Opening training of rural community
legal advisors in Kampong Cham

Background

Bridges promotes and assists in the founding of CLE programs throughout Southeast Asia through the Community Legal Education Initiatives. These programs work in a variety of different ways to educate marginalized and rural communities on the law, as well as within university classrooms through clinical legal education programs. The philosophy behind this work is that when people know the law and their rights they become more empowered to stand up for themselves. The CLE program began in Cambodia and past efforts combined with ongoing projects continue to show encouraging results.

In Cambodia particularly, Bridges has been successful in making connections with local partner organizations. These local organizations share common goals and working with them gives Bridges an essential insight into the inner workings of the Cambodian legal system. Some of our current partner organizations include Youth for Peace, the Community Legal Education Center , Legal Aid of Cambodia and the Housing Rights Task Force.

Training lawyers and legal trainers
at the Community Legal Education Center

One of the main components of the program is working with universities throughout the region, starting and continuing to support university based CLE programs (see CLE Initiatives Program section). The goal of the university programs is to instill in future lawyers a sense of social justice and public service. The Community Legal Advisor Support Program came out of the creation of a ‘Street Law' or community legal education program at Pannasastra University of Cambodia Legal Clinic.

What We Do

The CLE program in Cambodia involves assisting universities in developing CLE programs through trainings with professors, conducting legal clinics that teach students practical skills for building law practice, and conducting training of trainers' workshops. In addition to this, we facilitate student and professor exchanges which include our summer legal internship program which this year, hosted 22 students from around the world.

An integral component of the CLE program involves developing simple and understandable legal training manuals and curriculum materials on various areas of Cambodian law, including: Family Law, Labor Law, Land Law, Housing Rights, Children's Rights, HIV Law, Domestic Violence Law, Criminal Law, Civil Law, Consumer Protection, Contract Law. Numerous manuals have been completed and are being used in training activites throughout the country for a broad range of Cambodian society, including government, non-governmental organizations, universities, public schools and communities.

BAB also operates a listserv for members interested in CLE issues. The listserv includes a discussion forum. The listserv can be found at: www.clinictalk.org.

Bridges Concludes “Khmer Rouge on Trial” Training Course with ECCC Mock Trial

The Bridges Across Borders (BAB) training course on the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) for staff members from the local organization Youth for Peace (YFP) culminated on August 13th with a day-long role play of an ECCC trial of a former Khmer Rouge prison commander being charged with crimes against humanity. Cambodian law students from the Royal University of Law and Economics (RULE) also participated in the mock trial as judges and legal advisors for the defence and prosecution.

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