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  • 1 year ago
The University of the West Indies' Faculty of Law is launching the INN-UWI Legal Aid Project to address justice issues like pre-trial detention delays and limited access to legal services. The project aims to deliver justice directly to those behind prison walls and in underserved rural communities, aiming to destigmatize criminal processes that impact socially displaced and vulnerable groups.
Transcript
00:00The project aims to deliver justice directly to those behind prison walls and in undeserved rural communities.
00:07The initiative aims to destigmatize criminal processes that often impact socially displaced and vulnerable groups,
00:14offering wide-reaching benefits for rural residents, incarcerated individuals, and students and social activists.
00:23The project aims to foster a more equitable justice system, supporting socially displaced persons and undeserved populations.
00:32Speakers such as Dr. Lucia Roberts, Dean of Faculty of Law in UWE St. Augustine,
00:38Dr. Baljot Jodzinga, Founder and Director of the Incarcerated Network and Professor of John Jay College in Criminal Law,
00:47gave a rundown on how this project will launch.
00:50The work in this project and in this collaboration seeks to place a spotlight on the issues of access to justice,
00:57criminal justice reform, the experiences of incarcerated persons with a view of deconstructing narratives of stigma and discrimination.
01:07She also highlighted the three main initiatives which they will engage in over the next 10 months.
01:14We will have three mobile legal aid clinics, which will see the staff, students, and colleagues in law and social work
01:21going into the community to provide free legal services to persons who need it.
01:26There will also be an opportunity to follow up on the work in this clinic through a strategic litigation partnership.
01:33Dr. Roberts mentioned that this project will be going to El Dorado, Mayaro, and Tobago.
01:40She closed off by saying that this project seeks to bring students from the Faculty of Health together with colleagues in Trinidad and Tobago
01:47to participate in collaborating with each other.
01:50The project seeks to bring students from the Faculty of Law Cable Campus together with colleagues in Trinidad and Tobago
01:56to participate and collaborate actively in each of the initiatives identified.
02:03As the University of the West Indies take project forward, the faculty collaborated with Dr. Boz Drozdzinga,
02:09founder and director of the Incarcerated Network, and professor of John Jay College in criminal law.
02:15Dr. Boz Drozdzinga brought remarks to the Inui Legal Aid Project.
02:21The other pillar of our work is under the heading of leadership, development, and empowerment of those with lived experience of the justice system.
02:29To that end, we have a global freedom fellowship where we are building a community of formerly incarcerated leaders from around the world
02:36whom we bring to South Africa annually and then work to connect with each other and in their respective countries.
02:43UWI's initiative is to reduce stigma associated with criminal processes which will benefit rural communities, jailed individuals, students, and social activists.
02:54The program seeks to create a more fair justice system by promoting social equity and rethinking access to justice.
03:03Azaria Ifill, TV6 News.
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