Access To justice

Advocacy

LACC undertakes research to identify gaps in laws/policies and advocates for law/policy amendments and proper implementation of existing laws and policies. LACC has done advocacy on several issues such as amendment of discriminatory laws and enactment of gender friendly laws, improving women's access to justice and judicial system and status of women survivor and protection and promotion of their rights. LACC also does advocacy on strengthening women's participation in government and political structure. Furthermore, LACC has also done advocacy on role of CA members for ensuring women's right on upcoming constitution and role of local authorities to increase access to justice on various rights related issues. 

Public Interest Litigation (PIL)

A writ petition is essentially a court petition for extraordinary review, asking to intervene in certain issue and to institute legal remedy or legal relief. There are many laws which contradict with the provision of constitution and sometimes the fundamental right is violated, and even more sometimes the law does not cover the issue of public interest. In such cases, LACC files writ petition in the Supreme Court on behalf of victim survivors.

LACC has filed several Public Interest Litigations for the purpose of reaching social justice to the civil society which is the aspiration of Nepalese Constitution. Writ petition were filed by LACC on issues such as property rights of disappeared person's family, providing interim relief fund to victims of GBV cases, citizenship through mother's relation. These PIL received positive verdict from Supreme Court.

 

LACC filed a Public Interest Litigation for the Interim Protection Relief Fund (IPRF) for GBV survivors, and as a result, the Supreme Court of Nepal ruled that the state must safeguard and compensate GBV survivors while the case is in effect. Furthermore, this provision was also incorporated into the Criminal Code 2074, Chapter 1, Article 48, which provides relief to GBV survivors.

LACC, along with JURI, INSEC, and WOREC, jointly submitted a Public Interest Litigation challenging the existing statute of limitations for rape cases, which mandated a time frame of 35 days. Consequently, the statute of limitations for rape cases was extended to six months, and this amendment was incorporated into the Muliki Ain. 

LACC and JURI jointly filed a Public Interest Litigation emphasising the importance of licensing the sale of acid, particularly due to its association with gender-based violence, including acid attacks. As a result, the Supreme Court of Nepal supported the provision of requiring a licence to sell acid through the enactment of an ordinance.

Paralegal Support

LACC has been providing paralegal services to community people in various districts as per the legal need of the people. LACC has been mobilizing the paralegals to collect data on legal identity and facilitating in the process of improving the access of the ultra poor and marginalized communities to the justice and contribute them to obtain their vital registration certificates i.e. basics for justice. With the work of paralegals, more than 14000 cases have been facilitated for legal identity documents which include citizenship and vital registrations.
Paralegals have been playing a vital role in sensitizing the community people about their rights and entitlements. Paralegals are those people who worked in the society from the time immemorial but the problem is that their act are not recognized by the state still they are the people who works for the society and they are close with the problems and the difficulties of the local people. Therefore, LACC is also working for institutionalizing the work of paralegals. 

Legal Aid

LACC was the first organization in Nepal to provide free legal services and advocacy for women and children. Along with free institutional legal aid, LACC provides counseling, mediation services and court representations services to the needy and marginalized women and children that are victims of domestic violence, sexual and gender based violence and human trafficking. As result of above services, LACC, since its establishment has provided legal services to more than 24000 women and children and currently handling  975 legal cases of marginalized women, and children by our professional full time female lawyers. Out of them, 95% cases have been successful and ensured complete access to justice. 

Community Awareness

LACC has conducted more than 5000 community awareness programs in various parts of Nepal, focusing on legal provisions related to women including various forms of violence, social and cultural harmful practices, sexual and reproductive rights, behavioral change, and many more. As a result of the intervention, community members became aware of the legal provisions related to their rights and provisions related to punishment for acting against the law. Also, the beneficiaries became well aware of the justice centers and similar service-delivering bodies in case they ever become victims of any form of violence. In addition, the awareness program influenced students to play a role as change-makers in society and delegate the information gained to their communities. Similarly, through its mobile application and YouTube channel, LACC has disseminated legal information. The mobile application has a dashboard. In the application, more than 200 pieces of legal-related knowledge have been uploaded. The app has been accessed by 2365 users. There were more than 150 questions asked by users related to legal issues that were answered by legal experts at LACC Nepal. The apps have been very interactive and useful to the beneficiaries who want to know about the legal issues they are facing. LACC updated more than 200 law-related videos on the LACC YouTube channel named Nepali Kanoon, where 365 users logged in. The YouTube channel has 2.29 million subscribers, and 26 law-related knowledge products have been archived. In a similar way, mobile camps were organized at the community level, where 1000 community women benefited from these services, and for those who needed court representation, legal officers of LACC provided the required services. Through the radio program, PSA, vehicle painting, and IEC materials various information were disseminated on the issues such as child marriage, polygamy, rape, women’s property rights, referral mechanisms and the plans and policies of local government for women, and marginalized community in enhancing access to justice.

Pro Bono

Legal Aid and Consultancy Center has been providing free Legal Aid Services including Pro Bono since its inception to enhance access to justice for women. The organization has been offering Pro-Bono services through its experienced lawyers, especially when there is no funding support from partners. Also, LACC has been providing Pro Bono Services on subjects of public concern. Until now, the organization has already given Pro-Bono service to 3312 cases. Also, to institutionalize Pro Bono in Nepal, it has been conducting various activities since 2009 in Kanchanpur and Makwanpur districts of Nepal. In 2018, LACC organized the 8th Asia Pro Bono Conference in collaboration with BABSEACLE as a lead consortium, at which 600 participants from 206 countries gathered. Lawyers from this organization have been presenting themselves as representatives from Nepal at the Pro Bono Conference that takes place in different countries every year. Further, to enhance the capacity of the women lawyers and community-based Grassroots Women Organizations the organization has been giving Pro Bono by training and mobilizing the paralegals to enhance access to justice targeting marginalized women and communities. Till now, 20 community-level organizations and 60 paralegals have been mobilized in many districts to address various issues such as registering cases related to gender-based violence and vital registrations, including access to citizenship.