LEGAL LITERACY

What is legal literacy? By Advocate Shikha Garg. 

Legal literacy refers to the understanding of basic legal concepts and the ability to navigate 

legal systems effectively. It involves being aware of one’s rights, obligations, and 

responsibilities under the law, as well as understanding how to access and use legal resources. 

Legal literacy is important for individuals in everyday life because it empowers them to make 

informed decisions, seek justice, and protect themselves from legal pitfalls. 

Key areas of legal literacy may include:

1. Basic Rights and Freedoms: Knowledge of human rights, civil rights, and other 

protections under national and international law.

2. Legal Terminology: Familiarity with key terms used in contracts, legal documents, and court proceedings.

3. Understanding Legal Processes: Awareness of how legal procedures work, such as the steps in filing a case, responding to a legal dispute, or appealing a decision.

4. Consumer Protection Laws: Awareness of laws related to consumer rights, such as product safety, service guarantees, and dispute resolution.

5. Contracts and Agreements: Understanding the essentials of contracts, including what makes them legally binding and how to read and interpret agreements.

6. Access to Justice: Knowing where to seek help when involved in legal matters, including how to approach courts, legal aid, or mediators.

What role does organisation play in legal literacy?

Organizations play a vital role in raising awareness about legal literacy by educating the on their legal rights, responsibilities, and how to navigate legal systems. Their roles can be outlined in several key ways:

1. Education and Training: Many organizations, including NGOs, government bodies, and community groups, offer workshops, seminars, and training programs aimed at improving legal literacy. These programs often cover a variety of topics such as basic rights, how to access legal services, and how to understand legal documents.

2. Outreach and Advocacy: Organizations help amplify the message of legal awareness through outreach initiatives. These can include public campaigns, media coverage, and community events. Such efforts are aimed at reaching a broad audience, particularly marginalized groups who may not otherwise have easy access to legal information.

3. Resource Distribution: Organizations provide resources such as pamphlets, websites helplines, and mobile apps that make legal information more accessible. They may also provide guides for specific legal issues, such as family law, labor rights, and consumer rights, ensuring that individuals have easy access to the information they need.

4. Legal Aid and Support: Some organizations directly offer legal aid to people in need. They might offer pro bono legal services or support in filing complaints, understanding contracts, or challenging unlawful practices. These services help people understand the legal options available to them.

5. Collaboration with Legal Institutions: Many organizations partner with legal professionals, law schools, or government agencies to promote legal literacy. These partnerships can result in more structured programs, advocacy for law reforms, and the development of resources that improve legal access for all citizens.

6. Community Empowerment: By focusing on local communities, organizations can tailor legal awareness campaigns to address specific regional or cultural needs. This ensures that the information provided is relevant and applicable to the local population, empowering them to make informed decisions and take action when necessary.

7. Promoting Legal Reforms: In addition to raising awareness, organizations also work toward policy and legal reforms that make legal systems more accessible and transparent, and ensure that vulnerable populations are not excluded or disadvantaged by legal complexities.

What role does citizen should play to spread legal awareness ?

Common people play a vital role in promoting and achieving legal literacy in several ways:

1. Self-Education: Individuals can actively seek information about their rights, local laws, and the legal processes that may affect them. By using available resources such as books, online platforms, and community programs, people can educate themselves about important legal concepts like property rights, labor laws, family laws, consumer rights, and more.

2. Spreading Awareness: Once educated, individuals can share their knowledge with others. They can discuss legal topics in their communities, educate friends and family about their rights, and help others recognize when they might need legal assistance. This creates a ripple effect, reaching more people with valuable information.

3. Participation in Legal Outreach Programs: Many NGOs, community centers, and even government initiatives offer free or low-cost legal literacy programs. Common people can participate in these programs, and by doing so, they become more aware of legal processes and can encourage others to attend as well.

4. Engagement in Community Legal Discussions: Communities can hold public meetings or workshops with legal experts to discuss laws that impact daily life, such as consumer rights, domestic violence laws, or labor rights. Involvement in these discussions makes legal knowledge more accessible and ensures that people know where to go for help when needed.

