The Uganda Public Rescue
Foundation (UPRF) works to fight for
human rights and the poor in the area of criminal law, through court
representation, counseling, mediation and prison visits with a focus on the
poor charged with capital/serious offences in the higher courts and the chief
magistrate’s courts. To a lesser extent,
people facing less serious but complex charges in the lower courts are also
assisted. In addition, to litigation
UPRF conducts sensitization workshops and seminors as well as training. The sanitization targets prisoners,
stakeholders and communities to appreciate the need for legal services for the
poor who face criminal charges human rights violation. The training focuses on staff and pro bono
lawyers. It empowers political comities
to know their rights to know and enforce their social and economical rights
through legal education.
The Uganda Public Rescue Foundation
(UPRF) primarily addresses legal issues affecting women and children. Programmes that seek to improve access to
justice include intervention at all levels where inequality occurs through
legal education and mobile clinics, protection of the rights of vulnerable
groups (especially women and children in the household, community and nation)
training of paralegals and community support persons, and conducting research
to reform and engender the law. FIDA
also operates at household level to offer legal aid services to individuals
seeking mediation of interpersonal conflict primarily within the family. In addition UPRF conducts strategic
litigation and documents cases that are handled as a basis for developing good
practices and as a source of information for strategic litigation cases. This information also informs UPRF’s
programme.
The Uganda Gender Resource Centre
(UGRC) articulates the relevance of the principles of gender equality and
equity to the development process through information gathering and
dissemination, capacity building and advocacy.
It empowers communities, particularly women, to know and enforce their
social, political and economic rights through legal education and provision of
legal aid services. In matters of Legal
aid UGRC focuses on offering legal representation and counseling in cases of
domestic violence land and property rights, inheritance, divorce child
maintenance and custody.