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Africa Updates

ABA ROLI Works to Improve Access to Ethiopian Laws

Adequate access to laws is a fundamental requirement of a functioning legal system. The ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI), with the United States Agency for International Development’s support, prepared a CD-ROM compilation of all Ethiopian laws ratified during the 2007–2008 parliamentary calendar year. The laws—a total of 48 proclamations and 15 regulations—address a variety issues including tax, banking, transportation, property, employment, commodity exchange, freedom of the press and access to information, registration of political parties, and bilateral and multilateral international agreements. Read more »»

Liberian Training Pilots Innovative Techniques, Supports New Professional Organization

In August, the James A. A. Pierre Judicial Institute (Institute) and the ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) partnered with the U.S.-based National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) to conduct training for 20 Liberian public defenders. The five-day seminar emphasized trial court techniques, including practical skills such as examining witnesses, writing motions, and preparing opening and closing statements. Read more »»

ABA ROLI and the Carter Center Train New Attorneys

The ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) and the Carter Center sponsored an advocacy training for 20 new Liberian attorneys. The trainees received their certificates of completion from M. Wilkins Wright, president of the Liberian National Bar Association. Read more »»

Podcast: ABA ROLI’s Legal Skills Center Helps Reform Legal Education in Liberia

The ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI), in cooperation with the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law at the University of Liberia, runs a legal skills center. The center is helping to improve legal education and to better prepare law students and recent graduates for their legal career. The center offers scholarships to third-year law students and coordinates the placement of scholarship graduates to work as field attorneys with partner government and non-governmental organizations during their first year of practice. In this podcast, Margaret Snoeren, ABA ROLI deputy country director, discusses the center’s establishment and impact. Listen to the 8-minute audio

ABA ROLI Assesses Legal Education in Ethiopia

The ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) implemented its Legal Education Reform Index (LERI) assessment tool in Ethiopia to evaluate the state of legal education in the country. This assessment—the first LERI ABA ROLI has performed in Africa—analyzes issues such as law school curricula, admissions policies, quality assurance, teaching methodologies, academic freedom and access to resources. Read more »»

ABA ROLI Assesses Liberia’s Aliens and Nationality Law

The ABA Rule of Law Initiative’s (ABA ROLI’s) Research and Assessments Office recently issued the Analysis of the Aliens and Nationality Law of the Republic of Liberia, undertaken at the request of the Liberian Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization. In a June 25 letter, Commissioner C. Clarence Massaquoi and Deputy Commissioner Abla Gadegbeku-Williams extended their “sincere thanks and appreciation” to ABA ROLI for the “splendid compilation” of the analysis. Read more »»

ABA ROLI, Partner Organizations Strive to Reintegrate Former Child Soldiers in Burundi

Knowing nothing but war, many boys growing up in Burundi during its civil conflict were raised to be soldiers. The future of these former child soldiers rests on their successful reintegration into society. Their successful reintegration also helps keep Burundi from reverting back to civil conflicts. Read more »»

Combating the Rape Crisis in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

A Congolese judge presides over a case involving the rape of an 8-year-old girl in Goma, North Kivu Province. ABA ROLI’s full-time rape trauma counselor provided the victim with psychological counseling, while ABA ROLI lawyers (shown next to the victim) filed her case with the police and represented her in court. On January 23, 2009, the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Goma (The High Court of Goma) sentenced her assailant to 12 years in prison and required him to provide the victim with $1,000.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the incidence of rape and other forms of violence against women is among the highest recorded anywhere in the world. Gender-based violence (GBV) is particularly acute in North and South Kivu provinces in war-torn eastern DRC. Assailants include armed militias who use rape as a weapon of war, as well as members of the national army and police. Increasingly, they also include civilians. The rape epidemic has claimed victims ranging in age from 3–75 years. Read more »

Video: Mediation Training in Liberia

Since 2006, the ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) in Liberia, through its U.S. Agency for International Development-supported access to justice program, has offered mediation skills trainings. About 1,100 Liberian elders, town chiefs, non-governmental organization representatives, lawyers, youth and women’s group leaders participated in the trainings. Read more »

James A. A. Pierre Judicial Institute Graduates First Group of Liberian Trainers

Liberia’s recently launched judicial training institute—the James A. A. Pierre Judicial Institute—awarded certificates to 21 Liberian judges, magistrates and lawyers after they completed the institute’s first training course on instructional design and facilitation skills. Read more »