Family Legal Clinic (FLC) has launched a ‘Form Filling Guideline’ aimed to increase public awareness on how to fill court forms related to family and domestic violence issues, to make filing applications at the respective courts easier.
In a press release, FLC stated that the “Form Filling Guideline” comprises of guidelines for eight court forms, including the form seeking maintenance, form seeking custody, form relating to other matters, form relating to divorce, form seeking an injunction order and the form seeking protection order.
The guideline was launched on the NGOs website, www.familylegalclinic.org.mv/resources, by Ahmed Mauroof and Dr. Shifa Riza of FLC's Executive Board. The Form Filling Guideline was developed with a grant assistance received from the US Embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
“It is our honour and privilege to launch this guideline. As members coming from a non-legal background, we feel the importance of having such a guideline, which is freely available, that can help us in filling basic court documentation, especially in cases of family and domestic violence, where people need help the most,” said Ahmed Mauroof.
According to Shifa Riza, the guideline addresses how to overcome key barriers in accessing justice in the Maldives.
“In the Maldives, we already have a huge barrier to access to justice, as 99 percent of the registered lawyers are based in Male’, which means two-thirds of the population residing in outer islands have no immediate access to lawyers. Even to fill a court form, the ordinary citizen usually needs legal help and with no immediate access to lawyers, it becomes a cumbersome task."
FLC expressed its intention of making copies of the guideline available for the public, at both the Family Court and Ministry of Gender and Family.
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