The government introduced legal aid services in the country to ensure that every citizen has access to justice, but experts and lawyers say that children receive less legal aid than adults.
According to a report by the National Legal Aid Service Organization, a total of 119,398 men and 115,290 women received legal aid services from 2009 to March 2019, while only 677 children received legal aid over the same period.
National Girl Child Advocacy Forum Secretary, Nasima Akhter Jolly, told Dhaka Tribune: “In the last two years, we have been fighting at least three cases related to children. However, due to the slow progress of the cases, the justice seekers eventually lost their motivation.
“The government is trying to facilitate access to justice for all, but many are unaware of legal aid services. Poor people face complex systemic obstacles when seeking justice. The government has to make the legal aid system easier,” she added.
Dhaka District Legal Aid Officer, Md Alamgir Hossain, said there is a lack of juvenile development centres in the country, and he feels that the authorities are less interested in sending cases for legal aid because of the complex system.
Supreme Court lawyer Ishrat Hasan said: “To ensure access to justice, we need to raise awareness of legal aid. The officers-in-charge of police stations need to tell people who are filing cases if they qualify for legal aid.”
According to the National Legal Aid Service Organization report, a total of 393,790 people received legal aid services from 2009 to March 2019. Of them, 14,079 got pre-case alternative dispute resolution (ADR), while 1,818 people were provided post-case ADR.
The report further said 66,402 people availed legal aid services from jail since 2012 to March 2019. From 2016 to March 2019, legal aid services were provided for 77,385 criminal cases, 8,954 civil cases, 21,375 family cases, and 1,506 other cases. From 2009 to March 2019, 9,606 people accessed legal aid services from the Supreme Court Legal Aid office.
The government celebrates National legal Aid Day on April 28 every year. This year, the Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Ministry had a press conference on National legal Aid Day at the secretariat on April 25.
At the press conference, Law Minister Anisul Huq said: “The district legal aid office is now also an ADR corner. In 2017, we updated the civil procedure to make it more effective and to ensure that legal aid services reaches the grassroots. We have taken an initiative to form union legal aid committees.”
He added that poverty-stricken and illiterate people need to be made aware of their legal rights.
The theme of this year’s National Legal Aid Day is “Sheikh Hasina’s contribution to Bangabandhu’s Sonar Bangla: Providing Legal Aid Free of Cost.”
To observe the day, a program will be organized at the Hotel Intercontinental in Dhaka, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as chief guest.