KATHMANDU, MARCH 26
Supreme Court Justice Sapana Pradhan Malla has said that Nepal's pro bono lawyers need to ensure sustainable representation of indigent groups of people.
Addressing a conference of pro bono lawyers organised by People's Forum for Human Rights here today, Justice Malla said pro bono lawyers should have enough resources and skills to provide service to the poor and needy even if they do not get support from external donors.
She said the conference should also clarify some issues related to human trafficking.
"There are some cases where boys and girls married each other with mutual consent but cases of human trafficking were filed against the boys," Malla said and added that pro bono lawyers needed to ensure that their service did not unnecessarily victimise others. She said there must be a clear demarcation between migration and human trafficking. "Often people consent to go to other places for work and on the way a migrant worker becomes victim of human trafficking. Laws should differentiate this situation," she argued.
Chair of the National Human Rights Commission Top Bahadur Magar said they were ready to collaborate with pro bono lawyers to protect human rights.
General Secretary of Nepal Bar Association Lilamani Paudel said lawyers who wanted to provide pro bono services to clients needed to follow the relevant guidelines issued by the NBA. "We often hear that pro bono lawyers are not adhering to their code of conduct and are receiving money from their clients," he added.
Executive Director of Forum for Women, Law and Development Sabin Shrestha said that pro bono lawyers' efforts might seem far from enough in providing services to many service seekers, but they should continue doing their jobs.
Shrestha said lawyers could pay back to society by providing pro bono service to indigent and needy people.
Deputy Development Director of British Embassy Heidi Tavakoli said that her organisation strongly supported efforts to end human trafficking, in Nepal and elsewhere. Stating that human trafficking is the worst form of slavery, she said signing of Palermo protocol was a huge success but there still remained challenges in the treaty. Mission Director, USAID Nepal Sepideh Keyvanshad said that her office wanted to improve pro bono legal aid by strengthening the capacity of pro bono aid providers.
Director General of Department of Foreign Employment Shesh Narayan Paudel said there was a tendency to invoke the Section of Foreign Employment Act carrying less punishment, but he had started to invoke the estrangement punishment for those manpower agencies that were involved in exploiting migrant workers. Article 20 of the Constitution of Nepal guarantees the right of the indigent party to get free legal aid services.
People's Forum has developed a loose network of Pro bono lawyers who are willing to provide Pro bono service to TIP victims and at-risk people at the provincial level. It has also developed a code of conduct for lawyers embarking on Pro bono services in trafficking/foreign employment sector. A dedicated website on pro bono legal service in Nepal has been developed and a roster of the Pro bono lawyers has been maintained in the website.
Lawyers, Pro bono legal professionals, policymakers and civil society representatives took part in the event. The objective of the programme was to provide a platform to strengthen pro bono initiatives and networking opportunity in Nepal and to facilitate creating institutional set up to promote Pro bono legal service, particularly to trafficking in person survivors.
It also aimed to strengthen coordination among stakeholders to promote Pro bono legal service with regard to combating trafficking in persons.
A version of this article appears in the print on March 27, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
