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Belgium provides US $1.7 million in legal aid

    NAIROBI

    Belgium has approved 73.5 million Belgian francs (US $1.7 million) to help upgrade the judiciary in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda, the Belgian secretary of state for cooperation and development, Eddy Boutmans, said on Saturday.

    The programmes, for 2001, are being run by Avocats sans Frontieres (Lawyers Without Borders). The NGO has signed an agreement with the Burundi judiciary to train female lawyers and legal aides. The deal also provides legal help for detained women and children.

    DRC will get 20 million francs ($453,001) for a law library at the University of Kinshasa. In addition, AsF will provide legal assistance to civil society and help the country align its national and customary laws with international treaties. In Rwanda, AsF has indisputably contributed to strengthening the rule of law, Boutmans said, “an effort that has been much appreciated by Rwandans and the international community”.

    Despite the objections of Rwandan lawyers, he said, foreign lawyers have been brought in to defend genocide suspects. With Danish aid, he added, the focus now was to speed up the training of legal assistants.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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