Lawyers help rule of law in war torn countries

Three Rivers District Council is helping to foster good governance and respect for the rule of law in the developing world by sending much-needed law books to war torn countries in Africa and Asia. The District Council has over the past five years sent almost 300 law books to the Statute Law Revision Society, based in London. These are for distribution in countries such as Bangladesh, Iraq, Nepal, Sierra Leone and Uganda, most of which are in the British Commonwealth. The books are drawn from recently superseded stock in the Council's Legal Department.

The citizens of the countries receiving the books are keen to return to peace, and develop economic and social stability, by looking at modern British law. In most cases, their own legal systems are based on British law developed during the last 200 years or even earlier. Many of these countries suffer from electricity shortages and poor access to the internet, so lawyers have to rely on hard copy. There is also very poor distribution and access to existing resources, including shortages of their own country's law books, and so English law books are extremely useful to fill in the gaps.

Three Rivers District Council lawyer Sally Evans said:

"The District Council is always looking for meaningful ways to reach out with effective support to communities in need. Developing countries with very poor legal infrastructure find it very hard to make any headway. This programme is an effective way of helping to make a real difference".