FIDA-Ghana partners Legal Aid Scheme

According to the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative access to justice is a fundamental human right guaranteed in the 1992 Constitution of Ghana and protected by various international and regional instruments.

In an economically challenged continent such as Africa, and in Ghana as a local example, legal processes are expensive, slow and complex. 

Consequently, a significant majority of people live outside the protection of the law, their poverty being a reason. With these challenges, it is not surprising that accessing formal legal structures and services appear an unattainable luxury for the poor, who are often left in a helpless position with their rights routinely violated, unable to access formal institutions and incapable of speaking out.

To support such people, the Federation of International Women Lawyers (FIDA), Ghana, has indicated its commitment to partner the Legal Aid Scheme (LAS) to train more paralegals to offer services to vulnerable persons in the society.

 The Executive Director of FIDA-Ghana, Mrs Jane Quaye, who made the statement, indicated “We are looking at a keen partnership with the Legal Aid Scheme because it is the statutory body responsible for providing certain legal services to the vulnerable in the country”.

Mrs Quaye gave the indication in an interview with the Daily Graphic at the 40th anniversary celebration of FIDA-Ghana in Accra yesterday. The event was being observed on the theme, “Transforming lives, changing societies, changing status of women.” 

Paralegals

Paralegals are trained to help people learn about their rights, enforce those rights and secure justice to bridge the gap between people who live outside the protection of a real justice system and the structures of government designed to protect and serve all people without discrimination. In this way, paralegals give people the confidence to try and solve any problems they face later in life. 

They constitute a powerful, under-appreciated solution to justice problems faced by people in their quest for justice.

Mrs Quaye said FIDA had trained over 5,000 paralegals to serve as agents and advocates for the rights of vulnerable persons, especially  women and children, adding that through the advocacy programmes, they were able to reach out to a larger number of people.

“We train them in basic laws to advocate women and children’s rights. Through them, we have been able to help a lot of women”, Mrs Quaye stated, adding that most women were abused daily and since they were not aware of  their rights, they continued to endure pain.

Role of traditional leaders

 The President of FIDA-Ghana, Ms Joyce Oku, said traditional leaders had been supportive of FIDA’s activities. She also  said they had been committed and played critical roles in changing the status of women in their communities.

“The traditional rulers have played influential roles in making a long-term shift towards cultural interpretation and practices that uphold women’s rights”, she said.

According to her, FIDA-Ghana had held numerous advocacy meetings with traditional leaders in some of the regions and that resulted in promoting behavioural change for safer sex, including the use of contraceptives. 

She was optimistic that FIDA’s work would help improve the lives of more people, adding, “Life begins at 40 so we are going to do more to benefit women and children”. 

She urged the public to desist from discriminating against women and children and rather help bridge the gender inequality gap.