What is Central American Legal Aid?
Central American Legal Assistance (CLAC) is a legal services provider that focuses on the unique needs and challenges faced by immigrants from Central America. This initiative was developed out of the recognition that the current administration has made numerous attempts to impact the lives of Central Americans, putting many in dire need of legal protection. Additionally, Karen Grisez, Co-Managing Partner of Dean & Associates LLC, and others specializing in Central American asylum work found the need to harness the expertise of lawyers across the country willing and able to represent, for free, Central American asylum seekers.
As a service of Dean & Associates, the Central American Legal Assistance Center will work closely with pro bono partners such as law schools, FIRM, several non-profit organizations, and several private lawyers who share our zeal for providing legal services to Central American asylum seekers .
As members of the FIRM network, CLAC recommends FIRM members refer asylum seekers looking for assistance and strategy development to us. We do not take referrals from asylum seekers directly. If you have been referred to us by someone else, we will need you to have the person who referred you to us contact us to provide a brief overview of their discussion with you. Once CLAC has heard from the individual who referred you, we will have you submit an online questionnaire to learn more about you and your case.
Once we have a better sense of your case, we can match you with a trusted legal partner near you. The Central American Legal Assistance Center does not select the attorney who will be representing you, nor will we seek to represent you ourselves. In either case, we work hard to connect you with the best possible resources.
The Significance of Legal Aid in Central America
The importance of legal aid in the Central American context cannot be overstated. In a region where the rule of law is often undermined by corruption and weak judicial systems, legal assistance serves as a vital tool for ensuring access to justice for citizens. Migration, human rights abuses, land disputes, and organized crime are just a few of the legal challenges that many Central Americans face on a daily basis.
In recent years, the phenomenon of migration has become a pressing concern for virtually every country in Central America. Due to factors such as violence, poverty, and persecution, thousands of migrants and asylum-seekers attempt to traverse the region in search of safety and security. For these individuals, immigration laws and procedures can be both confusing and overwhelming. Without legal counsel, many face the real possibility of detention or even deportation, leaving them vulnerable to manipulation and exploitation at every turn.
Human rights abuses remain another common legal issue in the region; numerous reports show that victims of domestic violence, trafficking, and sexual exploitation are often left without the necessary resources to combat their abusers. In addition, the political crisis in some countries has made it nearly impossible for victims to seek protection from the authorities. In some cases, corrupt officials collude with powerful groups to deny justice to complainants or threaten consequences for those who dare to speak. As a result, many victims of violence choose to remain silent, despite their clear legal entitlements to pursue justice.
Land disputes also present a significant legal challenge for some communities. Many indigenous groups, as well as other individuals and families, can lose their land to external parties through eviction, purchase, or coercion. Once stripped of their land, residents may find themselves without any means of subsistence. Legal aid organizations in the region work to ensure that local populations receive proper documentation, enabling them to remain on their land without fear of eviction.
Despite the many obstacles to justice, there are a number of legal aid organizations in Central America working to defend the rights of citizens and promote the rule of law. Through advocacy, litigation, and public education efforts, these institutions fight against corruption and secure positive outcomes for their clients. Central Americans in search of legal support should take advantage of the many online resources available to them.
Categories of Legal Service
The types of legal services offered and the organizations involved in providing them vary depending on the target client and the nature of the alleged rights violations. Existing networks that help connect migrants to important legal resources include the Belize InterAgency Trade and Investment Commission (BITC) and the Nicaraguan Commission on Human Rights in Costa Rica. One type of service many NGOs provide is pro bono legal advice to migrant and refugee communities. Other groups provide representation in court for specific cases and offer training to law students and law school clinics. Organizations including Alianza Americas, CISPES, Mexican Coalition for Human Rights, and many U.S. and Central America-based law school clinics also contribute to these efforts.
Pro-bono legal advice is a critical service offered by many networks throughout Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. In Honduras, the Rectory of the National Autonomous University of Honduras in the City of El Progreso has a group of volunteer law students available to provide free legal advice. The students’ work is overseen by a legal professional. The domestic office of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) advocates for innovative programs that can help students provide free legal assistance, such as law school clinics. UNHCR estimates that there may be upwards of a million Hondurans in the U.S., but with the increase in the expulsion climate, more people with any possible vulnerability should be advised to seek legal representation.
Another type of service offered by specialized groups is representation for victims of human rights abuses or those in need of precautionary measures to attend college or work. In Guatemala, no organization currently offers legal representation in civil cases. However, six organizations and law school clinics offer representation for persons detained who are seeking asylum. These include the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission in Chicago, Hogar Immigrant Advocates, the Office of the Public Advocate, the law clinics at Harvard Law School and Duke University School of Law, and De Paul University School of Law’s International Human Rights Law Clinic. In El Salvador, a journalism clinic at the Central American Institute of Business Administration provides general pro bono legal representation for journalists.
In some cases, a non-profit organization will participate in litigation on behalf of a larger group of people. For instance, on August 25, 2017, the Central American Institute of Business Administration in San Salvador took the case of two Salvadoran men who were kidnapped in 2007, shortly after moving to the U.S. The Institute and two other NGOs represented the men before the Inter-American Court on Human Rights, but only one of the men returned to testify. On August 2, 2018, the Court ordered the Salvadoran State to pay $450,000 over the dispute.
