Legal aid to victims of violence a reality because of Guyana Bar Association and Gov’t collaboration

Geared at eliminating instances of gender-based violence, the Human Services and Social
Security Ministry in collaboration with the Guyana Bar Association and the United Nations on
Thursday, launched the Legal Pro-bono 500 Initiative.

The initiative is part of the ministry’s 16 days of activism against gender-based violence, and
will see the Guyana Bar Association providing legal aid to victims and vulnerable persons across
Guyana, until the end of 2022. Under the spotlight initiative, a Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) was signed between the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Shanielle Hussain-Outar and
President of the Guyana Bar Association, Pauline Chase, at the Arthur Chung Conference
Centre. Human Services Minister, Dr. Vindhya Persaud, said the ministry is committed to
creating more avenues of legal services across the country, to eradicate all forms of violence
against women, girls, men and boys. “Access to Justice is an important, very important and
significant aspect to curb what we see right across our country, and that is the steady stream of
people seeking access to justice, and for one reason or another, not able to achieve that in a
timely manner or not at all. This does not mean that they are not avenues to access justice. This
does not mean that legal services are absent. It simply means that there’s need for more,” Dr.
Persaud said.
The Minister extended appreciation to the Guyana Bar Association for partnering with her
ministry to help curb the issue. “So, I want to sincerely express my appreciation to the Guyana
Bar Association for so willingly being party to this and so willingly considering the request that
was not just one case but 500 cases per year, at no cost to anyone, which means it’s not a
financial measurement. It is also time and effort that will be spent until these cases are resolved,”
she noted. President of the Bar, Pauline Chase recognised the need for legal support for victims.
She iterated the Bar’s pleasure being part of the initiative.  “The United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that one in three women will experience physical
or sexual abuse in her lifetime. This isn’t an acceptable statistic, and we must individually and
collectively do all that we can to bring that number to zero. We are here today to address a very
important matter of concern in our society. Gender Based Violence, domestic violence an all-
encompassing term in all purulence in Guyana,” Chase said. She added, “At the Bar Association
of Guyana, we are happy to lend our assistance in this fight against gender-based violence. As
officers of the court, we are confident that through this collaboration and working together, we
can bring much needed support and relief to victims of gender-based violence.”
Meanwhile, the United Nations has committed to providing human resources, technical
assistance and the facilities to efficiently run the legal pro-bono service. To ensure the initiative
runs efficiently, the European Union (EU) and United Nations invested over US$6M to ensure
women and girls are provided with a future free from violence.  Additionally, Ambassador of the
European Union to Guyana, H.E Fernando Canto said the EU is supportive and happy to be a
part of the government’s efforts to eliminate gender-based violence through this initiative. “I
would like to say that tomorrow is the International Day of Human Rights and what better way to
celebrate than to sign this important memorandum, which will allow for many people to have
access to justice, which is one of the most important human rights in history. We are very happy

to be able to make this contribution to you all. And we hope that these will result in a better
future for the women and girls of Guyana,” Ambassador Canto noted.
Further, the human services ministry has liaised with the Legal Affairs Ministry, to ensure
victims of all forms of violence are able to easily access legal representation through hope and
justice centres. The centres will provide all legal services under one roof.