FORUM-ASIA member in Mongolia, the Center for Human Rights and Development (CHRD) organised a training on Public Interest Strategic Litigation among lawyers, advocates and human rights activists from 27-29 March, 2006, in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
This was done in partnership and with the support of the Open Society Forum Mongolia and Global Rights. This training is part of a project for promoting strategic human rights advocacy among Mongolian non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
FORUM-ASIA member in Mongolia, the Center for Human Rights and Development (CHRD) organised a training on Public Interest Strategic Litigation among lawyers, advocates and human rights activists from 27-29 March, 2006, in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
This was done in partnership and with the support of the Open Society Forum Mongolia and Global Rights. This training is part of a project for promoting strategic human rights advocacy among Mongolian non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
The training is designed to provide:
- practical understanding and knowledge to Mongolian lawyers and human rights activists on public interest strategic litigation;
- to introduce domestic legal mechanisms on public interest strategic litigation in Mongolia and international human rights law and procedures;
- analysis of public interest litigation court cases in Mongolia, highlighting challenges.
After the training, participants were expected to develop a plan on building networks among lawyers and advocates on public interest strategic litigation cases for the future.
CHRD and its partners aim to equip human rights activists and lawyers with a broader use of the litigation process and promote human rights that are guaranteed in the new 1992 Constitution of Mongolia.
Legal reform after democratic change
Since democratic change in Mongolia, an entire legal reform process is going on and many laws have been changed and newly adopted to follow new constitutional principles.
However, the public is seriously concerned about the current situation of implementation of law and independence of the judicial system.
Human rights and the public interest are being violated because of the inadequate functioning of the judicial system, lack of knowledge and understanding of judges on human rights and rule of law and absence of implementation of law provisions.
The situation becomes more evident when human rights issues around gold mining exploration activities and land privatisation worsen and the affected people start to protest against social injustice and denial of their rights.
Several social movements have been formed to protect the rights of these people and express their concerns on issues like their right to live in a safe environment, right to livelihood and the right to a fair trial.
They have done so by organising public demonstrations and releasing statements. However, most of the movement’s leaders think that they need to use more strategic actions such as appealing to the courts in order to restore their entitled rights.
Conducting strategic litigation cases is quite a new type of activity for human rights organisations and lawyers. A few cases have so far been conducted to protect human rights and the public interest through the court litigation process.
Towards more strategic litigation cases
However, these cases have often failed because of the lack of important components of conducting effective litigation cases inside and outside the courtroom, including not mobilising public support, training staff to give them the required strategy and knowledge, and building cooperation and networking with other NGOs and groups.
Another important lesson was the lack of follow-up action. Therefore, the participants were expected to obtain knowledge about essential components of effective strategic litigation cases and learn the lessons from past activities.
CHRD and its partners believe that the training will help to generate more strategic litigation cases which will eventually contribute to new constitutional human rights principles taking root, eliminate legal barriers that hinder or oppose human rights, increase public awareness of human rights, as well as create a culture in which government and private entities respect and enforce human rights and values
