leitner center events, Leitner Human Rights Speaker Series: Kwaku Agyeman-Budu, Law Lecturer, Law School of the Ghana Institute of Management & Public Administration- Access to Justice and Legal Aid in Ghana

Leitner Human Rights Speaker Series: Kwaku Agyeman-Budu, Law Lecturer, Law School of the Ghana Institute of Management & Public Administration- Access to Justice and Legal Aid in Ghana
April 3, 2018 12:30PM - 1:30PM
Location: Room 3-09, Fordham Law School, 150 W. 62nd Street, New York, NY 10023
Contact: LeitnerCenter@law.fordham.edu

Speaker: Kwaku Agyeman-Budu, Law Lecturer, Law School of the Ghana Institute of Management & Public Administration

Access to justice is the foundation upon which other fundamental human rights are made possible. Today, the international community increasingly acknowledges access to justice as a universal principle and a right that should be equally enjoyed around the world. If the right to equal access to justice is to be universally realized, then indigents who are unable to afford legal counsel also need the right to be afforded a lawyer by their government. Ghana’s Constitution guarantees many fundamental human rights including the right to legal representation. The Legal Aid Scheme Act, 1997 (Act 542) was enacted to further this constitutional right and regulate the grant of legal aid. The Act established the Legal Aid Scheme as an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Justice tasked with providing free legal services to any citizen earning at or below the minimum wage in a criminal matter, certain defined civil matters, and in cases where the Legal Aid Board determines a person requires legal aid. That notwithstanding, a high proportion of the population do not have sufficient access to justice, as there still remains challenges and issues that inhibit the Scheme’s ability to provide widespread legal assistance to the indigent population. This talk will reflect on some of the measures that have been undertaken by various stakeholders within the criminal justice system of Ghana to make justice more accessible to indigent criminal defendants.

 

Kwaku Agyeman-Budu is a lawyer by profession and a legal academic. Since January 2013, he has been a Law Lecturer at the Law School of the Ghana Institute of Management & Public Administration (GIMPA) in Ghana where he teaches Constitutional Law. In September 2013, Kwaku also established The Justice Foundation, an apolitical not-for-profit non-religious human rights organization, with the sole purpose of increasing access to justice in Ghana. Kwaku holds a Master of Laws Degree (LL.M) from Fordham University School of Law in the United States, where he graduated cum laude in 2012. Presently, he is a Doctor of Juridical Sciences (SJD) candidate at Fordham University School of Law, expected to graduate in May 2018. Kwaku is also the Deputy Director of the African Center of International Criminal Justice (ACICJ) at GIMPA Law School, Ghana.

 

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Leitner Center for International Law and Justice
Fordham University School of Law
150 West 62nd Street, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10023 USA

Email: LeitnerCenter@law.fordham.edu
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Corporate Social Responsibility Program, Leitner Center for International Law and Justice & Human Rights Compliance, Fordham Law School Compliance MSL Online Program
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