Oct 30, 2015

Written By Catherine Dunmore, International Arbitration Lawyer, Hogan Lovells International LLP

A tale of two women: a case study on the pro bono of Oxfam Lawyers Against Poverty

Oct 30, 2015

Written By Catherine Dunmore, International Arbitration Lawyer, Hogan Lovells International LLP

Launched on 18 June 2015, Oxfam Lawyers Against Poverty is a collective of lawyers who identify crucial legal projects that will aid the poorest and most vulnerable people.

These lawyers pool their combined skills and funding to give individuals greater knowledge of their rights, and provide the access to justice that will help them break free from poverty.

Oxfam focuses on the economic and legal empowerment of rural women in Tajikistan, because these communities are some of the poorest and most disenfranchised in the region.

Heavily reliant on remittances, the Tajikistan male population regularly migrates to Russia for work – leaving women behind to manage and provide for the households.

Literacy rates are dropping in rural communities, and greater assistance is needed to support the country’s legal profession, including through education.

Following her recent visit to Tajikistan with the new organisation Oxfam Lawyers Against Poverty, Catherine Dunmore, an international arbitration lawyer in Paris, provides an insight into life as a lawyer in Tajikistan.

By following the story of Zanjira and her client Najbiddinova, she explores the challenges they face and the impact of Oxfam’s work in the country.

Zanjira Avliyoeva: Working as a lawyer

After having obtained her diploma, Zanjira worked for eight years as a lawyer. Today, she works in the region of Vaksh in the south of Tajikistan. She works alone, operating a mobile legal clinic to offer advice to the villagers in Vaksh.

During these visits, Zanjira advises around three or four clients a day, the majority of whom are women. Sometimes, she even gives advice while the women work in the fields.

With the support of Oxfam, she also organises workshops on matrimonial rights and access to justice in order to educate women in these communities on their rights. Although she works alone, when Zanjira has a legal problem she cannot solve, she contacts her old colleagues in the private sector to ask their advice.

Most of the cases in the legal clinic concern land or family disputes. Zanjira represents her clients on these issues before the Tajik courts as well as during mediation proceedings.

Becoming a lawyer

Zanjira completed her law studies at the Tajikistan University of Technology in Dushanbe. The main legal subjects in Tajikistan include criminal law, constitutional law, international law, forensic science, court procedures, finance law, transport law, human rights law and comparative law.

In Tajik law faculties, around 30% of the students are women. In order to standardise the national level, the country recently introduced national exams for entry into legal studies. However, the fact that the exams are in Russian is an obstacle for women because at the moment the quality of Russian language studies is reducing.

Consequently, it is very difficult for women, particularly those coming from rural communities, to access universities. To combat this problem, the Government recently created a programme to encourage women to pursue their university studies, by providing bursaries to allow access to several universities in Dushanbe.

Najbiddinova Bibiniso: Zanjira's Client

A recent client of Zanjira is Najbiddinova, a woman who is not only the head of the community, but also head of a group of eighteen female rural producers supported by Oxfam, as well as an assistant nurse at the local hospital.

Her husband, a migrant worker (like an eighth of Tajikistan's population), was killed seven years ago in Russia.

As their marriage was never registered, Najbiddinova does not have the right to access important documents such as his death certificate.

As a result, she was caught up in a legal battle with her brother-in-law regarding the inheritance of her husband's property.

Now, she and her children risk finding themselves homeless. Unregistered marriages are common in Tajikistan and after a divorce or the death of a husband women often have no official legal status, leaving them without property rights, alimony and even custody of their children.

In this context, the fact that pro bono work has recently become obligatory for all lawyers in Tajikistan is an interesting development that may help provide more assistance to women like Najbiddinova.

A key objective of Lawyers Against Poverty in Tajikistan is to put in place a twinning project, which aims to link female Tajik lawyers with lawyers in Europe in order to exchange ideas and find solutions together.

They aim to strengthen the skill set of Tajikistan’s lawyers by sharing best practices and supporting legal education development. This twinning project between lawyers around the globe will be the first of its kind.

Students can contribute to these projects and support Oxfam's work ensuring access to justice and putting an end to poverty. Students can join Lawyers Against Poverty and help steer its strategic direction, have the opportunity to vote for legal projects, volunteer with us, join a Working Group on specific legal areas, carry out research and attend events.

www.oxfam.org.uk/donate/lawyers-against-poverty

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