5. Advocacy for Legal Education in Schools: Citizens can advocate for the inclusion of legal literacy in school curriculums, ensuring that future generations grow up with a solid understanding of their rights and legal processes. This kind of education helps create an informed and empowered society.

6. Using Legal Aid Services: If a person feels disadvantaged in navigating the legal system, they can take advantage of legal aid services. By learning how to access free or affordable legal help, they not only address their personal needs but also become more aware of how others can do the same.

7. Influence on Policy: When citizens become knowledgeable about legal matters, they can advocate for policies that increase access to legal information for all members of society. This can include pushing for laws or initiatives that make legal resources more available, affordable, and accessible to marginalized or underrepresented groups.

8. Ensuring Fairness in Legal Processes: A legally literate public is less likely to be taken advantage of by legal processes. When people know their rights and how the legal system works, they can hold authorities accountable and ensure justice is delivered fairly in cases of discrimination, unfair treatment, or exploitation

Dropout because of child marriage in India

 

Dropout because of child marriage in India!

Of the over 21,800 girls who had dropped out of school before the 2019-20 school year, just over 13% girls did so as they were required for house work and almost 7% did so as they were married off even though child marriage is illegal

Early marriages and chores at home are key reasons why girls drop out of school, The National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-21) indicates. Of the over 21,800 girls who had dropped out of school before the 2019-20 school year, just over 13% girls did so as they were required for house work and a lmost 7% did so as they were married off even though child marriage is illegal. When it comes to paid work, the percentage of boys who dropped out for work is higher when compared to girls. A total of 21,851 girls and 20,084 boys had dropped out of school before the 2019- 20 school year.

How does child marriage affect education in India?

Child marriage ends childhood.  It negatively influences children’s rights to education, health and protection. These consequences impact not just the girl directly, but also her family and community.

A girl who is married as a child is more likely to be out of school and not earn money and contribute to the community. She is more likely to experience domestic violence and become infected with HIV/AIDS. She is more likely to have children when she is still a child. There are more chances of her dying due to complications during pregnancy and childbirth. Estimates suggest that each year, at least 1.5 million girls under 18 get married in India. Nearly 16 per cent adolescent girls aged 15-19 are currently married.

While the prevalence of girls getting married before age 18 has declined from 47 per cent to 27 per cent between 2005-2006 and 2015-2016 it is still too high.

The significant progress in the reduction of child marriages in India has contributed to a large extent to the global decrease in the prevalence of the practice. The decline may be the result of multiple factors such as increased literacy of mothers, better access to education for girls, strong legislation and migration from rural areas to urban centres.  Increased rates of girls’ education, proactive government investments in adolescent girls, and strong public messaging around the illegality of child marriage and the harm it causes are also among the reasons for the shift.

How does child marriage affect health?

A girl who marries early is more likely to give birth before her body is ready, presenting complications that will jeopardize her health for the rest of her life.

Impact of child marriage on Indian economy

Due to dropouts because of child marriage  many students lose opportunity to earn money and raise economy of India. Child marriage negatively affects the Indian economy and can lead to an intergenerational cycle of poverty. Girls and boys married as children more likely lack the skills, knowledge and job prospects needed to lift their families out of poverty and contribute to their country’s social and economic growth. Early marriage leads girls to have children earlier and more children over their lifetime, increasing economic burden on the household.

Child marriage is estimated to cost economies at least 1.7 percent of their GDP. It increases total fertility of women by 17 percent, which hurts developing countries battling high population growth. As per IRCW study, the welfare benefit in ending child marriage is estimated to be $22.1 billion globally in the first year (2015). This number increases to $566 billion annually by 2030, for a cumulative welfare benefit of more than $4 trillion. Considering how one out of three such marriages happen in India, this impact is huge on India. Decreased household sizes would lead to an increased availability of funds which then could be used to pay for food, education, health care and other expenses for other members of the household.

