Consultancy: The Impact Of Litigation Fees On Women’S Access To Justice In Mena

  The Impact of Litigation Fees on Women’s Access to Justice in MENA 18 April 2017 and draft 3   1. BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE In partnership with leading civil society organizations, Oxfam is implementing a three-year project aiming at enhancing women’s access to justice in the Middle East and North Africa region. The project builds on successes achieved during the first phase and includes individual project components in Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen and Egypt, in addition to a regional component focusing on networking and policy and advocacy with regional institutions and civil society.   The overall aim of WAJ II is to contribute to equitable access to formal and informal justice for poor and vulnerable women in the targeted countries, with a focus on personal status laws relating to divorce, child custody, inheritance. While the immediate objective is to enable poor and vulnerable women to claim their rights using formal and informal justice systems, partners and Oxfam designed activities to tackle four levels of intervention: the individual (personal) level, community level, policy level, and the regional learning and networking level. The limited affordability of legal services and litigation for women is one of the main factors causing the limited and inequitable access of poor and vulnerable women to justice, which is the key problem addressed by this project. The cost of legal services in target countries is too high for poor and marginalised women; taking into consideration the cost of registration and lawyers, in addition to the “hidden costs” that constitute also a significant financial burden on women. During phase I of the project, Oxfam commissioned a research report titled “Women’s Access to Justice in MENA Region, Challenges and Recommendations” to assess the impact of legal fees on women’s access to justice in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Yemen. The main findings showed that poor and vulnerable women have weak “access” to justice as a result of absence of legal education as well as absence of needed administrative structures within religious courts to assist women as they initiate legal procedure. In many cases, they can’t afford legal process either due to high court registration costs or extremely high lawyer fees (with Yemen waiving case registration fees for all and the Maronite court of Lebanon providing partial waivers based on assessment of poor status of women). None of the four countries subsidizes pro-bono lawyers for personal status and family law cases, though they are provided for defendants of criminal cases. Legal procedure is effectively controlled by judges and court clerks. Significant delays in legal procedures do take place for several reasons including low number of judges, irregular attendance of judges and deliberate delay in issuing sentences as the judge tries to solve the problem amicably or to convince litigants to drop the case. Delays in implementation of court sentences were also cited as “procedural deficiencies” that sometimes discourage women from following legal procedures. Lastly, social pressure surfaced as one of the leading reasons that prohibit vulnerable women from access to justice. In this context and based on the project’s Midterm Review recommendations, Oxfam is commissioning a research to understand the impact of the cost of legal services on women’s access to justice, with a specific focus on personal status and family matters. The research will focus on Lebanon (Tripoli and Mount Lebanon), Jordan, Egypt and Yemen. The purpose of this study is to have information on the current situation of legal fees in each country, surveying the existing financial mechanisms with a focus on formal / governmental and informal / hidden costs; and exploring the causes of high costs and long duration of personal status and family law-related cases.   2. AUDIENCE AND USE OF FINDINGS   The research will be used by Oxfam and implementing partners as a reference on current practices in the area of women’s access to justice especially in terms of Personal Status and Family laws. Additionally, the findings and recommendations will be disseminated to three main categories: the media for increased awareness and visibility, legal stakeholders for awareness and mobilization, and civil society organizations for use a premise for future legal empowerment programmes for women. Finally, the study will also be presented in national and regional workshops including the project closure conference.   3.  RESEARCH OBJECTIVES   The research will explore the impact of the cost of legal services on women’s access to justice in MENA, with a focus on personal status / family laws.      It will provide insights on the links between the accessibility, effectiveness and affordability of legal procedures within the formal justice system. Specifically, the research shall, in each country: -          Analyse the current legal situation (procedures and payments for placing and following up a case in terms of Personal Status and Family Law). -          Survey the existing financial mechanisms, with a focus on both formal and informal costs. -          Explore the causes of high costs and long duration of personal and family law-related cases.   -          Suggest recommendations for action at advocacy level to Oxfam and partners.       4. RESEARCH QUESTIONS Below are the proposed research questions, to be refined by the selected consultant in collaboration with Oxfam   Accessibility 1 What are the relevant departments/sections charged with personal status and family related cases in each of the targeted coun­tries? 2 What are the existing mech­anisms dealing with women cases in terms of personal status and family laws? 3 Are there special mechanism and assistance services for poor and vulnerable women?  (i.e. exemption from fees, appointment of a pro-bono lawyer, etc) Effectiveness 1 What are the administrative and judicial procedures dealing with women cases in terms of personal status and family laws? 2 Who are the influential actors involved in the administrative and judicial procedures? 2 What are the factors determining length of administrative and judicial procedures within courts? And how do these factors determine the cost of the lawsuit? Affordability 1 What is the cost to an individual woman engaging in each step of the legal system for a personal status law case? What is the cost breakdown, including the cost of filling a lawsuit and ongoing expenses? 2 Where do costs accrue and who bear which costs (i.e., governments, courts administrative, clerks, etc...)?   3 Are there obstacles to free/low costs services? If yes, what are they? 4 How do costs affect women and their willingness to go through the judicial process? What implications, if any, does this have on women’s rights and gender justice more broadly (e.g. in terms of women’s agency to financial independence etc)?   5. SUGGESTED RESEARCH METHODS   The research approach is qualitative. It is exploratory and descriptive. The choice of the approach is justified as it enables Oxfam and partners to gain in-depth understanding of the perspectives of different individuals and organizations who bring cases to the religious (spiritual , sharia’ and family courts) and the extent to which court fees are a factor in their decision making and access to justice.   The research will involve different stakeholders in targeted countries. Below is suggested methodology:   1 Literature and desk review for legal fees, procedures describing the cycle from the stage of placing the case until obtaining not only the court sentence but the actual right. 