Justice failing the 'underdog'

The lack of legal aid lawyers has a negative impact on the overall justice system, leading to forced confessions, torture and awaiting trial prisoners languishing behind bars.

These were some of the "stubborn" problems facing justice systems around the world that were highlighted on the first day of the International Conference on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems being held in South Africa for the first time.

The three-day conference, which started in Johannesburg yesterday, attracted more than 250 justice ministers, judges, lawyers and other legal experts from 62 countries, who aim to address the "global crisis" of the lack of access to legal representation and other related problems.

Speaking at the conference, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng criticised the budgets allocated to legal aid schemes, saying governments needed to prioritise "the advancement of the rights of the vulnerable".

Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha said it was "critical" that the "underdog" - women, children, the poor and disabled - had access to lawyers.

But Mogoeng added that the quality of the lawyers was also essential.

"It is not enough to just have a legal representative standing next to you; it is the quality of that [lawyer] that is important," Mogoeng said.

Jennifer Smith, executive director of nongovernmental organisation the International Legal Foundation, which helps countries create legal aid systems, said: "Millions of people are languishing in detention without access to legal representation."

As a result, she said, "they are tortured, confessions are coerced, [they are] suffering abuses and some are wrongfully detained."

"It should be unacceptable to our governments, communities and our leaders," Smith said.

This was echoed by Gauteng High Court Judge President Dunstan Mlambo and Tim Steele, a senior adviser at the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime.

Mogoeng called for the restructuring of courts such as the small claims, community and traditional courts to help alleviate case backlogs.