UN Resolution on Legal Aid

Via namati.org

The United Nations Commission for Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice has unanimously adopted a resolution for the groundbreaking UN Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems. The principles and guidelines are the first international instrument on legal aid.

According to analysis by Namati, some of the most significant components of the resolution are:

• Prompt access to legal aid at all stages of the criminal justice process and a right to be informed about a right to legal aid and other procedural safeguards before any questioning and deprivation of liberty; 
• The involvement of a diversity of legal aid providers including lawyers, CSOs, university legal clinicians and paralegals; and 
• The development of a nationwide legal aid system that is sufficiently staffed and resourced to ensure effective and quality legal aid services delivery. 

Read more of Namati’s analysis on the principles and guidelines here.