Access to Justice Clinics Under the Justice System Program

Octrober 2017 – December 2019
Contact Person: Izalde Pinto, Program Manager at jalde.belun@gmail.com or +670 77312184

Access to Justice Clinics (AJC) program provides support to the Government of Timor-Leste’s Office of the Public Defender to strengthen access to dispute resolution for the community.  This program is implemented in 2 Judicial municipalities: Baucau and Suai. Belun implements this project in partnership with the Public Defenders Office (PDO) and funding support by UNDP and Civil Society grants under the Prime Minister Office in Timor-Leste. The objectives of this project are: provide mediation services for civil disputes in the target administrative posts to increase public awareness in the community about how to access justice and to strengthen community knowledge of the land law, domestic violence law, and alternative dispute resolution; to train local authorities and suitable administrative post public representatives in dispute resolution and the mediation process. This AJC project builds on Belun’s past experience with land dispute resolution and mediation, as tied to Belun’s strategic pillars of conflict prevention and community capacity development.

To achieve these objectives Belun is working in areas such

  • Mediation Case registration: to attend members of the community in need of civil dispute resolution.
  • Public information campaigns to increase community awareness on alternative dispute resolution in rural areas.
  • Land dispute mediation: Facilitated mediation to land and other civil case disputants with authorization from Public Defender Office. Belun’s AJC facilitate civil dispute mediation for up to three sessions for each registered case. If, in these sessions, the dispute is not resolved, Belun will refer the case back to the PDO in both municipalities to continue with the appropriate judicial process.
  • Creation and develop of an M&E framework for the AJCs and alternative dispute resolution training;
  • Disseminate information regarding gender equality with participation from vulnerable groups reached in activities;
  • Provide training on gender sensitive conflict resolution and social inclusion to young women who reside in both judicial municipalities;
  • Consultation with UNDP and the PDO to share and adapt activity plan and update monthly progress;
  • Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) training to local authorities and village council members in  Administrative Posts in target area;
  • Development and implementation of community paralegal support to help the community refer cases to the PDO and AJC.

Training and Project implementation data

Mediation data                      Training data