History
The beginnings…in 1998
In 1998 the Newcastle Law Society, England and the Rift Valley Law Society, Kenya established a ‘twinning’ relationship. The focus of the twinning was to provide professional support to Kenyan lawyers who were being persecuted by the then Government in Kenya. Funds were raised to establish a secretariat for the Rift Valley Law Society and to provide a library and other training facilities in Kenya.
Northumbria University offered two Kenyan law students scholarships for the LLB degree programme in Newcastle.
Exchange visits were arranged during which the Newcastle delegation identified a number of specific unmet legal needs in Kenya - particularly relating to support for children’s cases. No legal aid or public funding existed for these cases. Funds were therefore raised to provide professional and financial support for lawyers taking on children’s cases - initially on a pro bono basis.
As the lawyers’ situation in Kenya improved, the focus of the twinning changed. Funds were donated by the Law Society charity which allowed for the appointment of the first in house lawyer providing direct advice, assistance and representation to children in Nakuru.
2005 ... and onwards
The Kenya subcommittee of the Newcastle Law Society was reconstituted as a charity and a company limited by guarantee - the Rift Valley Newcastle Justice Project (RVNJP) - and in Kenya the Juvenile Justice subcommittee of the Rift Valley Law Society was established to manage the developing Project.
A formal Memorandum of Understanding was agreed between the two law Societies.
The Charity’s main Objective is
‘supporting and engaging in charitable work to promote human rights in Kenya such as assistance in the development of law, general promotion of legal education and pro bono assistance for people in need, particularly women and children’.
The Charity has three main areas of interest, all focussed on improving the delivery of legal services particularly to children
- Maintaining the good professional and social relationships that have been developed between the two law societies and their members.
- Providing training and educational assistance to the Rift Valley Law Society.
- Providing assistance with the development of specific projects.
The professional support and links between the two law societies has proved to be very beneficial in terms of professional development to enable the lawyers in Kenya to deliver a better service to clients. Similarly the training that has been provided to the lawyers in Kenya and in Newcastle during exchange visits has proved to be very useful. The direct financial and professional support provided to Justice for Children in Kenya has meant that each year it has managed to assist an increasing number of children and families. From the single lawyer appointed in 2005 it now employs two lawyers, an administrator/secretary, a law clerk and a law student.
The Work
The work of Justice for Children is not confined to casework. Education and training of the public and other professionals is vital in a legal system where children’s rights have long been neglected, where the Children’s Act 2001to protect children has recently been implemented and where children are the victims of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and are often orphaned or abandoned by their families because of poverty. Justice for Children works closely with other agencies that work with children, including the police and the judiciary and its innovative activities have been praised and recognised in both the UK and Kenya.
Justice for Children has:
- won the Pro Bono Children’s award in Kenya,
- given a paper at the 2006 Commonwealth Law Conference in Nairobi view our key documents
- been invited to meet the Attorney General Lord Goldsmith at a Conference in Nairobi
- been chosen by the Kenyan Government as a legal aid pilot for children’s casework.
The work and success of Justice for Children has been recognised and endorsed by:
- the UK Attorney General’s Pro Bono Committee
- the East African Law Society,
- the Law Society of Kenya
- the Kenyan Government.
Justice for Children has been held out as a model project for replication in other areas of Kenya and Commonwealth countries that follow a common law legal system.
The greatest impact however is the benefits it provides to children and their families who otherwise would be unlikely to receive any legal support at all.
Justice for Children has developed a constructive working relationship between the trustees in Newcastle and the members of the Rift Valley Law Society in Kenya with transparent and clear lines of financial and management accountability.
Meeting with Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, in Nairobi
Read about our Newcastle operation