In my previous post, I emphasized the need for a focus on rule of law and human rights, rather than simply ‘democracy promotion.’ Well, there is an amazing organization striving to do just that. One of my favorite organizations is International Bridges to Justice, a highly innovative, efficient, and effective organization that has a clear mission: To end torture in the 21st century.
IBJ is truly innovative, because they don’t rely on ‘traditional’ legal methods to fight for justice and to end torture. They don’t only fight cases in court, and they don’t pressure governments to change policy. IBJ has found a really innovative model, which is cost-effective and really seems to make a tangible difference. IBJ focuses on training public defenders and paralegals who will then go on to defend countless powerless victims stuck in their domestic criminal justice systems. Creating a force of public defenders committed to ensuring all citizens legal rights is so empowering, and can be very effective. For instance, after the Khmer Rouge left Cambodia there were fewer than ten lawyers in the entire country! IBJ, along with other organizations, had made huge changes in Cambodia’s criminal justice system since then - just by training public defenders to do their jobs well and passionately. Training public defenders is such a vital & effective - yet simple - way of rebuilding post-conflict justice systems, that it baffles me that no one has employed this approach so efficiently yet.
IBJ also conducts legal rights awareness campaigns in many countries, which has tremendous effects. Normally, I don’t believe that ‘raising awareness’ has a much of an impact as actually doing something, but in this case IBJ has proven me wrong. Their know your rights poster campaign in Rwanda educated so many people about their rights, and proves that awareness is important.
Instead of working against governments by embarrassing and subsequently alienating them, IBJ works with governments to help incorporate legal rights into the language of the national government and policy. IBJ works to ensure that governments understand the importance of legal rights, and consequently work with IBJ to make sure torture is ended. I think IBJ is really onto something here, because ultimately I think we have to work with governments to ensure their commitments to their citizens - not by encouraging them to ’shift’ to democracy or change their ruling style, but to work within their existing framework and encourage leaders to focus on the people. And instead of working against police, IBJ collaborates with police, lawyers, judges and other local criminal justice stakeholders in order to ensure that legal rights are being respected.
And finally, what I love most about IBJ is its entrepreneurial spirit and hope. IBJ knows that torture can be ended in the 21st century - but not without innovative methods. IBJ’s founder, Karen Tse, is a social entrepreneur who combines her knowledge of criminal defense with social enterprise to come up with a unique, exciting and effective model. IBJ has an innovative and inspiring JusticeMakers fellowship program, through which they provide $5,000 seed grants to entrepreneurs focused on improving criminal justice and the rights of prisoners in their local communities, often through grassroots approaches. To me, JusticeMakers embodies the true entrepreneurial spirit of IBJ - it encourages people to work actively to change things in their communities, and to become leaders in criminal justice reform. It gives a voice to the voiceless, and fuels ideas with hope.
I don’t see why “law” has to be a dry field. Law, combined with social enterprise, can be as entrepreneurial, as exciting, as inspiring, and as motivating as any other enterprise - whether in technology, social media, marketing, and so on. Combine human rights with entrepreneurship, and I think the pursuit of justice has the potential to change millions of life - and at the same time, can be one of the most exciting things of all.
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