Practical Guideline on Legal Aid for Persons with Disabilities in Criminal Justice

Practical Guideline on Legal Aid for Persons with Disabilities in Criminal Justice

February 18, 2020

"Persons with disabilities in Cambodia face various barriers when accessing justice and legal aid. The actors in the justice system do not have an adequate understanding of the rights of persons with disabilities and are not sensitized to any of their particular needs. Appropriate accommodations are not provided throughout each step of the justice process, with a limited existence of individuals who can provide direct support during the proceedings. The structural, procedural, and physical barriers often make the whole system inaccessible to persons with disabilities, whether they are engaging as a civil party or implicated as a person in conflict with the law.

This Practical Guideline was developed by the United Nations Development Programme and the Legal Aid of Cambodia as an easily comprehensible resource primarily for persons with disabilities, Disabled People's Organizations (DPOs), and lawyers, as well as other civil society organizations, service providers, criminal justice stakeholders, and community actors.

Part 1 explains the basic legal rights of persons with disabilities in the Cambodian criminal justice system, the basic legal process and actors in the system, and the method of accessing legal aid and interacting with lawyers, with a list of the available legal aid providers around the country provided in Annex 2.

Part 2 provides a set of eight guidelines for lawyers in providing lawyering that is inclusive of and sensitive towards persons with disabilities, based on good practices and notable standards. A table of the terminology to use and avoid with regards to the disability sector are provided in Annex 1, and a list of the DPOs in Cambodia is provided in Annex 3."