VULNERABLE persons within the LGBT community will now formally benefit from paralegal services offered by local human rights organisation, Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD).

The programme, known as the Community Paralegal Services Initiatives, was launched on Wednesday at SASOD’s Duncan Street office. According to the organisation’s managing- director and stand-in Human Rights Coordinator, Joel Simpson, “The intention of this initiative is to provide and address unmet needs of vulnerable groups and to strengthen the capacity of vulnerable populations to understand and act on their rights.”

He voiced that the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community is often subjected to discrimination and violence. Consequently, the body has sought to support all persons by providing substantive “pro bono” (or free) legal redress. The director related that the organisation has been providing these paralegal services, albeit less structured and more informal, for a number of years. But through funding received, SASOD has been positioned to combine the resources acquired over the years and provide these services in a structured way.

Furthermore, Simpson explained that the paralegal initiative seeks to address “complex rights abuses” such as inter-partner violence, societal discrimination, domestic abuse, child sexual abuse and family violence.
The programme also aims to work alongside other non-governmental organisations to develop a network that refers cases to provide pro-bono assistance by way of rights’ awareness and legal redress to the vulnerable groups. There is also scope for individual police stations to receive sensitisation through the organisation’s homophobia education programme, since there have been alleged “issues” in LGBT persons reporting abuses to police officers.

Despite its merits, the programme is however challenged by the number of lawyers providing the redress. As noted by SASOD Board Secretary and Attorney-at-Law, Mishka Puran only five Guyanese lawyers are currently providing free legal services. As such, Puran highlighted SASOD’s call for more lawyers to join the network.