, Doumra Manassé shares his vision of the role of lawyers and their place in society in Chad. “People see us as civil servants or as traders. We are neither.”

Over the current election period, there have been many constraints on the rights and freedoms of human rights defenders and pro-democracy activists in the DR Congo; this has been a source of political and social tension. Threats, arbitrary arrests, and unwarranted legal action have increased dramatically, indicating growing restrictions on the public sphere. ASF believes that these actors play an indispensable role in any democratic process.

ASF has come a long way since it started up its activities in Congo 15 years ago. Its aim, from the very beginning, has been to ensure that people become more aware of their rights and can enforce them. We opened our first office in Kinshasa on 12 March 2002. Since then, we’ve developed a wide range of projects. Our network has grown nationwide, thanks to all those we have met who supported us, offering their advice and expertise, working with us in circumstances that were not always easy.

At an official ceremony at the Parliament of the Federation Wallonia-Brussels on 9 December, ASF received the International Henri La Fontaine Prize 2016 for its work in defending values such as humanism and social justice.