“I am here to say to you that we need IDLO, and if it did not exist today, we would have to invent it – because it does something that must be done, and [that] so far, no one else in the world is doing.” The statement, by Assistant US Secretary of State for Narcotics and Law Enforcement William Brownfield, came as he opened a congressional briefing on Thursday, April 11th.
Today (Friday April 19) marks a milestone in IDLO’s involvement in South Sudan, as the final sixteen-strong class graduates from one of the organization’s most transformative courses. With funding from the US State Department through its law enforcement arm (INL), the training has covered both the fundamentals of common law and what is known as ‘legal English’.
The International Development Law Organization received a delegation from Thailand’s King Prajadhipok Institute (KPI). The visitors were briefed on how IDLO seeks to build confidence in the justice system from the perspective of the end-user, as well as the organization’s current programmes, field operations and research projects.
May 9, 2013 - The head of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of Bangladesh, Mizanur Rahman, has described the loss of life at the collapsed Rana Plaza textile factory as one of the most tragic incidents in his country’s recent history – but he insisted that any pullout by Western clothes retailers from what is seen as a severely tainted industry would be catastrophic for local workers.
IDLO has been working with the European Union’s EUROsociAL program to provide assistance and support to Peru’s indigenous communities. Partnering with the Peruvian Ministry of Justice and judiciary, IDLO has helped create a model for legal orientation and institutional coordination on intercultural justice in the district of San Martín. The intervention sought to strengthen orientation services and legal aid, establishing a model for intercultural justice.
With 40 percent of its land covered by forests, Guatemala is richly endowed in biodiversity, and thus well-placed to benefit from a green economy. But as it seeks to make this transition, the country must protect the rights of indigenous communities, whose livelihoods depend on natural resources.
In order to ease the isolation experienced by some of Ecuador’s indigenous communities, IDLO has designed a legal model for accessing fair trade markets. The pilot phase of the initiative took place in two remote Quechua-speaking mountain settlements, Rumicorral and Ambrosio Lasso. Both communities had extremely low social indicators, with virtually no access to external markets for what was otherwise naturally organic and pesticide-free farming produce.
Paraguay is both a point of origin and transit for human trafficking, especially of women. Children and indigenous groups are also extremely vulnerable. Most of the victims are trafficked to Argentina, Spain and Bolivia. This crime particularly affects populations living in situations of violence, discrimination or poverty. In collaboration with the Paraguayan government and other partners, IDLO has worked on criminal law and justice enforcement in the country, as well as legal protection for victims.
IDLO is working with the European Union’s EUROsociAL program to strengthen access to justice for victims of trafficking. We are assisting Chile’s Ministry of Justice (MOJ) to coordinate orientation services and legal assistance in order to protect and empower the most vulnerable. IDLO has drafted a protocol involving, among others, the Chilean Ministry of the Interior and the Prosecutor's office: it enables various institutions to offer a coherent, efficient response to the phenomenon of trafficking.
IDLO is working with the disadvantaged in Paraguay under the European Union’s EUROsociAL program, supporting the provision of free legal advice to residents in one of Asunción's poorest neighborhoods. This is the first step towards strengthening access to rights and justice for deprived communities in the country in line with the Brasilia Regulations on Access to Justice. The project being is being implemented in collaboration with the Paraguayan Ministry of Justice.
 Policy Statements
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