Child marriage and mental health

Five of the studies included in our review estimated the effect of child marriage on various aspects of mental health. These studies relied on cross-sectional data collected from Ghana, Iran, Ethiopia, Niger and the United States. Women in the United States who married before the age of 18 were more likely to report experiencing a wide range of mood, anxiety, and other psychiatric disorders in adulthood when compared to those who married at later ages .The authors of a small study from a single county in Iran found that women who married as children reported more depressive symptoms than those who married at the age of 18 or older .John, Edmeades, and Murithi examined the relationship between child marriage and multiple domains of psychological well-being in Niger and Ethiopia . The authors found that marriage before the age of 16 was correlated with poorer overall psychological well-being, but no evidence that marriage between the ages of 16 and 17 was associated with poorer outcomes when compared to women who married at the age of 18 or later . In Ghana, child marriage seemed to protect against measures of stress. The Ghanaian study also found no indication of differences in levels of social support between women who married before the age of 18 and those who married after their 18th birthdays, though these odds ratio estimates were very imprecise

How to stop it ?

Contact a women cell of local police. ...

File for Domestic Violence under PWDW Act. ...

Contact National commission for women. ...

Contact a lawyer. ...

Suit for annulment of marriage in district court or family court.

What to do if you do not live in India?

If you want to help kids in India and stop child marriage you can donate to our organization and we will do everything we can to stop child marriage in India

HEEALS organization

We believe that by starting small and working with one community at a time, we can begin to make changes that will spread gradually throughout India, all the while working hard to create and maintain a self-sustaining society. We aim to facilitate the fulfilment of the millennium development goals, set out by the United Nations, by ensuring that every household in India has unimpeded access to proper WASH facilities.

Heeals was built by a core team of committed executive committee, the member and staff member, who collectively have extensive experience in rural, urban and social development in India. Most of the founding staff is working voluntarily or semi-voluntary.

Email:communication@heeals.org

Whatsapp: +91-7982316660

Written by Kenenbaeva Janyl

We are looking for CSR /Companies and Organization To Support Our Projects. 

Volunteer /Internship Program Is Open.

Used resources:

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/girls-drop-out-of-schools-due-to-early-marriage-house-work/articleshow/92195487.cms

https://www.vowforgirls.org/aboutchildmarriage?gclid=Cj0KCQjwi7GnBhDXARIsAFLvH4lQXFqdBIWjUXs4wcnUnnKC3TWbL4I9EuP7is6CX3SoOpYH5bKARhkaAv84EALw_wcB

https://www.insightsonindia.com/social-justice/issues-related-to-children/child-marriage/impact-of-child-marriage-on-indian-economy/

https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-022-12707-x#:~:text=Women%20in%20the%20United%20States,at%20later%20ages%20%5B21%5D.

https://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-3584-family-pressure-of-marriage-on-daughter-and-indian-laws-.html

Wishing you all a very Happy Ambedkar Jayanti.

On April 14, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s birth is commemorated as Ambedkar Jayanti or Bhim Jayanti, observed every year on April 14. In recognition of Ambedkar Jayanti essential contribution to the Indian legal system and constitution, the day is marked every year. In the Canadian province of British Columbia, the day is also known as ‘Ambedkar Equality Day.’

On April 14, India commemorates the birth anniversary of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, the country’s first law minister. The day is known as Ambedkar Jayanti. Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar is widely regarded as the founder of the Indian Constitution. Under his presidency, the constituent assembly drafted the world’s longest written constitution, which is now known as the Indian Constitution.

He was a staunch opponent of the caste system, and he worked tirelessly to get it eliminated from society.

He was constantly in sympathy with the underprivileged, and he fought tirelessly to improve women’s lives, laborers, and untouchables, among others. Dr. Ambedkar was a scholar in various subjects, including political science, law, and economics, and an erudite social reformer and prominent orator. Dr. Ambedkar was also a social reformer, economist, and influential orator.

