DEME SO LEGAL CLINIC
Phone number : (+223) 229 41 71 Fax: (+223) 229 57 19
E-mail : cjdemeso@afribonemali.net
ACI 2000 Lafiabougou BAMAKO, MALI
Following the 1991 democratic revolution in Mali, we soon observed an eagerness rather to run for elections, that is, to seize power, than to inform and raise people’s awareness of the country’s new political orientation – integral multipartism and Rule of Law.
That is why, as activists of the Democratic Movement newly graduated from law schools, we decided to commit ourselves to the Promotion of Democracy and Protection of Human Rights in Mali. This project materialized with the creation of the DEME SO association [House of assistance in Bambara (national language)]which was recognized by the authorities through the receipt No. 01291/MECATS/DNAT from November 25, 1992.
The association set as its goal to teach, train and give advice to women and young people so as to facilitate their integration and fulfillment within our country’s new democratic world, both in urban and rural areas.
In order to give our action a strategic framework, we decided to create the DEME SO legal clinic (thus bearing the name of the association) which official inauguration took place on September 21, 1994.
The following objectives were assigned to the DEME SO legal clinic:
- ensure a legal orientation for people victims of democratic rights abuses,
- prevent abuses by informing and raising people’s awareness of civil and political rights – create legal training modules,
- propose a project aiming at improving the conditions of custody and detention in Mali.
What is the situation today?
DEME SO has not changed objectives and its services are the following:
- 1. Legal orientation service
- 2. Awareness raising and legal training service
- 3. Service for the improvement of the conditions of custody and detention in Mali
- 4. Women’s promotion service
1. Legal orientation service
This refers to the “legal clinic”, or law shop activity. It aims at providing legal assistance to the most resourceless. We reached more than 1000 cases a year and decided, in order to be more effective, to work on four social cases a month only as we have just one lawyer hired for 300 000 CFA francs a month.
The service multiplied its tools:
- Starting from this year, it will publish each year a bulletin on the situation of human rights in Mali; the first issue was published on December 10, 2002, dealing with serious rights violations, as well as the progress made and efforts to make.
- Legal tours: such tours consist in going with the lawyer and/or a judicial officer (magistrate, “gendarme”, policeman, notary, or bailiff) and discuss on the field with the populations about their law-related problems and the ways to solve them.
- Legal days: organizing days of reflection on frequent cases of violations -and finding solutions together with administrative and political persons in charge.
- Amicable solving of the conflicts: Finding extra-judicial solutions to the problems encountered by the population. In this regard, we rely on traditional mechanisms of conflict solving, involving religious leaders, hunters, and men of caste.
Results:
- We have listened to, - oriented and provided assistance to - more than 200 resourceless people.
- We have opened a legal and judicial assistance office near the trial court of the Commune III, Bamako, to attend to vulnerable classes.
- We have trained clerks and secretaries of clerks in collaboration with the Observatory for Women’s and Children’s Rights (Observatoire des Droits de l’Enfant et de la femme - ODEF), for a better welcome of resourceless persons subject to trial.
- We have listed all the auxiliaries of justice: lawyers, notaries, auctioneers, and bailiffs; and creation of a participant notebook for the clerks and secretaries of clerks.
2.Awareness raising and legal training service
This service aims at providing as much information as possible to the populations on their rights and duties, as well as civic education for a more active participation in the country’s development.
It also organizes training sessions for paralegals whose status has just been adopted by a Malian scientific committee. The study was conducted by the director of the National Institute of Judicial Training (Institut National de Formation Judiciaire), Oumarou Bocar, with whom we are permanently in touch.
This status has been created by African associations and NGOs, together with Juristes-Solidarités, a French NGO. The paralegals must now carry their briefcases (containing rights modules in national languages and communcation tools) and raise people’s awareness, help them to write some certificate to be sent to the Civil Service, and prevent and pacifically solve conflicts through social mediation.
This part is very important to DEME SO: there will never be a legal practitioner for each town, but there can be a paralegal, which would make up for people’s ignorance concerning legal matters, especially in terms of fundamental rights and important State reforms.
Results:
- Adoption of the paralegal status,
- adoption of a national curriculum of training for paralegals in Mali,
- adoption of a handbook for the use of Paralegals in Mali,
- training and equipping of 100 paralegals,
- creation of a website: www.cnpcpmali.org
- set-up of a national Framework for the curriculum to become operational.
3. Improve the conditions of custody and detention
As you may know, the conditions of detention in Mali have changed in the past four years towards a humanization of jails. DEME SO has provided three kinds of support to the prison environment since 1996, which are:
- Food and health support,
- Legal support to have the cases taken care of by a lawyer,
- Support towards rehabilitation: providing a professional training to the detainees in order to make easier their rehabilition within the community once they are out of jail. Our support is directed towards women and young people.
Since 1999, and with the help of the Novib (Dutch organization for international aid), we have increased our support through the adoption of a mini-project entitled “Humanization of Malian jails”.
This project was composed of three new activities that succeeded in changing the prison policy in Mali. It corresponds to the Detainee Week which has even been institutionalized and takes place every year along with the Espace d’Interpellation Démocratique (Forum for Democratic Accountability), on December 10. It includes: the exhibit of the products made by the detainees, conferences-debates and the organization of big concerts of social mobilization and sports activities.
Results:
- Humanization of the conditions of custody,
- adoption of Community Service as an alternative to emprisonment,
- institutionalization of the Detainee Week.
4. Women’s promotion
Discriminating in order to achieve justice. This service aims at taking care of women only, in order to reduce the discrepancy between men and women.
Helping women’s groups to get organized, functional and formalized. Recruiting female paralegals only, whereas the person in charge of awareness raising and training recruits one man and one woman per town. Helping the groups determine their needs in terms of fulfillment, and look for ways to satisfy them.
Results:
- More than 60 women’s groups formalized and functional,
- 60 female paralegals in charge of grassroots communities’ legal needs.
PARTNERS
DEME SO has been a partner of: Oxfam Netherlands since 1996, Diakonia (Swedish NGO) since December 2003, The Royal Netherlands embassy in Mali, the Center for International Legal Cooperation in Leiden (Netherlands), the Canadian Plan of support to the reform of Mali’s justice system (le Programme Canadien d’Appui à la réforme de la justice au Mali) since 2007, and the Dutch Institute of Human Rights since 2007.
The association is contemplating the possibility of becoming partners with the UNDP Project on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (APPDH) in Mali.
