UNAFRI recently organized its fifth international conference via Zoom, with a focus on the French-speaking countries in Africa. This meeting aimed to foster the exchange of ideas, the sharing of knowledge, and navigate the latest developments regarding the "access to justice for all and legal aid in the criminal justice systems in French-speaking Africa and the Maghreb region." Through their professional interventions, the speakers demonstrated that both in the African French-speaking countries and the Maghreb region, legal aid is recognized in state legislation, in accordance with international community recommendations. However there are concerns regarding the weak organization and insufficient funding. Notably, lawyers are inadequate in the various states and are mostly concentrated in major cities, making it problematic to defend litigants in remote up country areas. And even where lawyers are strongly represented, they show little interest in defending the weaker parties due to insufficient funding for their professional services. In some cases, states resort to legal representatives or simple jurists to address the shortage of lawyers, which does not always guarantee the quality of assistance. Others turn to private providers, particularly NGOs on Human rights, with mixed results.
 

To address the funding problems of legal aid, some states resort to development assistance, but this solution remains precarious since, in case of cessation of aid, the consequences affect the beneficiary litigants.

The legal aid systems in African French-speaking countries and the Maghreb region deserve to be reconsidered both structurally and in terms of their financing. Funding anchored on state budgets constitutes a guarantee of stability, provided that these budgets are substantial. However, budgetary expenditures related to justice do not always constitute a priority for states, especially in this time of widespread instability and the global fight against terrorism. In any case, the African Court of Human and Peoples' Rights holds that the state cannot use lack of financial resources as a factor to deny legal assistance to an accused person prosecuted for a serious crime.

Following these observations, experts have proposed many solutions for improving the provision of legal aid in the African French-speaking countries and the Maghreb region to facilitate access to justice for disadvantaged groups.

UNAFRI expresses profound gratitude to all participants, speakers, and partners for their valuable contributions to this enriching and interactive experience.