We wanted to provide a brief update on the work of the Center this semester. Every semester the Center for Global Justice student staff completes legal projects for other organizations.
Currently, we are working on a number of important projects, and we welcome your prayers for each. The projects are listed based on the organization for whom the project is done and the human rights issue that it covers:
- International Justice Mission/Rule of Law, Domestic Violence, & Land Grabbing:IJM works in Uganda to protect women from violence and to protect widows and children from the scourge of land grabbing. We are drafting two legal memoranda that will aid IJM in this work. The first memo relates to the proper procedures for prosecuting domestic violence cases and how to obtain custody of children. The second memo provides legal analysis on how various common law countries handle the question of prosecuting a defendant for multiple offenses arising out of the same conduct.
- Kyampisi Childcare Ministries/Rule of Law & Protecting Children:KCM works to combat child sacrifice in Uganda. This past summer, the Center sent three interns to work with the Director of Public Prosecutions. Our interns informed the DPP of one child sacrifice case that the Center has worked on previously and noted potential legal defects in the trial against the witch doctor. After reviewing the file, the DPP, with the help of our students, drafted a legal appeal. The court recently agreed to hear the appeal. We drafted a legal memo for KCM and our other partners on why the case should be overturned and a new trial should be granted against the witch doctor. We will provide ongoing support as the case progresses.
- Uganda Christian University/Protecting Children:Uganda is considering making abortion legal in certain circumstances. The Center is drafting a policy paper in conjunction with Uganda Christian University that argues why Uganda is not legally obligated to change its abortion laws and neither should it change its abortion laws as a matter of policy.
- Shared Hope/Sex Trafficking and Protecting Children:
Shared Hope works to combat the sex trafficking of children in the United States. One of the ways it does this is through the Protected Innocence Challenge, a 50-state survey that comprehensively reviews the laws of every state and makes recommendations on how each state can and should improve its laws as they relate to sex trafficking. We are helping Shared Hope update the PIC by conducting a 50-state analysis of how state trafficking laws criminalize conduct of victim-offenders (i.e., trafficking victims who are forced to traffic other women) and the consequences of being convicted (e.g., sex offender registration).
- Justice Ventures International/Human Trafficking:
Justice Ventures International fights sex and labor trafficking in India. JVI often provides legal assistance to non-profit organizations that provide employment and services to trafficking victims. To aid these organizations, the Center is putting together a legal toolkit that explains all the steps involved in creating a non-profit corporation.
- Turkey Project/Religious Freedom:
The Center is working with key partners in Turkey to draft a short booklet/legal memo that explains the legal situation regarding religious freedom in Turkey. Although in theory a secular country, Turkey is becoming more and more Islamic, and Christians are facing persecuting. The Center is drafting a booklet that will educate the Turkish on what Turkish law actually says and inform Christians of their rights.
- Alliance Defending Freedom/Religious Freedom:ADF works to defend religious freedom in Europe. The Center monitors all new cases before the European Court of Human Rights to help ADF determine whether it wants to intervene in certain cases.