Making Justice Happen: Ibj Fellowship For Innovative Criminal Justice Projects

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26th January 2010, 03:30pm - Views: 705






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MEDIA RELEASE PR38017


Making Justice Happen: IBJ Fellowship for Innovative Criminal Justice Projects


GENEVA and SINGAPORE, Jan. 26 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --


    In support of efforts to curb legal abuse across Asia, International

Bridges to Justice (IBJ) this week launches its second JusticeMakers

Fellowship Competition.


    The Competition, opening January 27, is open to applicants who have

concrete, achievable ideas to promote and foster criminal justice and rule of

law initiatives. Each winning Fellow will receive USD5,000 to implement his

or her project. The winners will also participate in a week-long intensive

training course in Singapore.


    The 2008 IBJ JusticeMakers Fellows started a paralegal training program

for Filipino prisoners and a juvenile justice program in Pakistan, among

other projects. IBJ CEO and founder Karen Tse sees IBJ JusticeMakers Fellows

as critical to protecting the basic legal rights of ordinary citizens. "We

are getting people around the globe working to end torture and ensure legal

rights."


    The IBJ JusticeMakers Fellowship Competition is hosted on the IBJ-run

website, www.justicemakers.net. Ms. Tse said the website had been integral in

"connecting people around the world with the international legal community."


    A panel of judges from various parts of the world will choose seven

Fellows from among the applicants. An eighth Fellow will be chosen by a

public rating process that allows people registered on www.justicemakers.net

to evaluate each proposal.


    IBJ will fund the 2010 Asia JusticeMakers Fellowship Competition through

an i3 Challenge grant from the Lien Centre for Social Innovation at Singapore

Management University. In a related project, IBJ is establishing the

Singapore Justice Training Center (SJTC), which will become a key regional

institution for training lawyers, judges, and police to safeguard legal

rights. The SJTC will focus its efforts on training legal practitioners from

Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, among Southeast Asian countries.


    About International Bridges to Justice

    IBJ (http://www.ibj.org) is a non-profit organization founded in 2000

with a vision to end torture in the 21st century through justly implementing

criminal laws. IBJ's experience shows that providing legal counsel at the

earliest stages of defense can protect the rights of the accused. IBJ's

JusticeMakers program demonstrates the potential market principles have for

the human rights sector- that a large number of small investments can spark

creativity and potentially be a mechanism for ending torture.


     SOURCE: International Bridges to Justice


    CONTACT: Sanjeewa Liyanage of International Bridges to Justice, 

      Phone: +41-22-731-24-41, 

       Cell: +41-76-234-21-34, 

             sliyanage@ibj.org



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