He envisioned an India in which all people are treated equally under the law. He became a leading advocate for India’s independence from British control, leading to the formation of the Indian National Congress.

This Ambedkar Jayanti, let’s pledge to stand against discrimination and fight inequality.

He was the man who fought against discrimination and oppression. He was the epitome of confidence and dedication. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar will always inspire us to dedicate our lives to making other people’s lives better.

“Political tyranny is nothing compared to the social tyranny and a reformer who defies society is a more courageous man than a politician who defies Government.”

Be A Part Of Our International Internship /Volunteering/Volunteer travel program At HEEALS Please Contact Us At : communications@heeals.org Please Come Join Us!

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We Request To All The People To Help and Support Our Work .

Please Donate / Support Us In Anyway You Can. Spread Share Support #HEEALS Donation Details Are Below:

DONATORS LOCATED IN INDIA Account Number: 002101200566 Bank: ICICI Address: ICICI, Gurgaon Branch Sco-18 & 19 Sector -14, Huda Shopping Center. Gurgaon -122001 RTGS/NEFT IFSC CODE: ICIC0000021

INTERNATIONAL DONATORS Please email: communications@heeals.org Forward this message to your contacts to help this campaign reach its goal! Thank You

A Spotlight on Democracy

A Spotlight on Democracy

The unprecedented COVID-19 crisis has resulted in major social, political and legal challenges globally. As states around the world adopt emergency measures to address the crisis, it is critical that they continue to uphold the rule of law, protect and respect international standards and basic principles of legality, and the right to access justice, remedies and due process.

UN Secretary General António Guterres has urged governments to be transparent, responsive and accountable in their COVID-19 response and ensure that any emergency measures are legal, proportionate, necessary and non-discriminatory. “The best response is one that responds proportionately to immediate threats while protecting human rights and the rule of law,” he said.

States must respect and protect, among other rights, freedom of expression and of the press, freedom of information, freedom of association and of assembly. Concerns in many countries in the context of COVID-19 include:  

• Measures to control the flow of information and crackdown on freedom of expression and press freedom against an existing background of shrinking civic space.
• Arrest, detention, prosecution or persecution of political opponents, journalists, doctors and healthcare workers, activists and others for allegedly spreading “fake news”.
• Aggressive cyber-policing and increased online surveillance.
• Postponement of elections is raising serious constitutional issues in some cases and may lead to rising tensions.

The crisis raises the question how best to counter harmful speech while protecting freedom of expression. Sweeping efforts to eliminate misinformation or disinformation can result in purposeful or unintentional censorship, which undermines trust. The most effective response is accurate, clear and evidence-based information from sources people trust.

Around the world civil society organizations have answered the UN's call to action to address and counteract the wide range of ways the Covid-19 crisis may impair democracy and increase authoritarianism, by:

• developing media literacy and digital safety, more critical than ever as activism is forced online, so as to address the risk of suppression, interference and closing of civic space;
• fighting misinformation, disinformation and hate speech, which have mushroomed in the crisis;
• training journalists remotely to report on the impact of the pandemic with in-depth, fact-checked coverage, while staying safe on the front line;
• empowering women against gender-based violence, which has surged amid Covid-19 lockdowns, quarantines, and social and economic pressures;
• helping to highlight the challenges of inequality and weak service delivery made worse by the crisis, with specific focus on the needs and rights of women, youth, minorities and other marginalized populations, so as to help hold governments to account.

 

 Be A Part Of Our Internship /Volunteering/Volunteer travel program At HEEALS Please Contact Us At : communications@heeals.org Please Come Join Us!

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Kindly Donate To Sustain Our Work In Corona Pandemic

Donation Details Are Below

DONATORS LOCATED IN INDIA

Account Number: 002101200566

Bank: ICICI 

Address: ICICI, Gurgaon Branch

Sco-18 & 19 Sector -14, Huda Shopping Center, Gurgaon -122001                   

RTGS/NEFT IFSC CODE: ICIC0000021

INTERNATIONAL DONATORS

Please email: communications@heeals.org

“BETI BACHAO”- Save our girls.

