Background

In support of the Government of Egypt’s (GOE) efforts to eliminate the obstacles hindering access to justice especially for the poor and women, the first phase of collaboration between the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and UNDP started in 2008 and was designed to introduce Legal Aid Offices (LAOs) in Family Courts as well as strengthen the mediation function of Dispute Settlement Offices (DSOs). In April 2014, to enhance and facilitate access to justice in family court, the second phase of the cooperation started with the support of the Government of Sweden.

The role of LAOs is to provide free legal advice and legal services for litigants in family courts in cases which do require an attorney to follow the proper legal procedures and help them to access their rights. LAOs provides guidance on the procedures, such as completion of necessary legal documentation; drafting notes and petitions for those not fluent in reading and writing. DSOs are established to mediate between the parties to reach an amicable settlement of their dispute before referring the conflict to the court. In Egypt, there are currently 268 Family Courts with respective 268 DSOs.

Objectives

The project aims to:

• Raising legal awareness among citizens regarding their contact with the courts, especially in family courts.
• Establishment of legal aid offices within family courts offering free legal services.
• Upgrading the human component of the family justice system and supporting the dispute settlement offices deployed in family courts.
• The introduction of information technology within family courts system and networking among family courts, legal aid offices, dispute settlement offices and Nasser Bank.
• Helping women, especially in obtaining and accessing their alimonies in an expedited manner.

Accomplishments

1)    Establishment of 27 legal aid offices throughout Egypt.

2)    27 dispute settlement offices, located inside family courts, were upgraded to better their performance in mediating and resolving family disputes before resorting to litigation procedures in courts.

3)     39 Capacity Building activities were conducted with 1,175 participants: The project organized 39 workshops, trainings, roundtables to enhance operational and technical capacities of LAOs, DSOs, family courts judges. A broad range of topics related to LAOs and DSOs were covered, focusing on the operational mechanisms of LAOs and the mediation capacities of DSOs.

4)    Automation of 60 Family prosecution offices and 6 Family courts: Aiming at enhancing the access to justice in family courts and improving efficiency through ICT, in collaboration with Prosecution Information Center, the project managed to automate 60 family prosecution offices and 6 family courts advancing their service delivery.

5)    Awareness Raising, Communication and Outreach: The project developed and updated brochures and leaflets to increase awareness of the importance of legal aid offices’ role.The project developed and printed 6,000 copies of the “Comprehensive Legal Guide for Family Justice”. The guide has been distributed for free and also shared with other ministries and different governorates, the latter distributing it to citizens to enhance their legal awareness.

6)  A website (http://www.ladsegypt.org) was developed and is regularly updated, uploading information related to project activities, press releases, and trainings, FAQs, map indicating the location of the Family Courts etc.

7)    Identification of international and comparative experiences through organizing study tours among which were in Spain and France.

Project Document

• English