ERG Annual Civil Society Awards – We announce initiatives for greater Access to Justice
This year’s Equality Rights Group Awards for human and civil rights in Gibraltar (established last year) have been presented to two local NGO’s: the Disability Society and Dignity At Work (DAWN). With a special, separate posthumous award to the late Agnes Valarino, for her pioneering disability-centred work. One of her sons, Bernard Valarino, accepting the plaque.
“It is important we foster and encourage independent civil society in their often difficult task of insisting for rights in our community, free of political partisanship. Without their tireless voices in our society, our institutions cannot progress. It is their intimate, grass roots contact and knowledge of the issues that concern different sectors which is so invaluable to decision-makers. Their active, independent, and sometimes critical participation complements our constitutional framework and contributes to a vital and vibrant Democracy in Gibraltar. And these Annual Awards aim to encourage precisely that. And we consider promoting independent civil society in Gibraltar to be crucial for now and for the future.
ERG Chairman, Felix Alvarez, in his opening remarks, announced an initiative ‘which, once proper studies have been undertaken, aim to establish a Scheme to introduce measures for the working of a Pro Bono system which would complement the Legal Aid/Assistance scheme in Gibraltar, and thus help to make access to justice more of a reality for those who, currently, cannot afford it.
‘This is, perhaps, the most significant project undertaken by ERG, because it impacts throughout our community. It is high time that access to justice for all, a vital component of any Democracy, became less a dream and more a reality,’ he added.
‘Over the years, we have been fortunate enough to have been able to count on the free services of a small number of lawyers who have kindly taken on work without payment. And we know there are others who similarly assist. We believe such work should be incentivised. We contend that a verifiable commitment to Pro Bono work should be a factor which ought to be taken into account by Government when deciding to which practitioners its not insignificant volume of legal work is assigned.
‘Whilst we are not yet in a position to determine the precise proposals to be put forward, we are ready to work in consultation with Government, and to bring together, in due course and as necessary, a panel of legal and other practitioners to thoroughly analyse the issues involved. In this, we would hope that the Bar Council would participate. Along the lines of the UK’s Legal Services Act 2007, our proposals would include the establishment of an Access to Justice Foundation, which would act as a recipient of costs awarded as a result of successful litigation undertaken on a Pro Bono basis. At present, such costs are only recoverable where legal work has been paid for. The Citizens Advice Group, in its wider role, may be an ideal organisation to perform such a function. If not, a separate body can be established. These proposals do not, in and of themselves, remedy what we consider to be the inadequacies of the Legal Aid/Assistance Scheme. Nonetheless, they do significantly tackle the need for commitment to and regulation of a system which will offer the possibility of free legal work for people who otherwise can never qualify. And distribute that work more evenly,’ the statement ended.
