WHA Access to Justice and Freedom of Expression/Press

archived

Access to Justice: Central America (Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua) Access to Justice (subject to the availability of funding approximately $525,000): DRL seeks proposals for a two-year project directed at increasing citizen confidence in the judicial system and strengthening citizen access to justice by combating impunity, raising citizen awareness of civil and political rights and increasing availability of legal services. The project will target the general population in the identified project countries (at least two countries per proposal; proposals focusing on a single country will not be considered competitive), with an emphasis on reaching marginalized and vulnerable communities in Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. � The project's objectives will include: outreach to, and education of, general and underserved populations on civil and political rights, and in particular human rights issues especially relevant to their communities; information regarding how to use/navigate the justice system and the avenues by which these populations may be able to achieve access to justice and redress for human rights abuses committed against them (including alternative methods to register complaints other than filing them with the police). For example, a legal clinic could establish paralegal services in a local community in order to conduct outreach to the general and vulnerable populations (LGBT or indigenous communities, for example), or local NGOs that serve these communities. Legal clinics could also facilitate the establishment of community leader networks for those who have gained knowledge of legal aid services through project paralegals. This outreach could include: 1) informational meetings with members of vulnerable populations to learn of human rights problems of ongoing concern such as excessive use of force by the police and specific abuses or crimes, and 2) education sessions for those communities on civil and political rights and the options available through the justice and prosecutorial systems for pursuing remedies. Clinics, with the participation of local partner NGOs, would help citizens who are victims of human rights abuses prepare a legal strategy and bring the case to trial. Program success might be measured through the number of cases taken up, and/or successfully litigated, by the clinic, as well as concrete feedback through surveys and other tools to assess understanding by target populations of their civil and political rights and the means for protecting them. Proposals should indicate how project activities would be complementary, rather than duplicative, of current USG funding in the access to justice area in the targeted countries. For purposes of coordinating and creating synergies among ongoing USG efforts, applicants will work in at least two countries and in two (for each selected country) communities/municipalities per country (see list of communities/municipalities below): Guatemala: Guatemala City; Villa Nueva; Villa Canales; Mixco; Cob�n; Quetzaltenango; Tact�c; Tamah�; Santa Cruz; Mancomunidad Copanch�orti; Limon; Santa Elisa; El Esfuerzo; Santa Fe; Santa Faz; Jocotenango; Brigada; Lo de Fuentes; Milagro; Casco de Mixco; Carolingia; Palencia; Pal�n Escuintla; Ciudad Quetzal; Brisas; Santa Catarina; Ciudad del Sol; B�caro, Mezquital; B�rcenas; Mezquital; Villalobos; Santa Isabel; and Peronia. Honduras: Tegucigalpa; Chamelecon district of San Pedro Sula; Jap�n; Las Pilas; Lopez Arellano; Los Invencibles; Rivera Hernandez; San Jose in Chamelec�n; Padre Claret; Los Angeles/el Carmen; Suazo Cordova; Cofradia Centro; Cofradio Casa Quemada; Villafranca (Comayaguela); Buenas Nuevas; Nueva Suyapa; and Puerto Lempira. Nicaragua: Managua; Bluefields; Pearl Lagoon; Bilwi; and Corn Islands. Applicants should also provide brief rationale/criteria for the selected communities/municipalities. To foster sustainability after the end of DRL funding, the project implementers will develop partnerships with these legal clinics. As project partners, the legal clinics would continue working with government and civil society partners to enhance their services and promote public awareness. An additional sustainability component could include local civil society partners seeking and obtaining longer-term funding through public-private partnerships with the business sector in each country. Freedom of Expression/Press WHA Regional (Honduras, Ecuador, and Argentina) Freedom of Expression/Press (subject to the availability of funding, approximately $1,000,000): DRL seeks proposals for a regional project designed to decriminalize press offenses; reduce harassment and intimidation of journalists; address self-censorship in the media resulting from intimidation; and advance techniques to protect journalists from political interference in Ecuador, Honduras, and Argentina, or at least two out of three of those countries. Issues to be addressed and proposed interventions will vary in accordance with the targeted country/countries. The project�s end goal will be to strengthen press freedom. Project activities may include: � Enabling Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to lobby legislatures to decriminalize press offenses/defamation and/or working with CSOs to press governments to implement decriminalization of press offences; � Working with CSOs and media professionals to guarantee the independence of media regulatory bodies from government political interference and improve these bodies� ability to protect journalists and other media sector workers and managers from political interference; � Activities to strengthen self-regulatory media regulatory bodies (such as Press Councils) to enable media to effectively address complaints and initiate their own actions (receive, investigate, hear, and resolve complaints) when laws or regulations are breached, with the goal being to enable and encourage the bodies to protect journalists and media outlets (not simply to focus on punishing them in the court system for infractions/offenses); � Supporting civil society in advocacy on the appropriate use of civil defamation laws in order to reduce senseless or retaliatory lawsuits against journalists; and � Enabling CSOs to lobby legislators to pass new laws that penalize frivolous lawsuits against the press.

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