Community Legal Aid (Fall 2009)
Project Description: The Leitner Clinic has a long-standing partnership with the Centre for Human Rights Education Advice and Assistance in Malawi. Since 2006, CHREAA paralegals have educated and trained forty community-based educators in Southern Malawi to work with communities on civil justice matters in the rural areas. CHREAA is hoping to expand its program to other districts and asked the Leitner Clinic to conduct a full review and assessment of the current program and make suggestions for changes based on our previous work with successful paralegal organizations in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Description of Fieldwork and Project Outcome: In fall 2009, Leitner clinic students researched and drafted a detailed assessment of CHREAA’s legal aid program with a special focus on 1) gender-based violence; 2) land issues; 3) work with traditional leaders; and 4) case management. Based on an on-the-ground assessment of the program in Malawi conducted in November 2009, the Leitner Clinic supplied CHREAA with a handbook containing recommendations to ensure maximum output before expansion of the program. Clinic students Sasha Bass (`10) and Steven Ekechucku (`10) worked on this project.
Prisoners Rights (Fall 2008, Spring 2009, Fall 2009)
Project Description: Over the past 2 years, the Leitner Clinic partnered with the Centre for Human Rights Education Advice and Assistance (CHREAA) to work on several projects focusing on prisoners rights. The Leitner Clinic's work has focused on three major activities: 1) Filing claims with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on behalf of Malawian Prisoners; 2) Conducting human rights trainings for CHREAA paralegals; and 3) Carrying out anti-torture trainings for Malawian police and prison officers.
The Leitner fall `08 team consisted of Fordham Law students Michael Ellis (`09) and Janet Kang (`10). The spring `09 team consisted of Fordham Law students Corina Bogaciu (`09) and Zaid Hydari (`09). Tenisha Cummings (`10), Pouya Gharavi (`10), and Suemyrah Shah (`10) worked on the fall 2009 project. All semesters were co-supervised by Prof. Chi Mgbako and Julie Hassman, an associate at the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell.
Description of Fieldwork and Project Outcome: In fall 2008, Leitner clinic students completed international and comparative research for a CHREAA public interest lawsuit focusing on the right to trial within a reasonable time; conducted a human rights training on prisoners’ rights for CHREAA paralegals on the ground in Malawi in November 2008; and filed individual claims on behalf of three Malawian prisoners to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
During the spring 2009 semester, clinic students designed a human rights training focusing on torture for Malawian prison and police officers. The students conducted the training jointly with CHREAA paralegals. Torture and ill-treatment by police and life-threatening prison conditions remains a continuing concern in Malawi. Clinic students in the spring semester filed an additional ten petitions with WGAD; a number of these petitons were on behalf of juvenile prisoners.
The Leitner Clinic continued its work in the fall of 2009 by conducting Malawian, international, and comparative constitutional law research for two potential lawsuits that CHREAA may file in Malawi High Court focusing on torture in Malawian police stations and the right to be charged within 48 hours of arrest. The Clinic traveled to Malawi in November 2009 and students interviewed prisoners and took affidavits from potential claimants for both lawsuits.
HIV/AIDS Trainings (Fall 2007)
Project Description: In fall 2007, the Leitner Clinic partnered with the Coalition of Women Living with HIV/AIDS in Malawi (COWLHA) to design and facilitate human rights workshops for 200 HIV-positive women. The workshops were interactive and participatory and covered topics such as human rights standards related to HIV/AIDS, reproductive rights, advocacy methods, and treatment and legal literacy. The Leitner team consisted of Fordham Law students Maria Kuriakose (’08) and Felice Segura (’08) and was supervised by Prof. Chi Mgbako.
Partner Organization: The Coalition of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (COWLHA) is the first and only organization in Malawi whose leadership and membership are HIV-positive women and girls working to promote and defend their rights. From its initial membership of just 56 HIV-positive women in 2006, the organization now boasts more than 50,000 members who have come out in the open about their HIV-positive status. These women are in a better position to gain access to HIV testing and counseling, anti-retroviral clinics, prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) clinics, and nutritional support. In 2008 COWLHA was awarded the United Nations Red Ribbon Award.
Description of Fieldwork: In November 2007, the Leitner Clinic traveled to Malawi to conduct HIV/AIDS and human rights training workshops in four districts (Blantyre, Mchinji, Salima, and Nkhata Bay) for 200 HIV-positive women. Consciousness-raising activities help women living with HIV/AIDS understand that the abuses they face because of their HIV status are violations of their human rights. The substantive human rights content and awareness-raising activities in the workshops provided participants with tools to act as advocates for their rights in their communities.
Project Outcome: The Leitner Clinic produced “HIV/AIDS and Human Rights: A Training Manual.” The training manual is divided into a series of modules: 1) International Human Rights; 2) Stigma and Discrimination; 3) Sexual and Reproductive Health; 4)Treatment Literacy; 5)Disclosure; and 6) Advocacy Training. Although the Leitner Clinic created the manual to meet the needs of Malawian women, the trainings can be adapted to other environments targeting local women. Copies of the Leitner Clinic’s manual were distributed to the leadership of COWLHA for future use in training sessions with HIV-positive women.
