Volunteering with the International Legal Foundation (ILF)
Imagine, you get arrested, put into a police
car, driven to a station, and placed in an interrogation room. What do you do? Ask for a lawyer? Good call!
But you won’t get a lawyer … because you
don’t have money to pay for one …
… so, you get interrogated, maybe beaten,
then locked-up, brought back for further questioning the next day – and so it
goes for about a week. Afterwards, the police may lose interest in you, leave
you alone in your cell until you finally appear before a judge two months later,
who only postpones the hearing for another month because the prosecution didn’t
show up…
Sounds incredible? Yes, it does, but this is the fate of millions
of people that get caught up in criminal justice systems all around the
world. The situation is particularly dire
in many developing countries, but even in high-income countries like the United
States, 50 years after Gideon v.
Wainright, the situation is still far from perfect.
The International Legal Foundation (ILF
– http://theilf.org/),
headquartered in New York, is an NGO assisting countries emerging from conflict
or in transition to establish public defender systems that provide effective
criminal defense services to the poor. To date, it has established public
defender programs in Afghanistan, Nepal and the West Bank that have provided criminal defense services to
over 22,000 poor men, women and children. In the process, it has built a culture of public
defense in these countries that has had a transformative effect on the criminal
justice system, resulting in better enforcement of laws and fewer instances of
abuse and exploitation. Clients who had languished
in detention for years have been released and the innocent have been acquitted.
Judges have learned the importance of
their role in the justice system and their ability to make legal rulings,
changing policies and practices from the bench. ILF also won landmark victories
that have improved the justice system.
- Outdoor Prison in Nepal -
I was interested in the ILF's work for
three particular reasons: First, having
worked with entities like the UN or the OSCE, I wanted to gather experience
with a smaller NGO which would offer me the possibility to learn about every
aspect of its organizational and substantive work. I wanted to get
exposure to fundraising, advocacy, the drafting of training material for new
start-up missions, as well as working on mission reports and case summaries.
Second, I was persuaded by the ILF's focus
on one specific problem - providing poor people in post-conflict countries and
countries in transition with an effective criminal defense. Unlike other
NGOs I came across in my work so far, the ILF does not shift its interest to
where money can be raised at a certain moment, but concentrates on this ‘core-business'.
Moreover, the ILF has been so successful in its fieldwork that bigger
international organizations are now asking for their help (e.g. the EU Police Mission in Palestinian Territories).
Finally, having worked in criminal law and investigations
and concentrating on this area also during my LL.M. in International Law &
Justice at Fordham, I am very aware of the crucial importance of providing effective
representation for criminal defendants.
Working for the ILF was also a fantastic way to simultaneously apply my
practical and academic experiences in criminal law, on the one hand, and in international
human rights law on the other.
-
Nepalese Defendants with ILF-Lawyer -
My tasks over this summer proved that I
made the right choice: I worked
primarily on the ILF's global advocacy initiative, rallying support within the
UN for resolutions and declarations by which member states would commit
themselves to ensuring access to counsel for everybody arrested and/or
indicted - a promise remaining far too often 'law in the books'. In connection with this ILF-initiative, I
covered UN-conferences and meetings with member states, drafted text-proposals
for international declarations and pledges, and researched the procedures
governing the work of different UN bodies.
Apart from this, I was a contact point
for the ILF’s West Bank Mission, researching the requirements for the country-office’s
registration and other administrative duties towards the Palestinian Authorities. I also analyzed the criminal procedure laws
of neighboring states for arguments to be made with regard to the
interpretation of Palestinian legal provisions, and researched national laws
regarding the provision of legal aid worldwide.
Last but not least, I was involved in developing
a strategy for transitioning the ILF’s local staff and expertise into
sustainable government structures, in reviewing and editing the ILF’s advocacy
material, and in fundraising efforts for our Nepal country mission.
With regard to the last point, I would like to use the
opportunity here to draw attention to the particularly
urgent need of ILF-Nepal to fill a gap in funding until the beginning of
2013 when it is expected to receive long-term grant funding to cover the
expenses of this highly successful legal aid program!
Therefore, please visit the ILF’s website for specific
information on the Nepal program (http://theilf.org/our-programs/ilf-nepal) and for
the urgent call-for-donations (http://theilf.org/opportunities/support-ilf-n) to keep
the ILF’s Public Defender Program in Nepal alive!
Thank you in advance for your interest and support!
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