Inputs from UNDP Madagaskar

[This query is cross-posted on DGPNet, HURITALK and the Access to Justice Asia Pacific Network. In regard to the 1st component of the query, also see REVISED CONSOLIDATED REPLY: Republic of Congo/ Comparative Experiences / Ensuring Sustainability of Legal Clinics (Perennisation des Cliniques Juridiques) and in regard to the 2nd, CONSOLIDATED REPLY: Indonesia/Comparative Experiences/Informal Justice Systems. We look forward to hearing about your additional/updated experiences].

Dear Colleagues,

The Ministry of Justice of Madagascar is now working with UNDP on a Human Rights Project, which includes an access to justice initiative to better enhance equal access to the law and equality before the law at the local level for the poorest and most marginalized groups.

There are two issues that we are concerned with in regards to this initiative, from which we would appreciate experience and advice from members:

· Strategies to ensure Sustainability of the Legal Aid Clinics:

Thanks to the Democratic Trust Fund, legal aid clinics have been put into place in three regions of the country, providing free counselling, free consultation, and free legal aid services to those whose rights are violated or abused, whilst empowering local communities through human rights awareness and debates. Three local NGOs are managing the “Trano aro zo” (juridical cliniques in Malagasy), para-legals have been trained to assist communities in obtaining redress for abuses resulting from different entitlements and to interface on behalf of poor people who are often uneducated or unacquainted with the justice system. Local authorities, religious chiefs, medical or para-medical personnel, churches, school teachers, families have been mobilized and highly involved in discussions and debates on human rights issues. The Ministry of Justice is now very much concerned about the durability and sustainability of the project. I would be very grateful if you could share with us good practices or lessons learned from similar projects in regards to the strategies adopted to grant sustainability of the clinique.

· Strengthening "Community/Unconventional Justice Structures" from a Human Rights Perspective:

Moreover, to answer to the workload of conventional courts and to ease the response of justice to the needs of the poorest people in the rural areas, the Ministry of Justice is now undertaking a study to set up “community structures”, that will be in charge of deciding daily disputes through mediation and conciliation. In Madagascar, this form of mediation has been carried out by local district/village authorities, also known as fokontany. The main concern is to provide the existing "unconventional structures" with a juridical framework, tools and capacities to exercise the role of dispute resolution in the light of human rights norms. It would be very interesting for us to know how similar initiatives in other countries have been developed and lessons learned: especially:

- the composition of the structure;
- how the rights to defence and to appeal have been granted;
- which disputes have been treated;
- how the cooperation with the police, conventional justice and NGOs have been assured;

- how best to align this system with other existing dispute resolution mechanisms- such as land reform programmes

Thank you for your cooperation on this matter.


Best regards

Sara Sighinolfi

PNUD Madagascar
BP 1348 Antananarivo (101)
00261 (0) 32 07 10952