Grassroots Justice: Legal Clinics in Guinea Successfully Resolve Land Disputes

^{?Photo Credit?: Ousmane Bangoura/PBF Guinea/2024}

In Lower Guinea, land disputes lie at the core of major socioeconomic activities, from mining to housing. Limited knowledge of laws related to land ownership and governance frequently lead to conflicts in the region, home to approximately four million people.???

Judicial sources report that more than 60 percent of cases in local courts in Conakry, Coyah, Dubréka, Boffa, and Forécariah revolve around land and property disputes. This high incidence of land-related conflicts underscores the pressing need for clearer property rights and improved governance in the region.????

To help mitigate land-related conflicts within marginalized communities, including rural areas facing increasing disputes with mining companies as well as in urban and peri-urban centers grappling with accelerated migration and frequent forced evictions, the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) has financed a critical initiative. The project, ‘Strengthening Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue for Responsible Land and Environmental Governance in Lower Guinea,’ has been allocated $2.1 million from 2021 to 2024.??

Implemented by UNDP, UN-Habitat, and the non-government organization ACORD Guinea, the project targets the districts of Conakry, Dubréka, Coyah, Boffa, and Forécariah, which have been identified as particularly susceptible to land conflicts.??

The project supports efforts such as improving understanding of land rights, participatory land mapping, dialogue forums on land issues, monitoring corporate social responsibility of private companies, conducting environmental impact studies, and supporting land mediation. Additionally, the project promotes land restoration and provides alternative livelihoods to dispossessed communities. It also advocates for more regulated, transparent, and human rights compliant evictions of illegal settlements, facilitated through the preparation and endorsement of a specialized protocol.??

^{Resolution of a land conflict through the?legal clinic in?Coyah.?Photo Credit?: Ousmane Bangoura/PBF Guinea/2024.}

One critical intervention, implemented through ACORD Guinea, is the establishment of community-based Legal Clinics. The legal ‘Clinicians’ or ‘Paralegals’ are local civil society actors, including young people, and volunteer women leaders, committed to making a difference in their communities. Though not legal professionals, they possess a basic understanding of judicial procedures and a profound grasp of the social realities within their communities.??

Trained by the project, these paralegals are equipped to address the most common legal conflicts among residents, particularly those involving land and property disputes. Their role is to provide informal mediation, aiming to resolve issues to the satisfaction of both parties and prevent cases from escalating to the judicial system or resulting in violence. This grassroots approach harnesses local knowledge and community trust, making it an effective tool for conflict resolution.??

Legal Clinics are making a significant impact on conflict dynamics in a peacebuilding project’s targeted areas in Lower Guinea. These clinics have resolved approximately 180 conflicts within a year and a half of operation.??

^{Macire Bangoura, President of the Coyah Legal Clinic.?Photo Credit?: Ousmane Bangoura/PBF Guinea/2024.}

“The project brought us together in Conakry for technical training sessions. We were 25 paralegals, including 10 women, from Coyah, Dubréka, Boffa, Forécariah, and Conakry. Legal specialists taught us about rights, duties, and community mediation techniques,” said Maciré Bangoura, President of the Coyah Legal Clinic and member of civil society.?

Since its establishment, and following dedicated community sensitization efforts through the project, the Coyah legal clinic has become a vital resource for conflict resolution, frequently solicited by both communities and authorities. Its five members, including three women, specialize in various conflict themes: Land and Property, Mining and Environment, Human Rights, and Local Governance.??

Ousmane Maferin Soumah, 32, member of the Coyah legal clinic, said, "I am responsible for conflicts related to land, mines, and the environment. My role is to support the communities. I inform and educate them to claim their rights without violence."?

Ousmane recalls a recent conflict resolved thanks to the clinic. In this instance, the noise from the engine of a vegetable oil production facility has been disturbing the neighborhood in Bentourayah, within the district of Coyah. Despite the involvement of local authorities, including the prefecture and the Prefectural Directorate of the Environment, the conflict had persisted for several years.??

"After studying the case, we brought together all the actors involved in the conflict to listen to them. We conducted joint field visits with the authorities. Ultimately, it was amicably decided that the factory would change its engine to continue its activities," he said.?

^{Ousmane Maferin Soumah, Paralegal in charge of land and mining conflicts.?Photo Credit?: Ousmane Bangoura/PBF Guinea/2024.?}

With numerous pending cases, the conflict resolution process in the courts typically takes significant time and involves various costs, including lawyers' fees and court fees. As a results, parties involved often emerge exhausted and financially strained from prolonged judicial procedures. By providing amicable conflict resolution solutions, legal clinics offer relieve to both the communities and the local authorities.

“This clinic has supported the prefectural authorities in managing several land disputes. The establishment of these structures strengthens the prefecture’s governance, as they facilitate communication with the communities. For example, thanks to them, we avoided imprisonment of young people in a case of illegal occupation that was ultimately managed amicably to the satisfaction of the actors, thus preventing demonstrations,” said Naby Condé, Secretary General in charge of Communities of the Coyah prefecture.?

The success of the legal clinics has prompted local authorities to commit to the integration of the clinics' actions into future Local Development Plans of the urban commune of Coyah.?

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