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info@microjustice.org
info@microjustice.org

Through recognition of our 25 years of work we have been able to present our program in Egypt. With support of Ministry of foreign affairs Netherlands, Dutch embassy Cairo, bringing us each day closer to Universal Access to Legal Rights’ Protection we are proud to announce new Program:

Legal Rights’ Protection Program Egypt

In Phase I of the Legal Rights’ Protection Barometer research (the Barometer), funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign affairs, the main issues in legal rights’ protection and the justice gap in Egypt have been identified, as follows.

In Egypt, there are around 650.000 registered lawyers, of which a large part is actively exercising the legal profession. There are tens of thousands of laws and legal practices according to the local requirements in the relevant institutions and courts throughout the country. There is no overall legal information available and legal literacy is felt by all to be an important need. People do not know how to protect their rights and need access to a quality lawyer. Lower income groups, up to 80 % of the population, lack the financial resources to get a good lawyer whereas the legal needs in all aspects of life are important. Key legal needs are:

Real estate, property registration and transfer of property titles. Less than 5% of the real property is registered in the property register, and the State urges people to get their property registered, and the title in their name.

Related to this, there is an important need for legal information and aid regarding inheritance. This is important for both urban and rural population.

For the rural agricultural population, the awareness on these topics is essential, and the introduction of self-managed collectives to consolidate the land and reunite fragmented land, reducing costs and water consumption while increasing the productivity of the land

For women and children having access to legal information on family right to formalize a divorce and to obtain alimony is fundamental after the mostly oral divorce declaration by a man. It is fundamental that children get their birth certificate to exist and to go to school.

To support smaller business, it is essential to have basic legal literacy for the legal needs providing legality and security, including the understanding of bankruptcy, loans, partnership, tax-issues

Huge presence of the informal sector and legal insecurity in labour related rights and obligations

On the basis of the outcome of the Barometer research, Microjustice, The Hague based Dutch Foundation, has developed this 3 year Project with as aim to set up a Digital Legal Aid Platform in Egypt (see digital Legal Aid Platform description and showcase).

The general objective of the project is to legally empower vulnerable and marginalized groups, with a special focus on women, in order to improve their socio-economic and political opportunities through the enhancement of social inclusion and effective participation in human rights by the improvement of the access to legal aid through setting up a digital bridge between the people and legal professionals, in the form of a Digital Legal Aid Platform.

The Project aims to:

  1. Help vulnerable, target groups and rural communities, especially women, access the basic legal rights (related to identity, property, family, inheritance, etc.) that constitute prerequisites for their political, social, and economic inclusion.
  2. Empower the Egyptian population, especially women to exercise, defend, and promote their social, economic and political rights recognized by the Constitution, national laws, and international treaties.
  3. Improve the access to basic legal rights for all through establishing standardized legal service provision in the form of a digital legal aid Platform,
  4. Communicate on the obstacles encountered while standardizing and conducting the legal procedures, through lobbying, evidenced-based advocacy, and collaboration with government agencies.
  5. Further improve the efficiency and sustainability of the Microjustice legal service provision and integration of the developed Platform within the Egyptian legal environment by setting up an independent national civil society-based coordination Centre within existing organisation/institution, for further Platform running an up-scaling.

The project has the following targets/indicators:

  • At least 20.000 of new Legal Aid beneficiaries
  • At least 5.000 of newly registered Legal Aid beneficiaries supported through the Project successfully conducted and resolved cases as a result of the Project assistance
  • About 250,000 beneficiaries aware of the importance having basic legal documentation through at least 50 social media promotional campaigns, 3 forums and at least 50 joint action and advocacy meetings with relevant local, regional, and/or national government institutions and networks
  • Improved communication with final beneficiaries by the establishment of new functional communication channels such as Microjustice website, social media networks (Instagram, Facebook, Viber group, WhatsApp group etc)
  • At least 300 lawyers involved in the Project as a direct beneficiary of it
  • At least 10 obstacles in conducting the legal procedures and communication with state institutions identified with lobbying reports prepared describing the problems
  • At least 3 events organized to exchange information, best practices and lessons learned between Microjustice and local legal partner and network established
  • At least 3 major obstacles to obtain basic legal documentation as a precondition to for exercise social, economic and political rights identified and solution provided
  • Recommendations given to the Government, Governmental Bodies and relevant agencies and Institutions.