Equitable, functioning and accessible justice is crucial to combating poverty, promoting good governance and the rule of law. It is a basic human right and an indispensable means towards conflict resolution. Access to justice should not depend on wealth, education levels, religion or ethnicity. Therefore in order to realise the goal of equitable access to justice it is essential to put in place me
chanisms for the provision of legal aid services (Legal Aid is defined as free or subsidized legal services to those who cannot afford them. Within this definition a broad understanding includes : legal representation, legal advice/mediation and legal information/education). Only in this way can access to justice become accessible to those in need rather than remaining a prerogative of those who can afford it. The environment within which legal aid is provided in Rwanda is characterised by a high population density (376/km²) [United Nation Statistics Division, 2007], with a large rural, semi-literate population. Approximately 9.9 million people live in an area of 26338 square kilometres and 56.9% of the population live below the poverty line with only 62.5% of rural men and women consider themselves literate. The ratio is currently 1 Advocate for 16,203 people (611 Advocates registered with the Bar Association at the beginning of April 2010 for a population of 9.9 million) even though the Bar is committed to increasing the number of Advocates on the roll. To date, there is no specific legislation on access to justice and/or legal aid in Rwanda. However, efforts are being made by the Government of Rwanda under the Ministry of Justice to promote and develop the infrastructure for legal aid through the Maison d’ Access a la Justice(MAJ), which are Access to Justice Bureaus intended to be established in all districts. In addition, the Ministry has also started to undertake the process of developing a legal aid policy. The historical context has also put huge pressure on the Rwandan justice system both in terms of trying genocide suspects and in creating complex legal issues associated with land rights, inheritance rights and family law issues . However, as Gacaca Courts have tried substantial amounts of cases, the Government is now focusing on other types of cases. Many obstacles continue to exist which inhibit the effective provision of legal aid services. The following are those identified during the 2007 legal aid baseline survey :
The absence of an enabling legal and regulatory framework ; Limited monitoring and evaluation and poor documentation of challenges, best practices and client information ; Limited and disjointed funding ; The limited number of Advocates and the limited geographic reach (urban bias) and capacity of legal aid service providers (both civil society organisations and the Bar Association/Corps of Judicial Defenders) ; Limited awareness of available legal aid services amongst the population. Based on this analysis, the Forum has navigated its efforts since its creation in October 2006 towards improving the delivery of legal aid services in Rwanda.
