Feb 23 (InfoLanka) The Legal Aid Foundation (LAF), of the Bar Association in coordination with the lawyers of the Vavuniya Courts would be conducting a Legal Aid Rally and Clinics in IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps in Vavuniya tomorrow from 9.30 a.m.to 2.30 p.m.
The Legal Aid Foundation Chairman S. S. Wijeratne and coordinator of the UNHCR/LAF Legal Aid Project in Vavuniya, Senior Attorney K. Sittampalam, would address the legal aid rally explaining the services available to the war-affected people to resolve their legal problems.
The Legal Aid Centre of Vavuniya Courts was established in August 2001 with the support of the UNHCR. During the past 18 months, the Centre, comprising three full-time lawyers and a panel consisting of all the members of the Vavuniya Bar has provided an invaluable service to the internally displaced persons in the North and East Provinces.
They were assisted by para-legal officers to obtain the basic documentation such as identity cards, birth, death and marriage certificates lost during the war and legal aid lawyers appear free of charge for all the war affected to vindicate their property rights as well as for litigation on maintenance, divorce and damages.
The LAF works under the principle of "Work for Justice will result in Peace" and has established legal aid centers in addition to Vavuniya in the principal towns of Jaffna, Point Pedro, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Kalmunai, Ampara, Mannar and Puttalam districts and in Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapura in the North-Central Province and plans to extend further to Mullativu and Kilinochchi from next month.
