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GHANA
Socio-Cultural Barriers to Pro Bono or Participation in the Formal Legal System
The Culture of providing free legal service is still developing in Ghana. Although most lawyers may from
time to time provide some free legal service, this is not a priority for many.
Pro Bono Resources
Local and International Non-governmental organizations (“NGOs”) provide some resources and support
for pro bono work in Ghana. Some of the key NGOs are HelpLaw Ghana, the Legal Resource Centre,
Women’s Initiative for Self-Empowerment, FIDA, CHIRAJ, The Ark Foundation and the Pro Bono Lawyer
Network (PBLN)
Help Law Ghana
HelpLaw Ghana provides free legal and related services to the poor and the less-privileged in
Ghanaian society. It focuses on representing indigent criminal defendants in criminal proceedings.
Legal Resource Center
The Legal Resource Center seeks to ensure human rights for all. It works towards the promotion and
protection of the rights to health, education, housing, work, participatory democracy, personal liberty
and criminal/civil justice. These are carried out through public human rights education, community
mobilization activities, legal aid, alternative dispute resolution services, action research, advocacy
and publication. Central to the Legal Resource Center’s work are the campaigns and projects for the
promotion and protection of human rights through innovative community mobilization strategies,
public interactive human rights education, lawyering techniques and research and advocacy at the
local, national and international levels.
Women's Initiative for Self-Empowerment ("WISE")
WISE provides support services, including legal aid, to women and children who have suffered
violence of any kind. WISE provides individual and group counseling services for survivors of
violence, as well as training in counseling and support for direct service providers. WISE set up the
WISE Wellness Centre in Accra to provide survivors of violence with counseling, medical, legal and
other socio-economic support services.
International Federations of Women and Lawyers ("FIDA")
FIDA has a free legal aid program for women and children who cannot afford legal services of any
kind. The scope of their legal aid includes counseling, settlement, mediation and court representation.
Although services are free, the recipients of the legal aid are usually required to pay filing fees
involved in prosecuting their cases before the courts.
Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice ("CHIRAJ")
CHRAJ was established pursuant to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice
Act, 1993 (Act 456). The functions of the CHRAJ are:
(a) to investigate complaints of violations of fundamental rights and freedoms, injustice, corruption,
abuse of power and unfair treatment of any person by a public officer in the exercise of his official
duties;
(b) to investigate complaints concerning the functioning of the Public Services Commission, the
administrative organs of the State, the offices of the Regional Co-ordinating Council and the District
Assembly, the Armed Forces, the Police Service and the Prisons Service in so far as the complaints
relate to the failure to achieve a balanced structuring of those services or fair administration in relation
to those services;
(c) to investigate complaints concerning practices and actions by persons, private enterprises and
other institutions where those complaints allege violations of fundamental rights and freedoms under
the Constitution;
(d) to take appropriate action to call for the remedying, correction and reversal of instances specified
in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) through such means as are fair, proper and effective, including: (i)
negotiation and compromise between the parties concerned, (ii) causing the complaint and its finding
on it to be reported to the superior of an offending person, (iii) bringing proceedings in a competent
court for a remedy to secure the termination of the offending action or conduct, or the abandonment