2 Key Informant interviews with relevant stakeholders. 3 Focus group discussion with women. 4 Testimonies from women / or case studies    6. ETHICS AND RISKS   Ethics -          The contracted research team must agree and sign up to Oxfam’s ethical research guidelines. -          Interviews should be conducted with respect to cultural sensitivity of the interviewees and based on a clear consent. Interviewees should be informed about the nature of the research, who is conducting it and for whom.   Risks Management: Risks: Mitigation Strategy: Challenges with approval of the research implementation by Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation (MOPIC) in Yemen. Oxfam will work with partner in Yemen to initiate consultations with MOPIC as soon as possible to expedite the approval process.  The existing legal platforms and stakeholders such as court officials, Bar Associations, justice ministries, are not supportive of the research and not interested in collaboration with the research team. -          Oxfam and partners in countries to explore all potential avenues for the data collection. -          Partners to rely on individual relationships with relevant stakeholders based on opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation. For example, approach the courts' employees, and lawyers who are engaged in project activities. Shrinking CSO space in Egypt and termination of partner’s activities in end of December 2016.   RGJP team will initiate discussion with Oxfam Novib about potential plans and partners to conduct the research in Egypt. Oxfam will take into account the sensitivities around foreign NGOs work and  gender justice in the country.     7. KEY SOURCES AND PEOPLE TO BE CONSULTED   People -          WAJ programme management team.(Oxfam RGJP and COs). -          WAJ partners: JWF & LECORVAW (Lebanon), ARDD-LA (Jordan), YWU (Yemen), and CEWLA (Egypt). -          Relevant stakeholders in targeted countries: judges, court officials, lawyers, relevant ministry/authority, and Women’s Rights experts. -          Women in targeted countries   Sources -          WAJ II baseline -          WAJ I research     8. STYLE AND LENGTH OF REPORT / RESEARCH PRODUCTS*   The final report should be between 30 pages at most (excluding appendices and graphs with an executive summary of 4 pages. It should be written in a professional, accessible, reader-friendly style. Arguments should be well supported by evidence, and all sources should be well documented.   The report is expected to include both national and regional-level findings and recommendations.     9. TIMETABLE The duration of the research process shall be of three months with milestones and timeframe to be agreed on with the consultant.       OUTPUTS DATE DUE FORMAT 1 Inception report / first draft proposal for the implementation of the research including research questions and methodology.  5 days from date of contract   2. Final research questions and methodology as per Oxfam and partner comments.   + 3 days from receiving the feedback on the draft Document (electronic) 3. Draft literature review and data collection tools (detailed questions for field work) + 3 weeks from date of contract Document (electronic) 4 Final data collection tools incorporating Oxfam and partners’ feedback.   + 1 week from receiving the feedback on the draft tools Document (electronic) 4 Jordan: Field work Yemen: Field work Egypt: Field work Tripoli / Lebanon: Field work Mount Lebanon: Field work 5 days in each country   (Field work dates will be set in agreement with partners and country offices.) Meetings 5. Draft report of the research.  (Oxfam and partners’ feedback will be provided within 10 days after the submission of the draft report in English). + 2 weeks from completion of field work Document (electronic) 6. Final Research Report (in English). The final report will be produced in one week (7 days) following date of submission of comments. It will include changes/modifications, agreed between Oxfam, partners and the consultant. + 1 week from receiving feedback on the draft report. Document (electronic)     10. RESEARCH MANAGEMENT -          Main contact point for this assignment shall be Women’s Access to Justice, Phase II project manager.   -          Review of deliverables and submission of comments will jointly be done by partners, Oxfam Country Offices in targeted countries, Regional Gender Justice Lead and WAJ Project Manager. -          Each partner will have a research focal point to consolidate partner feedback on the deliverables and report any issues arising from the research process and progress to research manager. -          The field work will be carried out in the different areas selected by the research team in collaboration with Oxfam’s country offices. Oxfam’s country teams in the four countries will provide logistic support to help the research team arrange meetings with target actors, partner organisations, stakeholders or other key informants. -          Regular meetings may be held with the consultant(s) to clarify queries or pending issues.   11. QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED   Oxfam is looking for a team of researcher or a team of researchers with strong record in conducting research on issues related to gender justice in MENA. Specific skills and competencies we seek include: -          Graduate degree in sociology, gender, international development, law or related subject. A relevant Master's degree is required as a minimum; -          Minimum of five years practical experience in conducting researches on gender justice-related issues. -          Demonstrated experience in producing high-quality research reports in English for international organisations essential -          Demonstrated experience in conducting a political economy analysis in the MENA region preferred -          Familiarity with issues related to gender equality and legal protection in MENA required; -          Familiarity with legal and social context in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, and Yemen; -          Knowledge of issues related to legal protection and Personal Status and Family laws across the region; -          Fluency in Arabic and English (written and spoken) essential – at least one member of the research team to be fluent in Arabic     12. GUIDELINES FOR DOCUMENTATION OF RESEARCH   In order to use the research findings in publications and campaigns, you should provide full information and documentation of the sources used so that these can be substantiated.   The final report(s) must provide endnote references for all specific facts and statistics used. The report(s) must also include a bibliography of the major references used. Please see the Oxfam Style Guide for guidance on reference formats.   Primary sources must be used wherever possible over secondary sources. For example, the researcher should reference a statistic to its original report, not where it is cited second-hand by a newspaper or website.   If people have been interviewed in the course of the research, the interview notes should be submitted, signed and dated.   If quantitative analysis has been done as part of the research, the raw data should be provided, and all steps of calculations shown, in relevant software.   If Internet sources have been used, a printed out page from the website showing the cited facts and the date the page was viewed should be included with the documentation. It is important to have documented proof of the content, since web pages are often updated or removed.