Justice For All Organization

About JFAO:

Justice for All Organization is a non-governmental, non-political and non-profit organization established on 13 March 2008. JFAO has been officially registered with the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan’s Ministry of Economy since 2008.

Justice for All Organization consists of a General Assembly, a Board of Directors, an Executive Board, a Director and Deputy Director, financial and executive administrators, and other administrative departments.

JFAO is led by Afghan women; our staff are thus intimately aware of the challenges that Afghan women face and the most effective ways to solve them. What sets JFAO apart is our focus on advocating for women’s rights through the law; this approach serves the dual purpose of rebuilding the justice system, a vital institution that has been decimated by years of war, and also empowering women.

The charter of the organization has been prepared and approved by lawyers. Professional judges and lawyers with judicial experience in Afghanistan make up JFAO’s General Assembly, Board of Directors and the Executive Board. MahfuzaFolad, who holds a BA in Law and Political Science, is the Director of JFAO.

JFAO Vision:

To see a peaceful, secure and prosperous Afghanistan where the rule of law is respected, where democracy is institutionalized, where all people have access to justice, education, economical opportunities, social justice, cultural development, fair health and political rights, where each person is treated fairly and equally before the law, where each person has the right to a fair trial, and where all humanitarian principles and basic human rights are observed. We want to see a society where Afghan women are equals of men in all aspects, have basic human rights, and have the opportunities to pursue education and career without facing discrimination or violence. 

JFAO’s Mission: 

Justice For All Organization aims to strengthen the rule of law by increasing access to essential rights, through the provision of free legal services (by different programs) provision of economic vocational trainings and production, health measurements, social and cultural programs, advocate involvement of women in the political participation, build capacity of women to become leader, providing legal education for people. JFAO aims to seek justice for victims of human rights abuses, particularly focusing on the rights of women, disables, children, and the indigent. JFAO seeks to end violence and discrimination against women and girls in Afghan society, advocate for disables and to increase the economic, political, and social status of Afghan women.

JFAO’s Goal: 

JFAO's goal is to promote the rule of law by increasing the efficacy of the Afghan justice system, improving access to quality in all aspects and empowering future women leaders within Afghanistan in all sectors.

Objectives:

• Provide the opportunity for access to fair justice for people, especially vulnerable women children and disables.  
• Increase knowledge and struggle for equal rights of people on their social, economic, legal, health, education rights as well as political rights.
• Struggle to strengthen and stabilizing the rule of law by ensuring that justice is upheld at all times.
• Document the main sources of legal conflict in Afghanistan; propose legal solutions that institutionalize public legal systems and promote the law as the principal avenue for conflict resolution.
• Provide opportunities empowering Afghan women economic situation and status.
• Seek health service and psychology facilities for women. 
• Increase public awareness of fundamental rights, particularly within area of women’s and children’s rights.

 JFAO’s Programs:

• Providing access to justice opportunities through providing free legal aid, free legal counseling, mediation, reintegration, family and psychological counseling, gender focal point and other activities related to violence against women, and cases related to vulnerable and indigent women and children.
• Struggle to strengthen the rule of law through establishing fair trials and ensure social justice, combating corruption and injustice through various programs such as setting up pressure groups on government, laws reform, advocacy programs, and setting up jury committees in the courts, and other related activities.
• Identifying the causes of violence and conflicts, struggling and striving to eliminate and mitigate this phenomenon through research programs, surveys, evaluations, lawmaking, and reforms of laws and policies, advocacy programs at national and international levels, and other related activities
• Providing vocational training and job opportunities for clients and other vulnerable and deprived children and women through creating vocational centers and activities such as tailoring, carpet weaving, embroidery, painting, sculpture, handicrafts, computer other electrical and technical equipment repair training, computer training, driving training, marketing, and exhibitions and etc.
• Providing health facilities such as psychology, psychiatric services and first aid.
• Striving to aware people of their legal right, including the right of having a defense lawyer, cultural development, social, economic, political and health development, through creating a grassroots groups, seminars, conferences, workshops, mass media, and publications such as manuals, posters, brochures, pamphlets, and other related activities at central and local level and remote areas of the country.

Impact and Achievements:

• One major and long-term impacts of our activities in the society is promoting having a defense lawyer that every person must have a lawyer to defend their legal and religious rights in front of justice and judicial sectors.
• Institutionalizing demand for right and raising voice for the purpose of restoring their infringed right.
• Change in the perception of people, especially defendant, that a defense lawyer is defending the client's legal right and are not defendant's enemy, but it is his or her legal responsibility to defend the rights of people.
• Changes in the mentality of the judicial and justice sector that initially regarded defense lawyers as their competitor, whereas now regard them as good fellow and part of the judicial team, and even in absence of defense lawyer they do not open their judicial sessions. If in a case there was no defense lawyer present, Justice and judicial sector will seek a defense lawyer from organizations and the government.
• The society persuasion that to demand the right and not to be oppressed is a religious principle, and they are religiously required to obtain their right and defend against oppression.
• People’s awareness of their religious right, as previously their rights have been violated daily, and they had chosen silenced. The rise in the number of cases of violence is not only due to an increase in violence, but it is also people’s awareness.
• In the past, referrals to courts and litigation in courts were considered as shameful, especially for women, however today women can do advocacy at all trial stages and stand against any oppression.
• Another achievement is that informal justice (referring to Jirga and tribal decisions) is gradually replaced with formal justice (referring to courts and adherence to laws). This change reflects strengthening of the rule of law that forms one of the most important goals of this organization.
• The women were deprived of their inheritance altogether; they thought they had no possession of any property of the father and the husband. In many cases, women's right to inheritance has been conducive to domestic violence and even led to family killing, but now the situation has changed and women have come to realize that inheritance is their legal right and must be accessed.
• Advocacy programs, overseeing functions of the justice and judicial sector, have restricted areas of abuse in the courts and to a certain extent have facilitated justice. The advocacy programs led to the enactment of the Law on the Elimination of Violence against Women. With the approval of the law, women rights violators and perpetrators of violence against women were prevented, and some of whom were powerful and were prosecuted and punished.