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WORKING FOR JUSTICE: THE ROLE OF PARA-LEGALS IN SOUTH AFRICA

NCJ Number
144342
Editor(s)
D Fine
Date Published
1990
Length
182 pages
Annotation
In the light of South Africa's system of apartheid which is seen as having been responsible for the administration of injustice, the need for trained legal advisors and community educators is addressed.
Abstract
As a result of apatheid, the vast majority of people in South Africa believe that their legal system does not work for their protection. They believe that in order to exercise one's rights, to get legal representation and to have access to social services, one must be literate, employed, rich and urban-based. A movement of community workers and volunteers has begun to emerge which has taken on the task of providing social and legal services to the poor masses of the people as well as educating the people about their rights. The term paralegal has been used broadly to describe these workers. The role paralegals have played, the role they will continue to play in South Africa's changing political, climate and the training of paralegals are addressed through the presentation of papers and workshop reports from a conference held in South Africa in July 1990. The need to change the way lawyers are trained so that they are more sensitive to community needs is another topic of importance to the conference participants. The experiences of paralegal workers in Namimbia and Zimbabwe are also discussed.

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