National Legal Aid Organization Bangladesh

She said that poor and defenceless people receive free legal services. District legal aid offices function as a central “alternative dispute resolution” body to resolve disputes on the ground, which has played an important role in reducing the backlog of cases, she said, adding that people continue to receive legal assistance through a digital system during the Covid-19 pandemic. On the occasion of the day, various programs are organized across the country, including discussion meetings, a rally, a legal aid fair, joint meetings of clients and lawyers, the distribution of the Best Lawyer Award, the publication of the supplement and the photo exhibition. The Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs will hold a rally in the city tomorrow at 10 a.m. Ministry Secretary Md Golam Sarwar will lead the rally. Tomorrow at 10:30 a.m., there will be a discussion at the Training Institute for Court Administration. This year`s theme is: “Take free legal assistance, the government of Sheikh Hasina gives this assurance (Bina Kharche Nin Ainee Sahayata, Sarkar Dichchhe Ai Nishchayata of Sheikh Hasina)”. The 2014 Legal Aid Policy was formulated to clearly define the criteria for granting legal aid. Article 2(1) of the Directive specifies that legal aid recipients must normally have an annual income of less than Tk 1 lakh, but in the case of freedom fighters and applications for legal aid to the Supreme Court, the income must be less than Tk 1.5 lakh. However, Article 2(2) of the Directive stipulates that certain vulnerable persons are entitled to legal aid (without reference to their income situation), such as victims of trafficking in human beings and women and children who have suffered physical or sexual violence, as well as persons with disabilities, etc. In her message, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman guarantees people`s fundamental and legal rights through the 1972 constitution.

“But the rule of law and fundamental human rights were under threat in the country after the assassination of the Father of the Nation in 1975,” she added. So far, a district legal aid office and a corresponding district legal aid committee have been established on the premises of the district court of judges in all districts. The government has also appointed a District Legal Aid Officer, who is a Associate Judge or Senior Associate Judge, and a list of all District Legal Aid Officers, along with their contact information, is available on the NSLALA website. The government has also set up upazila and trade union legal aid committees, but these are often criticized as inactive in practice. The website, for example, does not contain information or contact information for Upazila and union legal aid committees, as is the case for district committees. The National Legal Aid Services Organization was established in 2000 on the basis of a Legal Aid Bill passed by the Parliament of Bangladesh. In 2009. The Government of Bangladesh has increased the power and functions of the organization.

[5] [6] [7] According to LASA, all applications for legal aid must be submitted to the appropriate district legal aid committee, and if an application is rejected by the district committee, the applicant may appeal to the National Council within 60 days of the date of such refusal. Recently, NLASO also introduced an online application system that allows legal aid applicants to submit their legal aid applications virtually to the nearest district legal aid offices. The government`s legal aid programmes play an important role in the creation of justice as well as in socio-economic development and the achievement of the “Vision – 2041”, he said, adding that the success of legal aid services depends on the integrated approach of all relevant organizations, including judges, lawyers, NGO workers, human rights activists and development partner organizations. The National Legal Aid Services Organization (জাতীয় আইনগত সহায়তা প্রদান সংস্থা) is a legal organization of the Government of Bangladesh, which falls under the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs and is responsible for providing legal assistance to poor Bangladeshis. [1] [2] [3] Md. Aminul Islam is a district judge and current director of the organization. [4] The President called on all stakeholders, especially those involved in the legal system, to take vigorous and effective measures to promptly resolve cases in the context of the legal aid service. After 1975, the BNP-Jamaat alliance carried out widespread killings and repression and resisted the path of a fair trial, which is why people were denied their right to legal assistance, the prime minister said in her message. “In most cases, the die-hard poor are generally deprived of their constitutional right to legal aid, and that is why the government formulated the National Legal Aid Services Act in 2000 to provide legal aid to the poor,” the president said in his message. Despite the commendable progress made by the NLASO over the past 13 years, some critical gaps remain. First, the Legal Aid Regulations 2015, which set out the procedure and rules of the national legal system, do not require legal aid recipients to be reimbursed for travel expenses related to the case.

Travel to courts and legal aid offices can often result in high costs, preventing court seekers from pursuing their cases due to the frequency of travel. Therefore, transportation reimbursement is an integral part of legal aid to NGOs in Bangladesh and should also be included by NLASO through an update to its 2015 regulations. Second, upazila legal aid committees and trade unions must be activated to reach the most vulnerable and remote populations by appointing special legal aid agents and expanding the online application system to the upazila and trade union levels, so that the decision to apply for legal aid does not always require travel abroad. Cities at the district level. Third, NLASO should introduce an online dispute resolution mechanism so that parties can participate in remote mediation at low cost, as implemented by various legal aid NGOs (such as Brac and BLAST) during the Covid lockdown period through the use of teleconferencing. 26. In January 2000, Bangladesh passed the Legal Aid Services Act 2000 (LASA), which “provides legal aid to litigants who are unable to seek justice due to financial insolvency, hardship, powerlessness and various socio-economic conditions”. Section 3 of LASA directed the establishment of the National Legal Aid Services Organization (NLASO) to achieve LASA`s objectives “as soon as practicable after the coming into force” of the law.

But it wasn`t until 2009 that NLASO was finally founded. The legal aid services provided by NLASO can be divided into three main forms. First, it provides legal advice to individuals and has been running a toll-free legal aid hotline (16430) since 2016, where anyone can get free legal advice.