INARA Legal Aid Services

INARA Legal Aid Service (INALAS) was founded by independent lawyers in February 2009 in the city of Kigali. The organization seeks to provide legal representation and aid to marginalized people throughout Rwanda, for little or no cost to the clients. It began to implement its activities in April 2009 by undertaking a Legal Assistance Programme. The organization operates solely through the work of its founders and volunteers, who contribute their time and money to the cause.

Legal representation, assistance, and advice by qualified counsel are important parts of any legal system. Providing these legal services to marginalized populations is a challenge that all societies based on the Rule of Law face. These challenges are only magnified for the poor in developing countries. It is everyone’s duty to defend and protect the rights of these vulnerable populations living in these areas. With this is mind, INARA Legal Aid Service has been founded to ensure equal access to justice and legal representation for all peoples living in Rwanda.INALAS attempts to address the relative inaccessibility to legal aid services for these communities through a variety of legal avenues.

The organization also serves as a site of advocacy for these categories of the population, through targeted interactions with government authorities to discuss the formation of a concrete legal aid policy for these communities in both civil and criminal matters. The current project, “Legal Aid to Indigent Population and Vulnerable Groups,” aims to promote access to legal aid for indigent people and vulnerable groups, particularly women and children.

Currently, INALAS has open hours from Monday to Friday from 8 am to 16 pm, where individuals are welcome to meet with the Coordinator and head legal representative of the organization, Jean-Claude Rwibasira, and his colleagues to share legal concerns and possible cases.

INARA Legal Aid Service (INALAS) is a non-governmental, non-profit, and non-political organization. The Ministerial Order n^o38/0811 of 03/04/2010 granted legal status to the Association “INARA LEGAL AID SERVICE” and approved its legal representatives.