International Bridges to Justice

For more than ten years, IBJ’s innovation has been persuading police and justice officials to provide the accused with access to lawyers as early in the legal process as possible. With this model, IBJ has proven that defense attorneys, trained and provided with the appropriate support, are the key to unlocking the full potential of the human rights revolution that the world has witnessed this year. In China, IBJ trained over 2,000 police officers in investigative techniques to reduce their reliance on coercive and abusive practices to compel confessions. After two years of working to change the mindset of public officials in Burundi, IBJ heard its own rights-awareness slogan, “Freedom is the Rule, Detention is the Exception,” cited in the announcement of a presidential decree releasing 1,300 prisoners from custody. IBJ has helped dramatically reduce the incidence of torture in Cambodia, handling over 1,000 cases and reaching 6.5 million people through a national radio-driven public awareness campaign. In Zimbabwe, a country with one of the worst custodial death rates in the world, IBJ saw five of its pre-trial detainee clients die while on remand. In the wake of such tragic injustice, IBJ has persuaded Harare judges to waive bail altogether for many of the poor criminal defendants we represent. Inspired by IBJ training in Rwanda, several dozen lawyers banded together under the leadership of IBJ’s Fellow to initiate an organic movement within the legal profession to freely provide pro bono representation to impoverished criminal defendants. In India, a country where five people die every day in police custody, IBJ conducted the first national defense training for legal aid lawyers in partnership with the government’s legal aid authority, reaching lawyers in all 28 states. IBJ’s JusticeMakers Fellows in Asia, Africa, and Latin America are implementing innovative criminal justice reform projects, expanding IBJ’s reach to nearly three dozen countries in 2011. In February 2011, in conjunction with the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs, IBJ conducted the first ever training for justice officials and lawyers from countries that comprise the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). In 2010, IBJ launched the Legal Training Resource Center, the first website to offer free criminal defense training for defense lawyers in developing countries. In addition, IBJ launched the Criminal Defense Wiki, the first collaborative platform to offer legal information.