International Bridges

Ogólne informacje

International Bridges to Justice is dedicated to ensuring the basic legal rights of ordinary citizens throughout the world. Recognizing that sustainable reforms can only be achieved with the cooperation of governments, IBJ always works to implement existing laws in collaboration with governmental institutions such as justice ministries, the judiciary, prosecutors, police, and prison officials. In each country where it maintains an active program, IBJ works at the national level to influence key decision-makers to bring about system-wide reforms. On the local level, IBJ employs a comprehensive approach comprising three interconnected elements to effect practical, affordable, and lasting changes that advance the rule of law: legal skills trainings, criminal justice roundtables, and public rights awareness campaigns. IBJ’s most basic function is to increase defender capacity. There are simply not enough skilled defense attorneys available to provide adequate representation to the huge numbers of people accused of crimes, nor is there the necessary infrastructure to support their work. To address this shortfall, IBJ provides training to new and experienced criminal defense attorneys, both increasing the number of lawyers taking on these cases and improving each lawyer’s ability to provide competent counsel. To promote mutual respect among the different justice-system stakeholders, IBJ regularly convenes roundtable meetings where defense lawyers, judges, prosecutors, police,...