Barriers on access to Legal Aid services
Description
Closing date2 Mar 2023
Project Name: HAKI KWA WOTE (Justice for All)
Consultancy Title: Barriers on access to Legal Aid services in Adjumani refugee settlements
Reports to: War Child Canada MEAL Manager Uganda or designee
Supported by: Haki Kwa Wote Project Manager, the Haki Kwa Wote Project Training and Outreach Officer, and the Country Director – Uganda.
Background: War Child Canada (WCC) is an international charity organization registered in Toronto, Canada, dedicated to helping children and their communities overcome the devastating effects of active and post war. Its vision is “accelerating peace by disrupting the cycle of violence”, and its mission is “driving generational change for the hardest hit by investing in the power of local communities.”
War Child Canada is also a registered law firm in Uganda with the Uganda Law council mandated to provide free legal aid services to vulnerable groups in the society. Since its inception in 2014 with its legal defense programme, War Child Canada has worked in 10 districts, mainly in the internally displaced camps in northern Uganda and refugee hosting districts, and implemented programmes on integrated education, access to justice (including peacebuilding), and livelihoods. Access to justice is one of the protection themes of War Child Canada’s work in Uganda, which has been implemented with a focus on general legal protection, SGBV, peacebuilding and child protection. Through all the protection projects, WCC aimed to enhance access to justice for refugee women and children and other vulnerable groups in the communities by improving access to legal aid services, strengthening community-based protection and promoting gender equality.
Women and children are the largest groups affected by SGBV and abuse, including rape, sexual assault, transactional sex, exploitative relationships, trafficking, sexual exploitation, and abuse. Violence against women, and risk of, seriously inhibits women’s ability to rights and freedoms on the same basis of equality as men. Without appropriate aid or support for those who have experienced SGBV, it can lead to serious, life-threatening consequences and severely undermine a person’s dignity and voice as a human being. It does not only violate and traumatize its survivors but also undermines the resilience of their families and societies, making it harder to recover and rebuild. Adjumani refugee settlement management has mechanisms in place to protect refugee women and children, and to promote the welfare of all individuals and communities. However, the effectiveness and availability of these mechanisms is limited as refugee welfare programs and resources remain chronically underfunded. It is also common place for justice systems within a refugee operation to not be accessible.
To have access to justice is the ability to seek and obtain a remedy made possible by the social practice of having rights and knowing how to use them. Access to justice initiatives aim to ensure equal access to legal systems, to uphold their rights. That is why ‘having’ access to justice is of paramount importance for vulnerable persons, including those residing in refugee settlements like Adjumani.
In line with WCC’s commitment to providing legal aid services to vulnerable groups (women and children), War Child Canada Uganda is initiating research to assess barriers to access to justice for women and children affected by SGBV/child abuse in the refugee settlement and host community of Adjumani, intending to inform programming on legal aid provision and protection solutions for vulnerable women and children.
Purpose: To investigate the experience of refugee and host community women and children seeking access to justice for cases of sexual and gender-based violence and child abuse in the Adjumani refugee settlement in Uganda. As part of this investigation, identify services and service providers available to justice seekers, barriers to accessing services, and; propose a series of recommendations that will address identified gaps and challenges in an effective, efficient, and sustainable way. The assessment findings will inform future legal aid programming for War Child Canada, the government of Uganda, and other non-state actors.
Scope: The assessment will target settlements of Mungula I,II,Ayilo I,II, Mireyi, Boroli and Maagi I, in Adjumani district.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES & KEY QUESTIONS:
Objective 1: Analyze protection context to identify available legal and other protection services, access to these services, and barriers and challenges affecting survivors of SGBV/child abuse and other vulnerable refugees and host communities in the Adjumani refugee settlements and reception Centre.
Key questions:
Who are the existing protection and legal service providers in the refugee settlement? and what is their ability to provide access to justice for women/children of SGBV?
Who are the people in need of access to legal protection services? What is the volume (how many people) of need for access to justice services? Who is currently using the available services? Who does NOT have access but have need to use the services?
To what degree are persons living in Adjumani, especially vulnerable groups (women and children, persons with disabilities) aware of their rights to justice, aware of available services and supports, etc.?
What are the barriers to accessing legal aid services for SGBV survivors with a particular focus on vulnerable groups (women and children, pwd)?
What is made possible on the ground for refugee women/children who have experienced SGBV within the refugee communities?
Objective2: Provide recommendations for sustainable solutions that will address the identified legal protection barriers of the most vulnerable refugee and host community populations effectively, efficiently, and sustainably.
Key questions:
2.1 What sustainable (medium and long-term) solutions are recommended to address the identified barriers to legal protection?
2.2 What groups (governmental, non-governmental, community-based, etc.) should be involved in the implementation of the sustainable solutions identified? What is the contribution of each group to the proposed solutions?
Cross-cutting issues: Throughout the assessment, the consultant/consultancy will apply an age, gender, and disability status lens to provide data on equity and gender equality issues among refugee and host communities in Adjumani.
**Approach and Deliverables:**The assessment will use a mixed-method approach. In line with the key assessment questions proposed above, the consultant/consultancy will develop an assessment matrix detailing data collection methods and sampling for each question. The assessment methodology and tools will be finalized by the consultant/consultancy collaboratively and War Child Canada M&E and project staff.