Several organizations working across Central America, including Alianza Americas, CISPES, Mexican Coalition for Human Rights, and the Coalition of Central American Health/Legal Rights have organized forums and workshops with the aim of providing guidance to migrants on their legal rights. In 2016, the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) also published a complete report on Central American migration, containing information on the rights and protections under international and regional human rights law applicable to migrants and refugees.
Challenges of Providing Legal Aid
The provision of legal assistance to those in need in Central America is not without its challenges. Overworked and under-funded legal aid organizations do not have the capacity to take on all cases referred to them. Political instability across the region makes stability of funding for these sources of legal aid difficult. Finally, many times there is a cultural distance between the volunteers or lawyers providing legal aid and the legal aid recipients that prevents the attorney from fully understanding the situation faced by the client or the client from understanding the legal advice given to him or her.
How to Obtain Legal Aid
Central Americans in need of legal assistance should take the time to find reliable resources and organizations. Many Central American countries offer free legal assistance or services to the residents and nationals of Central American nations. To access the proper legal assistance, individuals should seek non-profit organizations and governmental entities that specialize in the legal representation of these communities.
A good starting point is the Consulate of the country where the person who needs assistance resides. Individuals should go to their local consulate to see whether they can provide them with referrals to qualified lawyers, legal aid, or local bar associations. Many central American consulates will have lawyers on staff, who may be able to render assistance to Central Americans in need of legal help.
Another option is to contact the local bar association. In all Central American countries, there is bound to be a local bar association. The bar association should have contacts in the community and should know who the best legal aid organizations and private lawyers are . They will in turn be able to refer you to a reliable source.
Technology is another reliable source. Many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have websites with links to other organizations. Examples include the Coalition for the Rights of Immigrants of Greater New York, which provides valuable information for immigrants; Human Rights Watch, which sheds light on human rights issues in Central America; and the NAACP, which has a Latinx Rights Center. Individuals can also just pay a visit to an organization’s website to see what services it offers and how to access its services.
Many of these organizations will ask for proof of residency (in order to exclude non-residents from services), but don’t worry if their application forms require such proof. You can meet this requirement by showing your immigration receipts (if you’re an immigrant), rental or sales agreements, bills in your name, or even just old datelines from newspapers that show your residency.
The Role of International Organizations
International organizations also play a fundamental role in the provision of legal assistance services. Some of the organizations that have contributed to this initiative include the United Nations Development Program, the Organization of American States, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the International Organization for Migration.
The recent emergence of strategic alliances between international agencies and national governments has bolstered the impact of these groups. For example, small-scale projects such as the Promotion of Comprehensive Citizen Security project (a partnership between the Government of Guatemala and with funding from the United States Agency for International Development) provide legal assistance and training to legal aid centers, promoting the idea of just, peaceful, and inclusive societies. In Honduras, GIZ-The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GmbH) GmbH, a federally-owned enterprise of the German Government, collaborates with the Hondureña de la Niñez y Adolescencia (Honduran Institute for Children and Adolescents) to implement a Family Protection and Justice Centers project that seeks to create partnerships and mobilize resources to unify efforts in providing legal assistance to victims of domestic violence. The Pan-American Development Foundation, an organization within the Organization of American States, has played an essential role increasing the legal aid capacities of several countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean though its regional initiative, Referentes en Accio. This initiative enabled low- and middle-income individuals and other vulnerable populations throughout the region access high quality free legal assistance and improved their overall access to justice by directly supporting legal-oriented civil society organizations and institutions that serve those in need.
Success Stories and Case Examples
Legal assistance has made a significant difference in Central America through the implementation of innovative projects and by assisting those who would otherwise go unassisted. Among the success stories is a joint project run by Legal Aid Foundation and Ayuda which provides free legal counselling services in justice centres in the poorest parts of Honduras. Staff lawyers from the Ayuda are located in justice centres run by the Honduran Ministry of Justice, which detain 14,000 adults and 1,300 minors of whom 65% have no defence. The project was set up to tackle the backlog in criminal cases in Honduras, where there is a 92% vacancy rate in the prosecutor’s office and innocent people waste years of their lives.
While the project operates out of just a handful of locations currently, the impact of successful models like this could have much wider reaching effects in the region. In Guatemala, a project funded by the EU supports legal help desks in rural areas . Run by the Guatemalan Bar Association the help desks operate in police stations, courts, public prosecutors’ offices, and local councils. The legal services are free of charge and are used by 4,300 people every year. A review by IWPR found that 70% of users of the service were women and 30% were children. The most common reason for people seeking legal advice was to resolve civil disputes, whilst other areas covered by the desks include administrative matters, family breakdown and land rights and inheritance disputes. Legal aid is key to giving people living in poverty fair access to justice. In El Salvador, vulnerable members of society are often imprisoned without trial, this encourages corruption as the judicial system fails to uphold fair trial standards. In response, legal reform took place which improved the way people accused of crimes are treated by the justice system. Legal Aid Foundation’s El Salvador country programme provides a range of legal support, including training lawyers to provide representation for inmates in prison settings.