Young Lawyers International Program
The CBA’s Young Lawyers International Program has completed its recruiting season for the 2016-17 cycle. The CBA is thrilled to be placing young lawyers and law graduates at partner organizations with mandates in access to justice and human rights, in countries across Africa, South and East Asia and the Caribbean, from September 2016 through March 2017. Visit the YLIP Facebook page and look out for updates by 2015-16 interns and this upcoming group from September!
East Africa Project
There have been recent notable achievements in Kenya under the Supporting Access to Justice for Children and Youth in East Africa (SAJCEA) Project, funded by Global Affairs Canada. Our Kenyan partner successfully challenged the constitutionality of s.12 of the Births Registration Act, which required an unwed woman to have consent of the father of a child before his name could be added to the child’s birth certificate. The High Court of Kenya held that this section violated the constitution on the basis of violation of s.27 the right to equality and freedom from discrimination and s. 53 (1) (a) the right for a child to a name an nationality from birth, (e) right to parental care and protection, which includes equal responsibility of the mother and father whether they are married or not, and (2) paramountcy of the child's best interest. The Legal Aid Act of Kenya was passed in April 2016 establishing a National Legal Aid Scheme. Currently, legal assistance to the poor is only provided in capital offences or by civil society organizations on an ad hoc basis.
Additionally, the project has supported the development of child-specific guidelines and risk-assessment tools for probation officers in Kenya and delivered training to legal stakeholders in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in restorative justice and diversion, handling of child witnesses and victims, compassion fatigue, as well as policy and legislation-drafting with the assistance of volunteer CBA members.
Vietnam
The National Legislative Development Project’s ambitious annual work plan for its second full year of implementation of Phase 2 was successfully approved following a Project Steering Committee meeting held in Hanoi on April 29, 2016. As Vietnam’s Law on the Promulgation of Legal Normative Documents comes into force on July 1, 2016, a group of Canadian lawyers will be travelling to Hanoi to provide the Ministry of Justice and other partner ministries with technical assistance to support the implementation of the new law. The July missions will include work to support the development of policy development and legislative drafting handbooks and training programs, as well as the creation of a framework for measuring and monitoring the implementation of legislation.