Gwawr Thomas has been invited to join the Detention ExPEERience Network, a panel of experts established and co-ordinated by the international NGO, Avocats Sans Frontières. The panel comprises lawyers, jurists and social scientists each with particular expertise in international detention law, and has been set up to provide technical assistance to ASF’s projects in Uganda and DRC addressing the over use of pre-trial detention. In DRC, 73% of the prison population is made up of pre-trial detainees, whilst Uganda’s prison population currently stands at 319% capacity, with 50% of inmates being unconvicted; many defendants spend several years in prison awaiting trial.
Avocats Sans Frontières works closely with local partners in each of the countries in which it operates to promote the development of institutions and mechanisms that facilitate access to justice and guarantee fundamental human rights. The Network’s activities include monitoring, training, advocacy and strategic litigation both in the domestic courts and before regional and international organs such as the African Commission, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the UN.
