CLEAR, Uganda

UCLF is a registered NGO and as a part of the CLEAR network it runs legal education in the community and legal aid for both walk in clients and prisoners. It seeks to mobilise Christian lawyers to serve the indigent community of Uganda often through pro bono work.

As traditional value systems and dispute mechanisms are being eroded by ubanisation, Uganda faces a crisis over the ordering of relationships. In response, UCLF has recently completed a very successful community rights awareness programme with Danida (the Danish Development Agency).

 

One example of the work shows the hoslistic nature of the justice approach. In Nakawa, a deprived slum housing area occupied by many internally displaced from the north, the "new urban leaders" are targetted and go on to teach violence prevention. Alongside this work, UCLF trained paralegals investigate and report cases of domestic violence while UCLF handles the estate's advocacy issues - involving land holding, resettlement and government development planning while its partners work on increasing employment opportunities.

 

Prison Congestion is a serious affront to human rights in Uganda. There is no automatic right to a lawyer in court, case processing is slow, remand periods are exceeded, charge sheets frequently get lost and many cases patenetly lack the evidence to prosecute them making a mockery of a 5 year wait for a trial that can only end in acquittal.

Working at Kigo Prison, UCLF takes the cases of people who have exceeded their statutory remand period or who have been committed to the High Court. Petty offenders are taught self representation and how to apply for bail. UCLF is also the sole legal aid provider working with the Paralegal Advisory Service (as piloted by the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative) at Luzira Prison (the largest prison in Uganda) on a programme for prison decongestion. Paralegals from the project travel into the villages in search of sureties, bail monies, witnesses - or simply to inform family of the prisoner's whereabouts. Meanwhile UCLF organises mini trials, guilty pleas, bail applications and mobilises pro bono members for case by case representation in the High Court.

UCLF has direct input into the Justice Law and Order Sector (JLOS), a critical human and economic development sector and has taken the lead in a number of public interest and advocacy issues including law reform on prostitution and helping to design a national legal aid system.