"It is against this backdrop of unsatisfacotry enforcement of fundamental human rights enshrined in the Constitution that the role of human rights NGOs in Ethiopia should come to the fore. Thus, apart from monitoring violations and conducting legal awareness programs, there is a need for human rights NGOs in Ethiopia to engage in public interest litigation with a view to facilitating the judical enforcement of fundamental rights representing those who, for various reasons, can not access courts. A number of reasons could be provided to justify why the South African system has been chosen for a lesson to Ethiopia. One reason could be the legal framework put in place to address issues of acces to justice in South Africa. Standing is a crucial question in any venture of public interest litigation. Section 38(d) of the South African Constitution entitles anyone acting in the public interest to approach a competent court and seek remedies when they feel that a fundamental right is infringed or threatened. This very liberal approach to standing is not common in many legal systems. For countries like Ethiopia where there is an extremely tight requirement of standing to institute civil proceedings in courts, such a liberal approach could be an inspiration. In addition to the guarantees given by the Constitution, in South Africa there exists a relatively advanced and dynamic system of subsidiary legislation that could facilitate the full utilisation of the constitutionally recognised rights of access to justice. More relevant to this dissertation are the human rights NGOs in South Africa that are engaged in human rights lawyering in general and public interest litigation in particular. Much could be learnt from the experiences of prominent human rights NGOs such as the Legal Resources Centre and Lawyers for Human Rights. In all, Ethiopia, where the activities of human rights NGOs have not yet gone further than the monitoring of violations and fragmented attempts of awareness raising campaigns, could indeed draw lessons from the South African experience in this regard. ... The study has five chapters. The first chapter deals with introductory matters such as objective, methodology and literature survey. In the second chapter, a working definition of the concept of public interest litigation, the rationale behind it, issues such as access to justice and locus standi will be discussed. The third chapter is devoted to the analysis of public interest litigation as employed in different legal systems. With a view to providing a broad perspective to the practice the cases of France, the United States and Canada are presented. However, the chapter will focus more on the Indian and South African systems, mainly because of the nature of the problems public interest litigation addresses in the two countries. There will be a fourth chapter dedicated to the examination of the existing legal and institutional framework in Ethiopia in light of the background presented in the previous chapters. The fifth chapter deals with the conclusion and recommendations aimed at pointing out the major lessons to be drawn to introduce public interest litigation in Ethiopia." -- Introduction. / Prepared under the supervision of Professor JR de Ville at the Community Law Centre, Faculty of Law, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2005. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:29:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ana Carvalho Ferreira Bueno de Moraes.pdf: 3164771 bytes, checksum: 40b65e67d760f930672036cb321fcbd8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-06-29 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This study investigates the performance of the Public Defense institution, in the search for actual access to courts. The principle of access to courts is the purpose of this work, which analyzes its hindrances and the ways to overcome them. Accordingly, the exposition discusses the right to free legal assistance, as established by the 1988 Brazilian Federal Constitution, as well as the addressees thereof, and the way to implement it through Pro Bono Lawyers. Thus, the institution of the Public Defense is carefully studied, through the analysis of its characteristics, principles, attributions and institutional bodies; prohibitions, guarantees, prerogatives and the responsibilities of the members of the Public Defense Office, as provided for in Complementary Law No. 80/1994 and in State Laws, with especial focus on Law No. 988/2006 of the State of São Paulo, since that legal instrument presented several novelties and advancements in the performance of the institution. Besides this, the study focuses on the performance of Pro Bono Lawyers in class actions. Finally, the work discusses extrajudicial performances, with emphasis on alternative means to settle conflicts (conciliation, mediation and arbitration), to be developed by the Public Defense Office, in addition to proactive performances of the institution in the education of the rights of the needy population / O presente estudo investiga a atuação da instituição da Defensoria Pública na busca pelo efetivo acesso à justiça. O princípio do acesso à justiça é o objeto deste trabalho, que analisa seus obstáculos e formas para superá-los. Nesse contexto, a dissertação trata do direito à assistência jurídica, consagrado na Constituição Federal de 1988, bem como seus destinatários e sua forma de implementação por meio da Defensoria Pública. Assim, a instituição da Defensoria Pública é cuidadosamente estudada, analisando-se suas características, princípios, atribuições e órgãos institucionais; vedações, garantias, prerrogativas e as responsabilidades dos membros da Defensoria Pública, previstos na Lei Complementar n. 80/1994, bem como em Leis Estaduais, com enfoque na Lei paulista n. 988/2006, uma vez que esse diploma legal apresentou diversas novidades e avanços na atuação da instituição. Ademais, o estudo aborda a atuação da Defensoria Pública nas demandas coletivas. Finalmente, o trabalho trata das atuações extrajudiciais, com destaque para os meios alternativos de composição de conflitos (conciliação, mediação e arbitragem) a serem desenvolvidos pela Defensoria Pública, além das atuações proativas da referida instituição na educação de direitos da população carente