International Bridges to Justice

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Overview

International Bridges to Justice (IBJ) is a nonprofit organization founded to promote human rights in developing countries. IBJ supports the rule of law, good governance and equitable legal rights for all citizens by ensuring the implementation of existing criminal defense, justice and human rights legislation. By building fairer and more effective criminal justice systems, IBJ makes a positive impact on sustainable rule of law and directly deters human rights abuses before violations occur.

Mission

To guarantee all citizens the right to competent legal representation, the right to be protected from torture and the right to a fair trial. To this end, IBJ supports criminal defender and governmental legal aid efforts in developing countries through training partnerships, legal, administrative, and material assistance.

Program

IBJ’s Defender Programs aim to strengthen the practical skills of public defense lawyers, improve legal aid and public defender infrastructure and increase the awareness of basic legal rights among ordinary citizens. In practical terms, this means training public defense lawyers; providing practical “how to" manuals and website resources; mentoring individual defenders through specific cases; providing offices and equipment; organizing advisement-of-rights campaigns in police stations and prisons; and running awareness campaigns with prosecutors, judges and police. These activities serve to legitimize the role of the public defender in a balanced criminal justice system and ensure a fairer application of the rule of law to all citizens.

Impact

To date, defender trainings have been held in every province in China, reaching over 1,000 lawyers, providing Chinese legal aid attorneys with invaluable instruction in conducting client interviews, case investigation, building theories of defense and trial practice. IBJ’s “Rights of the Accused" Campaign has produced and distributed hundreds of thousands of posters and brochures detailing the fundamental right that every Chinese citizen has upon arrest. Similar inroads have been made into Vietnam, where IBJ hosted the first-ever public defender conference in April 2004, as well as in Cambodia.

Countries

China, Cambodia, Viet Nam

Contact

198 Tremont Street #447

Boston, MA 02116

Phone: (757) 221-7852

www.ibj.org

EIN: 31-1771358


Community

Sponsor A Lawyer

One day of training

International Bridges to Justice

Regular price $320.00

In countries where human rights are often violated, legal aid plays a crucial role: the most decisive indicator of the reduction of abuse and torture is the early presence of a defense attorney. By actively working with local legal aid offices and lawyers, we can prevent human rights abuses from ever happening. Training local defense lawyers is an important step to building fairer justice systems....


Support Legal Aid

One office computer

International Bridges to Justice

Regular price $930.00

In countries where human rights are often violated, legal aid plays a crucial role: the most decisive indicator of the reduction of abuse and torture is the early presence of a defense attorney. By actively working with local legal aid offices and lawyers, we can prevent human rights abuses from ever happening. Legal aid offices in developing countries often face resource problems that may prevent...


Equip Legal Offices

One month of support

International Bridges to Justice

Regular price $110.00

In countries where human rights are often violated, legal aid plays a crucial role: the most decisive indicator of the reduction of abuse and torture is the early presence of a defense attorney. By actively working with local legal aid offices and lawyers, we can prevent human rights abuses from ever happening. Legal aid offices in developing countries often face resource problems that may prevent...


Support Legal Aid

20 resource booklets

International Bridges to Justice

Regular price $80.00

In countries where human rights are often violated, legal aid plays a crucial role: the most decisive indicator of the reduction of abuse and torture is the early presence of a defense attorney. By actively working with local legal aid offices and lawyers, we can prevent human rights abuses from ever happening. 20 IBJ-authored legal aid reference booklets will go to 20 legal aid offices,...


Promote Human Rights

50 human rights posters

International Bridges to Justice

Regular price $45.00

In countries where human rights are often violated, awareness is a crucial issue. Often, detainees have little knowledge of their basic rights, such as the right to an attorney, the right to be protected from cruel treatment and the right to a fair trial. Our Advisement of Rights posters are printed in both national and regional languages, and distributed in legal aid offices, police stations...


Train A Defender

One hour of mentoring

International Bridges to Justice

Regular price $35.00

In countries where human rights are often violated, legal aid plays a crucial role: the most decisive indicator of the reduction of abuse and torture is the early presence of a defense attorney. By actively working with local legal aid offices and lawyers, we can prevent human rights abuses from ever happening. Training local defense lawyers is an important step to building fairer justice systems....


Support Lawyers

Legal defender toolkit

International Bridges to Justice

Regular price $15.00

In countries where human rights are often violated, legal aid plays a crucial role: the most decisive indicator of the reduction of abuse and torture is the early presence of a defense attorney. By actively working with local legal aid offices and lawyers, we can prevent human rights abuses from ever happening. Your donation will provide a IBJ-authored Legal Defender Toolkit that will be a...