Human Services Ministry to implement new legal referral department

As a result of the launch of the Legal Pro-bono 500 Initiative on Thursday, the Human Services
and Social Security Ministry will be looking to establish a legal pro-bono referral department
within the Ministry to ensure that the programme is effectively managed and sustained.
This will be done through engagement with the United Nations Population Fund under the
Spotlight Initiative – the global initiative funded by the European Union to end violence against
women and girls worldwide – for funding and technical support. The Ministry and Bar
Association of Guyana executed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) last Thursday which
outlines their respective obligations and responsibilities to the newly launched initiative,
including the Bar Association’s commitment to providing pro-bono legal services to 500 gender-
based violence victims.
In conceptualizing this initiative, Dr. Persaud had in mind expanding the provision and reach of
free legal services to persons experiencing gender-based violence. As a matter of fact, at her first
meeting with the Association earlier this year. “Even though there’s ‘Legal Aid,’ we have a lot
of women who come regularly to the Ministry because they can’t access legal support. Most of
them are desperate and without any financial recourse. We also have a lot of cases in the
hinterland. The idea is to get to those inaccessible places that go beyond the reach of legal aid,”
she said. She disclosed that the Ministry has recognized that the Bar Association is equipped
with the necessary resources and expertise to provide such high quality essential legal services
and is therefore a reliable strategic partner to provide additional free legal services to gender-
based violence victims. “While I am able to send some of the women to ‘Legal Aid,’ I believe
much more is needed than that for the practical reason that ‘Legal Aid’ is not across the country.
I’ve been sort of prevailing on people’s goodwill and asking a few people I know to help out, but
seeing the need and that a few were willing to help out, I thought it might be good to have a
formalized structure where those attorneys who are willing could be part of this effort,” the
minister said.

Dr. Persaud declared that her vision is for at least 50 attorneys to do a minimum of 10 domestic
violence cases per year. “We can even increase the numbers of lawyers so that they have less to
do,” Dr. Persaud stated. As a form of incentive, the minister expressed the thought about the
possibility of hosting an annual awards ceremony to recognize lawyers for the number of cases
that they would have been able to execute. Meanwhile, access to justice and legal services can be
a challenge for vulnerable groups of people across Guyana owing to high legal costs, limited
legal aid reach in certain regions, backlog of cases and lengthy trials, and lack of human and
technological resources.
The Minister has signaled her intention to engage other existing law societies to provide legal
pro-bono services and has stated that access to justice is even more important when someone has
experienced domestic violence. Further, she noted that this initiative will complement the already
existing and overburdened legal aid services. Minister Persaud is grateful to the Bar Association
for its contribution and she thanked them for “unhesitatingly partnering with the Ministry.” “I
look forward to a time when there will be a lesser need for this type of service but for now, the

Ministry is ensuring that every survivor has access to justice as is their fundamental human
right,” she said.
The Bar Association President offered that initiatives such as these do not imbalance the scales
of ‘lady justice’ but rather assist in lending balance. The Legal Pro-Bono 500 Initiative will be
operationalized in January, 2022.