Working for Human Rights in Justice

FIGHTING EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLING

Access to Justice’s Legal Access Programme (LAP) provides broad legal defense services for individuals and diverse client groups defending their rights or seeking redress for abuse and violations. LAP aims to advance human rights by confronting social injustices using tactics and strategies that confront not just the violations themselves, but their root causes, as well as other factors implicated in their occurrence- such as impunity or the absence of a legal framework to end them. Using public interest and human rights litigation, LAP also aims to redress infringements of human rights guaranteed under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Our campaign for the reform and revitalization of the coroner system to combat extrajudicial killing as well as our work to end the use of torture in police interrogative procedures come under this programme. AJ’s coroner reform and reinstatement advocacy aims to attack the concealment of truth information concerning deaths brought about in suspect circumstances by providing an accessible public reform where members of the public can offer vital information about deaths, and interrogate questionable justifications put forward by agencies.

Since 2003,AJ has been working to strengthen protection of human life from reckless state violence and reduce the rampant culture of impunity within law enforcement agencies.To achieve this, AJ has sought the revival of dormant coroner inquest systems across the states, and has taken up the cause of families of victims of extrajudicial and summary killings. Working with AJ, Lagos and Cross Rivers states have taken action to reform and reinstate long dormant coroner laws. These obligate coroners to undertake inquest hearings upon every sudden or violent death, particularly those occurring in police custody. A number of other states are at different stages of reforming their coroner laws. AJ is now working to expand public and stakeholder awareness of the provisions of this important law. (See the next story).


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	Date Posted:	2008-11-10