Descrição

Kadiatu, a cigarette seller and sometime sex worker from the east end of Freetown, Sierra Leone, knows what it’s like to live without justice. One night a drunk off-duty police officer brutally beats her. As she lies unconscious, bystanders steal her main income source: her cigarettes. Kadiatu complains to the police but it goes nowhere — until paralegals step in. They meet with the officer, plan to monitor how the police discipline him, and prepare to file a lawsuit for damages. The officer quickly apologizes to Kadiatu and offers to pay compensation.

Justice problems like Kadiatu’s happen every day, all around the world — except many people don’t have legal help on hand. Instead, four billion people globally live outside the reach of the law. Their own run-ins with abusive power, like Kadiatu’s, often go unnoticed and unaddressed, but can have a huge impact on their lives. Without redress, people are unable to secure livelihoods, lose their income, and can fall deeper into poverty and despair.