Leonardo Blair, Staff Reporter
SEVERAL LOCAL lawyers and international legal experts are expected to beef up support for the Access To Information (ATI) Act which came into effect in January this year.
The lawyers, who have organised themselves under the Volunteer Attorneys Panel, met for a workshop at the Courtleigh Hotel on the weekend to look at several key issues concerning ATI Appeals Tribunal Rules and ensuring that Jamaicans are aware of their rights to information under the law.
The panel of lawyers was formed through a collaboration between the Carter Centre, the Independent Jamaica Council for Human Rights and the Jamaican Bar Association. It's aim is to represent low-income clients and non-profit organisations in their access to information cases before the Appeals Tribunal and the courts.
HIGH QUALITY REPRESENTATION
Volunteer attorneys will assist clients to access and assert their rights; provide high quality representation in cases under the Access to Information Act; ensure that there is an appropriate mechanism to enforce the rights established by the law; and help establish strong jurisprudence related to this new right.
The service will be provided on a pro bono basis for those who would not otherwise be able to afford legal representation, allowing all people to have effective representation before the administrative and court system band enforce their right to access government held information.
The panel of volunteer lawyers will consider cases based on: public interest in the information requested; the need for court interpretation of any vague sections of the law; the incapability of a person to afford the costs of representation and the provision of assistance to civil society organisations.