“BETI BACHAO”- Save our girls.

 In honour of the International Day Against Woman Violence.

UN Women is coloured in orange during these 16 days. From 25^th of November to 10^th of December, in honour of the International Day Against Violence, UN women is going to give voice to all women and girls that have survived violence, launching the campaign #HearMeToo. Like UN Women there are many movements all over the world which have launched their shout against violence against woman: “#MeToo”, “TimesUp”, “#BalanceTonPorc” “#NiUnaMenos”, “HollaBack!” and “#MetooIndia”. With the purpose of celebrating this recurring event, I have focused my attention on women condition in Indian society, particularly on the different forms of violence that women have to face with in their society.

In Indian society it subsists a dominant patriarchal culture that is deeply entrenched and pervasive. This means that an effective implementation of a legislation based on gender equality, and a participation of women in shaping that, is influenced and restricted by the dominant cultural and social norms. The womensocial status is subjected to continuous gender stereotypes; whether in the media, in the community or in discourses by public officials, people denigrate and marginalize the woman identity and impact their social standing. There are women denied their rights to social goods such as education, health and social benefits, necessary for the fulfilment of the rights necessary for a life of dignity. Not only they are deprived of social goods, but also of their image. Women are led to fear their body. This assertion is related to the supposing protection from sexual abuse against women. People pretend that women don’t have a body especially any sexual part: no body, no harassments, and if they occurs, they are neglected or that woman has to be blamed.

According to a UN Woman report , the forms of violence against women are various: from physical or/and sexual intimate violence received by partner during the lifetime -estimated about 29% of girls and women- to lifetime non-partner sexual violence and in this case there aren’t available official national statistics, and in the case of child marriage the percentage of violence is around 27%.

First of all, most of the violence actions against women occur in the domestic context.Data of National Crimes Record Bureau show, in 2016, the rape of minor girls increased by 82% comparing with the previous year. Usually, the rapists for 95% are relatives, friends and neighbours, not strangers. The education of women social position has its roots in the family context, which is determined by the family’s point of view about woman social role. Mothers and daughters are continuously boomed by a very restricted patriarchal social vision also due to their socioeconomic dependency. The fear of socio exclusion and marginalisation lead to follow the father’s will or that of the family’s main male figure.

The socioeconomic dependency is also expressed by dowry payment: in that moment the bride becomes the groom’s property, and the payment consists in giving her, or her family property to her groom. This means that women and girls delate all that they are, leave their family to acquire that of her husband, no longer have an origin, have no possessions, depend entirely on their husband, become the property of their husband.Often women and girls are forced into a life of servitude experience, repeated act of harassment, intimidation, sexual abuse and violence, probably because the groom’s family demands more dowry. The same fate is submitted to victims of early and forced marriage. Despite the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006, the cases of child marriage are around 47% before the age of 10, depriving them of numerous human rights, such as the right to education and the enjoyment of their childhood. Moreover, a widow cannot access to the husband’s property, and the consequences can be: prostitution and hazardous labour for her children.However, if it occurs a refusal of the family choice, the family, with the complicity of community leaders, will feel authorized to assert themselves through what are called “honour crimes”. Furthermore, women and girls could be killed in the name of “honour” also for the family expected dress code. In this background, it is expressed the most devious denial of basic freedom as of movement and expression, because it has occupied the woman mind since her birth, so there’s no other alternative which can be conceived. Indeed, with regard the births, despite of the Prohibition of Sex Selection Act implemented in 1994, the son preference is still strongly-held. According to the 2011 Profile of Sanitation of Children in India (UNICEF), the decline of girl-child sex ratio is about 962 per 1000 males in 1981 while in 2001 is about 927. This declining means that families carry out a prenatal monitoring system which turn into sex-selective abortions.

As expressed above, violence against women has place also in the community context. According to data, in 2012 the estimated rape sexual harassment cases in public and private spaces were about 2.84, every hour.

Many women bear the signs of their dissent at the imposition of their marriage or have challenged the patriarchal norms or partner proposal.These signs include also scars of acid attacks, the most sublime form of possession, that disfigures the women figure, both as symbolic consequence of their dissent, and as incessant stigma. That leads to a widespread general sense of insecurity in public spaces, especially in urban setting, adding a debilitating sense of shame reported bysexual violence victims which involves social exclusion, isolation from community and family, up to suicide as extreme solution. In the community contest, UN have observed cases of violence based on caste-system, minority group, intra-caste hierarchies, they are clear signs of social submission of the weak. In this case, women don’t receive proper education, or are denied also economic opportunities, perform dangerous and un protected work (scavenging, bonded labour for debt). However, also women of religious minorities has to face with educational and employment exclusion, in addition at cases of burned or stripped bodies.

Analysing every social field treated by UN Women study, I could understand that in every single step of woman in the society there are cases of social denigration, sexual violence, psychological and physical abuses. Domestic workers, women with disability, transgender, sex worker, refugees, asylum seeker, low-caste and poorer women and political opponents are other frail categories of women, because they don’t also have protection infrastructures.

As a final consideration, Indian female population lives in a social context in which there are too many cases of violence and sexual abuse. Women reveal signals of psychological disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders, severe anxiety and psychosis. That makes their lives brittle and ripped and it is perpetual during lifetime.Family and social pressure binds woman to a permanent sense of fear of making mistakes, of not being pleaser, it means to be forced to fit in, to do what others want, and to never say no.Women are forced and trained to live in silence, to have no opinion about what they feel, no arguments to be discussed and commented, in this condition, it isn’t possible to have a minimal idea of women freedom, also if 42% of girls in the country have declared to be sexually abused (Indian Government Surveys) and many don’t have the strength to say it. Women as human beings have the right to enjoy freedom.We at HEEALS continuously striving towards “Beti Bachao Beti Padaho” campaign .

Elisa Stucchi

WASH & Intern coordinator 

Democracy Is In Your Hands !

The fact that India is the largest democracy in the world is known worldwide, but these "positive" connotations refer only to the number of inhabitants of the country, nothing else. It is still far from leading international democracies such as Norway, Denmark or Finland, which are more transparent systems that enjoy high levels of quality in education, health or way of transports. The global recognition to these countries would not be understood as decent and integral democratic models to follow without the importance of participatory democracy in their societies.

In these systems, democracy means more than depositing the vote every 4 years for the random candidate of the party in office where, in most cases, it promises things to achieve power and then forgets the problems of the people who voted for him. As Nikita Khrushchev said one time: "Politicians always do the same thing: they promise to build a bridge even if there is no river," and that is one of the problems that India is currently facing. This problem is linked to the lack of citizen participation in State policies. Being a democrat grants a series of basic privileges for any human being such as the right to freedom of expression, religion, health, education... but also establishes obligations as a citizen and a democrat, such as ensuring that policies are carried out necessary to improve their living conditions and therefore that the politician fulfills his work.

Democracy comes from the Greek word "Demos" and "Kratos". The first means "people" and the second "government". The policy should be conceived as a part-time profession of all citizens who want to get involved in it and not profit from it. The great advances of the history came from the hand of the citizen participation in social subjects like the pacific revolution of Gandhi, the “I have to dream” of Martin Luther King or the disobedience attitude of Rosa Parks.

The levels of water sanitation and hygiene in India are still deficient for the majority of the population. The improvements in this sector must be accompanied by the commitment of society in one of the basic services for the development of any human being.

HEEALS encourages the society participation in development and cooperation through his projects and workshops related to human rights and WASH. We believe that progress and water sanitation and hygiene must work together since they both affect the health conditions of the population. By performing these workshop to marginalized and vulnerable groups, we aim to empower them creating awareness of their daily issues of their lives and allowing them to participate in local and national make policies.

- Jorge Latorre

Intern at HEEALS