Human Rights Office, Projects and Progress

The Legal Services Department

Much of the work that PAHRO does involves case work and we have a growing number of clients who visit our office daily for assistance. The legal services department is coordinated by Maria Mulindi who will be on hand to assist you at each stage. Types of cases range from human rights violations, assistance with asylum seeker/refugee status or permanent residency to education, healthcare, maintenance, divorce matters and also cases in which clients have suffered with xenophobic attacks and police brutality. All volunteers, whatever their background, are given the opportunity to take on cases and assist clients provided they feel confident to do so. Those less confident are given the option to work alongside the more experienced volunteers, allowing them to still be involved in Legal Services. Otherwise they are encouraged to dedicate their skills to our Social Justice sector.

The work volunteers can expect to be involved in when working with our legal services department includes consulting with clients and carrying out research for the pre litigation stage of case work which involves writing legal opinions with the result of preparing cases for court.

Here at PAHRO we have formed a partnership with the South African Human Rights Commission which refers some of their cases to our office. This is a great opportunity which some of our more experienced volunteers are able to get involved with.

As well as the in office legal work there are options to get involved in other activities within this department which will take you out of the office. These include: