This past weekend, beginning on Saturday, January 7, 2012, as some of
the winter season’s first snow fell, International Bridges to Justice
(IBJ) held a juvenile defense training seminar in coordination with
China’s Democracy and Rule of Law Magazine at the Friendship Hotel in
Beijing. The event was part of both IBJ’s Defense Empowerment Corps.
(DEC) Program, as well as it’s Juvenile Justice Program. Sessions on
Saturday and Sunday were well attended, with 39 people participating;
including four DEC partners from Tianlan Law Firm, a representative of
IBJ’s Clinical Program, as well as lawyers, professors, judges, and
prosecutors representing several of the country’s top legal
institutions. Also in attendance were several lawyers from Beilin,
China, where IBJ is developing a new Juvenile Justice pilot project.

The program started on Saturday morning, with an informational lecture
about the upcoming criminal procedural law (CPL) amendments. Fan
Chongyi, an esteemed professor and doctoral tutor from the Chinese
Procedural Law Research Center, explained that the amendments to the CPL
will take into account international standards and developments, and
also must solve some of the present practical problems that China faces.

The afternoon session was highlighted by additional lectures discussing
further developments of juvenile law in China.

The next day, attendees participated in a roundtable discussion. The
roundtable was composed of two sessions: First, there was a discussion
on what effects China’s new procedural law will have on juvenile cases.
Professor Yao argued for a need to increase education, in coordination
with the developments in procedure. He believes that the “juvenile”
definition ought to be expanded to not only include children up to 18
years old, but also youths, such as those studying in university, as
well. In this way, “juvenile” criminal law can be combined to define
youth not only physically, but also socially and psychologically.

There was then a heated, but cordial, discussion about how China ought
to learn from the juvenile legal systems in the United States and Hong
Kong, both which recognize that juveniles differ from adults, and have
laws reflecting these differences.

The second part of the roundtable was a discussion on a specific case,
allowing participants to argue evidentiary issues. And, because the
defense attorney who actually argued the case in court was present at
the event, it made for an even more lively debate. Though there were no
conclusive findings for the case, participants were able to learn
strategies for arguing cases, and came away with several considerations
concerning juvenile law.

Follow IBJ China's activities using our Twitter handle, @IBJChina

In partnership with the Singapore Cooperation Programme (SCP)[1], IBJ’s Singapore Justice Training Centre delivered a criminal justice standards and skills training in Vientiane, Laos from December 12-16, 2011. Their first training outside Singapore.

Participants with IBJ trainers and H.E. Dileep Nair, Singapore Ambassador to Laos

Kellie Krake, IBJ’s Training Director, and Sanjeewa Liyanage, IBJ’s International Program Director, led the training. They were joined by volunteer trainers Wendell Wong, a Dispute Resolution Director of Drew & Napier in Singaporeand Larisa Wakefield, an attorney and trainer from the Orange County Public Defender’s Office in California, The goal of the event was to train the Laos criminal justice community in trial advocacy skills, criminal procedure and substantive criminal law, public speaking, oral presentation skills, negotiation, criminal justice trends, leadership development in criminal justice systems and partnership building.

Officials from the Ministry of Public Security, The Office of the Supreme People’s Prosecutor, The People’s Supreme Court, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of National Defense, and The People’s Appellate Court attended. These participants practice various areas of criminal justice fighting a range of crimes – from investigation to prosecution to adjudication, and in relation to drug, economic, environmental, and human trafficking offenses. Judges from the Military, Supreme and Appellate Courts were all present, as well as two lawyers from legal firms inside the Ministry of Justice.

The week-long training centered on a hypothetical case study that focused on telling the story of an alleged crime from the accused person’s perspective. This perspective offered a stimulating role reversal for the majority of participants who are investigators and prosecutors in the Laos criminal justice system. A dynamic mix of lectures, small-group workshops and discussions allowed the participants to practice their advocacy skills through public speaking and oral presentation. At the conclusion of the training, the participants conducted a mock trial based on the hypothetical case study.

The training began with an opening ceremony and welcome speeches from Mr. Tay Lai Huat, Second Secretary, Embassy of the Republic of Singapore, Kellie and Sanjeewa. The first day focused on international law, the ‘global community’ and an overview of criminal law in Laos regarding the rights of the accused and role of defense counsel. On the second and third days, Wendell Wong and Larisa Wakefield kindly donated their time to join Kellie to train participants on theme and theory development, effective cross-examination and direct examination skills, Despite the differences in the judicial systems of Laos and Singapore/the US, the participants enthusiastically practiced the art of cross-examination in small groups and on their colleagues!

Wendell Wong leads workshop with participants

The final two days of the training focused on preparing for the mock trial, as well as continuing to discuss the role of defense counsel and rights of the accused. During a discussion session with Kellie and Larisa, the participants asked about the role of defense counsel in the US and focused questions on the confidentiality provisions.

Participants practice cross-examination skills

By Friday, the participants were ready for the mock trial. They broke into two teams, prosecution and defense, and also filled the roles of witnesses. The trial opened with statements detailing the stories of the complaining witness and accused. Participants directed and crossed the witnesses, demonstrating their abilities learned from practice earlier in the week. Despite an impassioned closing argument delivered by the prosecution team, the judge found the accused not guilty.

The Ambassador from Singapore closed the training event with a brief speech and certificate ceremony. The participants enthusiastically posed for photographs with the trainers and each other, sharing gifts, name cards and promises to stay in touch and keep learning in the future.

On Christmas Eve, IBJ India with complete support from Delhi Prisons visited Jail No. 7 of Tihar, which houses prisoners between the age group of 18-21, and decided to bring in the gift of Knowledge and Legal Representation. The group comprised of Ajay Verma, IBJ India Fellow; Rajesh Mahajan, Advocate, Additional Standing Counsel of Delhi Police before Delhi High Court, Jitendra Ratta, Volunteer Lawyer working with IBJ; Aditya Kumar, Advocate volunteering with IBJ; Pallavi Saxena, Advocate interning with IBJ. The intention behind the visit was to have an interactive session with the young prisoners and to create awareness about their rights. The group of prisoners present for the session were all mostly aged 18 years, or as many stated even 17 years. The Superintendent of the Jail told the group about the purpose of the visit, and then the session began with introduction of the group members.

As the purpose of the visit was to create awareness about The Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection) Act, along with its basic provisions, it was introduced to them, and they were repeatedly told that they were all entitled to a Free legal aid, if unable to afford legal representation. As the discussion progressed, many spoke about the grievances that they have, such as one prisoner stated that even though he had put in a request to the court, no lawyer has been provided to him.

It was understood from this discussion, that many in this group are illiterate, and thus completely unaware as to the specifics of their case. Further, some 20 prisoners stated that they were below the age of 18 years, and without any legal representation. Thus it was decided to deal with the prisoners on one-on-one, and gather information about their cases, so corrective action can be taken. As there were 5 members of the group that were present, each spoke to the prisoners individually and details about their case was gathered. Around 40 cases have been taken up by IBJ India, wherein 50% of the prisoners have stated that they are below 18 years of age. Many instances were revealed wherein the ‘system’ has faltered, one specific instance is that of one deaf and dumb prisoner, who has been in the prison for the past 8 months. As there was no way to understand him, a phone call was made to his brother whose number was written on his forearm. The prisoner, according to this brother, is 17 years of age, but no notice has been taken of this fact. Thus, it is IBJ’s endeavor to provide legal representation to all these cases, and to take corrective action for the children stating their age to be less than 18 years on a priority basis.

The visit was a small effort in understanding the plight of the children who are on the brink of the adulthood, yet not completely there. Lastly, the visit was scheduled for the Christmas Eve, so as to provide a positive outlook to the children, and cakes were distributed to the children to spread the Christmas Cheer! Needless to say but this is one of the positive initiatives of Prison Administration to work with the NGOs to make the prisoners aware about their rights.

The morning of Saturday, the 5th of November, 2011, was when the above-mentioned booklet was launched in Jail Number 4 of the Tihar Jail Complex, in the august presence of Hon’ble Mr. Justice A.K. Sikri, Acting Chief Justice, Delhi High Court, Hon’ble Ms. Justice Mukta Gupta, Judge, Delhi High Court, Mr. Neeraj Kumar, Director General, Prisons. The initiative was a result of the collaboration of  International Bridges to Justice (IBJ), India and Delhi Prisons. IBJ was represented by its Indian Fellow, Mr. Ajay Verma. The event commenced with the opening ceremony at the Mini-Stadium of Jail Number 4, with the lighting of the ceremonial lamp and an ode to the Indian Goddess of Knowledge, through Sarasvati Vandana, which was beautifully sung by a team of convicts.

Thereafter, the welcome address was delivered by Mr. Neeraj Kumar, DG(P). He outlined for the dignitaries and the audience, the various initiatives undertaken by the prison authorities to ameliorate the condition of the inmates, as well as to empower them by providing them with the tools and skills they would require to make their lives outside of prison productive and gainful. Noteworthy among these initiatives were, the literacy campaign launched this year, entitled, “Padho aur Padhao”, provision of music rooms in every Ward of the prison, in collaboration with an N.G.O that provides the authorities with music teachers. The literacy campaign has been a resounding success, drastically increasing the literacy rate among inmates, which is now pegged at 80%! With such dramatic improvement, and continuous efforts, Tihar Jail may just acquire the distinction of being the first Central Jail in the country to have a cent-percent literacy rate. Another initiative that must find mention was the Placement Drive, held by the jail authorities, in order to find the inmates, who have completed their terms, appropriate employment. The DG(P) mentioned that the drive was a success, and that buoyed by it, they intend to hold the third installment of the drive in mid-November. He also mentioned, that, the prison authorities have sent a proposal to the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, to establish semi-open prisons, whereby the inmates may be permitted to leave the jail premises during the day, and find employment outside, and return at a designated time in the evening.

The booklet itself covers important topics, such as, the food that should be served, clothes that should be provided, visitation rights, health check-ups, compilation of prohibited items, information pertaining to education, financial assistance and lastly, legal aid. The legal aid information includes details of bail, parole, furlough and release.

Hon’ble Mr. Justice A.K. Sikri, in his address, compared a jail sentence to Lord Ram’s vanvas (exile), and said that the prison term can be constructively utilized by the inmates to reform themselves. He struck an emotional chord with prisoners, when he mentioned that many of them might feel that they have been wrongly imprisoned, or that they have not committed a crime, or have been given a sentence that they feel is disproportionate to their crime; he advised them to treat it as their kismet, and to move forward and not become bitter individuals, and that they should take every opportunity that is available to them, and come out stronger and better individuals. He lavished praise on the jail authorities for the commendable job that they were doing in the upkeep of the prison and their laudable initiatives. He ended on a practical note, highlighting the need to start a practice of issuing a character certificate to the inmates, in order to help them in finding gainful employment once their terms end. Lastly, paintings made by the prisoners were gifted to the Dignitaries. The ceremony concluded by the delivery of the Vote of Thanks by the DIG(Prisons), and was followed by High Tea.

An IBJ Burundi initiated radio program has been set on air. It is funded by Matrix Chambers and created in partnership with Bonesha FM and Isanganiro. These are private and independent radio channels aiming at promoting reconciliation and committed to improve Burundi’s justice system. They have earlier covered IBJ’s roundtable discussions in the country’s provinces with different stakeholders in the criminal justice system.

Me Léonce Nimenya, lawyer, Me Aline Nijimbere, IBJ lawyer, moderator Pierre CLavier Niyonkuru, journalist and M. Elie Ntungwanayo, the spokesman of the Supreme Court

The IBJ program was first broadcast on December 2nd and will be held every Friday for eleven weeks. Using the radio is the best way to reach out to all parts of the country, and reaching out to many is exactly what IBJ Burundi aims for. The crucial task of raising awareness among the Burundian population of their legal rights is in focus. IBJ wants to provide the population the opportunity to share their experiences, air out their views and ask questions about their legal rights by calling to the radio program while invited speakers respond. These guests are people working in the criminal justice sector and they participate in order to answer questions and discuss accurate issues.

Invited to sit in front of the microphones last Friday was a lawyer and the spokesman of the Supreme Court as well as an IBJ legal aid lawyer. They were informing around the article in the Burundian Code on Criminal Procedure stipulating the conditions for how a legal pre-trial detention should be carried out. Every citizen’s right to legal counsel was mentioned and there was a focus on the possibilities for prison directors to seek permission from the prosecutor to free accused when the time limit of detention has been passed, a legal option that has never really been used in Burundi. There was as well a change of words on the ability to put sanctions on police officers or prosecutors that do not respect the time limits of custody. People calling to the program this time had questions about legal procedures and the spokesman of the Supreme Court was answering willingly.

Questions and answers in the studio of Bonesha FM

Apart from being able to call to the program, the number to the Burundi IBJ office is provided so that persons seeking redress of their legal rights can access free advice from IBJ legal aid lawyers.

More than raising awareness, what IBJ also has in mind is to show the importance of a permanent existing radio show on the rights of citizens. IBJ wishes the program to spark community interest and support for the issue of legal rights and prioritize the issue of criminal justice among the wider human rights debate. This far it is not yet possible to see results like that; it has just begun, but let us have hope for the near future.

In the Burundian law it is stated: “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment”. Unfortunately, complying with this is not reality in the prisons in the different parts of the country. When an IBJ volunteer team visited the prison of Ruyigi it became evident that most of prisoners surveyed do not know that they have the right not to be subjected to violations and they do not know to whom to turn to if/when their rights are violated.

The volunteers went to the prison with the aim of holding a rights awareness evaluation and tuition. The focus was on the knowledge on rights among minors, women, elderly people and the Batwa ethnic minority group.

Old men being sensitized

The awareness evaluation shows that this activity was much needed. Most of prisoners interviewed did not know the procedures of trial; neither did they know that they have the right to legal counsel. Many of the detainees is not even aware of what they are accused of , they have not seen the minutes of custody or did not understand them and some of them was forced to sign the document through means of torture.

As the IBJ team carried out this important task of raising awareness among the prisoners, they dealt with the issues of detention and procedure, explaining how a fair trail should be held, that all accused should at least know the reason for arrest. They also clarified the law concerning torture and pointed out the possibilities of free legal counsel through International Bridges to Justice and its partner APRODH.

Volunteer explaining rights to minors

Not only are these persons subjected to irregular legal procedures, according to what the volunteer team report, they are also living in extremely poor and inhuman conditions. The prisoners get one small meal a day, consisting of one cup of beans and one cup of cassava flour; the facilities are dirty and overcrowded. The only section being cleaner and not overcrowded is the juvenile cell. In Ruyigi, the women and youth are placed in separate cells, apart from the bigger prison where everyone else are staying. This division does not exist in some of the other prisons in the country, although the Ruyigi prison still lacks the separation between those awaiting trail and already condemned prisoners. The situation in the prison are, to no wonder, having impact on the people staying there. According to the director of the prison, the incarcerated Batwa are showing this in a particularly way. They stop doing anything at all, stop caring of what is going on around them, just sitting still in lost hope over their life.

However, the awareness sessions were appreciated,  the visited prisoners were pleased with getting the knowledge and information provided. Receiving the attention made them also see that they are not completely neglected, there are people thinking about them, caring for their rights. One of the most surprising findings was that none of the prisoners had been assisted by a lawyer, this may be due to Ruyigi being such a remote area. The absence of legal assistance though is an deficiency that IBJ is aiming to fulfill, the organization have begun to collaborate with the Gitega Bar association in order to help the Ruyigi prisoners with pro bono legal counsel. Efforts like that are highly required; a result of the awareness activity was that more than 35 out of 64 sensitized expressed their will to be assisted.

Women holding up their hands as part of survey

In conjunction with several other activities relating to National Legal
Publication Day, China’s International Bridges to Justice program
cooperated with the Shanxi University of Finance and Economics to
develop an on-site legal advice forum and disseminate legal rights
brochures.

A collection that included more than fifty students from the Shanxi
University of Finance and Economics’ School of Law and communist youth
league committee, as well as three representatives from Peking
University, began by gathering to form a volunteer legal aid team in a
small community in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. The team then made
themselves available at a table set up on the community’s main road, and
took legal questions from residents, offering advice and consultation
for their legal problems.

A Forum For Participants in Shanxi

The legal aid team answered several questions, many of which were
related to the recent reform of the Marriage Act. The residents were
explained the changes that had been made, and given advice on how to
cope with the effects. Individuals also approached the students with
more personal legal problems. Citizens spoke out about injustices that
they noticed in their daily lives, and were shocked at some of the
information they heard. The legal aid team explained that a lot of the
time you do not need to endure unfair circumstances. Instead, you can
resort to using the law as a means to solve your problems.

The next part of the program concerned passing out legal rights
brochures to local citizenry. The volunteers were working with the goal
of increasing the legal knowledge of those in the community, and
addressing the marked lack of willingness to use the law among the
citizens.

While developing a China where citizens understand and aren’t afraid to
stand up for their rights is still a work in progress, it was clear from
the reaction of participants that they appreciate IBJ’s mission. We hope
that, in the future, everyone will be just as well informed.

Monday saw the curtain rise on IBJ China’s “Defender Empowerment Series” (DES) program, with a series of lawyers from across the country arriving in Xiamen for a week-long “training of trainers” sponsored by IBJ and its partner Tenet & Partners.  This program, the formal beginning to a long-anticipated three year project, is designed to extend the benefits of defense litigation to the indigent accused around the country by creating a network of exceptional defense lawyers and empowering them with modern training methodologies.  With this knowledge in hand, the participating lawyers will proceed to spread advocacy skills through their own trainings of advocates around the country, as well as help to train future trainers in a self-propagating cycle of improvement.

Expert trainer Robert Burke describes the Kirkpatrick model.

After introductions and a brief overview of the program by the interim China Program Director Aurora Bewicke and Professors Zhang and Sun, focus moved quickly to training methodologies and approaches.  Although not immediately apparent, even the introductions were a prime example of IBJ’s training model, as participants traded stories of themselves, each other and the world as they see it, deeply engaging with one another before sharing their partners’ stories with the group.  Continuing through the day, expert trainers Tim Millar and Robert Burke introduced key concepts and trends in legal advocacy training, with participants breaking into small groups to discuss and debate their goals as future trainers.  The day finished off with closing comments by Professor Zhang Guowei, a prestigious visitor from IBJ’s long-standing partner China University of Politics and Law.  “For many of the lawyers joining in this training, these methods are quite particular.  As I understand it, the crucial point here is interactivity.”  As the professor explained it, “In [IBJ's] trainings, the problems comes from the participants, and the solutions also come from the participants.  […] In this manner, we can increase the activeness of students’ participation.”

Participants discuss the transformative learning cycle.

The second day kicked off with a variety of sessions.  Participants began by envisioning the potential effects of their training on the lives of the indigent accused and how they could strengthen China’s legal system.  Activities then began to focus in on training design and evaluation, with a session on how to implement transformative learning and measuring the impact of that learning by means of the Kirkpatrick model.  The second half of the day consisted of a class with the the head of the All China Lawyers Association (ACLA), the distinguished Professor Tian Wenchang.  Over the course of his lesson, Professor Tian and the future trainers touched on a variety of topics to be featured in DES advocacy programs, including dealing with upcoming amendments to the criminal procedure law, the place of defenders in China’s legal system, and the difficulties of bringing a theoretical understanding of criminal law into practice.

The training of trainers will continue through this Friday, at which point the participants will return to their various provinces and begin to plan trainings of their own.  We will continue to follow their progress throughout the week.

As part of International Bridges to Justice’s contribution to China’s December 4th National Legal Publication Day this year, IBJ partnered with the Legal Aid Association of Shandong University to organize a legal rights awareness event in the Songliu Primary Migrant Worker’s School, with the goal of promoting legal education among migrant school children.

Students Raising Their Hands to Participate in the Activities

The event attracted a large and diverse crowd, with more than 250 migrant students in attendance. Apart from the children, there were 25 law students, 20 volunteers, 20 community members, 10 journalists, and five government officials who participated in the event. The total number of attendees amounted to greater than 340 people. Among other information, IBJ passed out brochures to participants highlighting the basic legal rights of an individual. Attendees were then quizzed on their understanding of these rights as part of a prize-winning contest. One girl was well prepared for the contest, even giving a detailed answer to a question with the words,” According to the 46th Article of the Constitution…” Many children enthusiastically participated in the question and answer sessions. Later, a mock courtroom trial was held, and questions were posed to the various school teams. The winning teams received prizes at the end of the trial.

Volunteers Hand Out Pamphlets to the Students

Many of the participants personally expressed gratitude to those working and volunteering at the event. Some complimented the brochure, saying it has beautiful pictures and stories, while others commented on how the law is important to know, and use, and that the brochure was helpful in providing that knowledge.

The First Student Team Introduces Themselves for Question and Answer

Prior to the event, many of the school students had never been informed about their legal rights. Their school did not provide them with the opportunity to increase that awareness. In holding the event, IBJ was able to do its part in fulfilling a legal necessity of imparting that knowledge to the migrant student community. The students responded enthusiastically and passionately. The positive response by the students shows that the event was an overwhelming success, and that these types of events can create a strong impact on increasing legal awareness for communities that lack a legal support network in China.

A unique training was organized by IBJ with CHRI on 7^th-9^th October’2011, to train convicts as paralegals, with a special focus on pre-trial detention and speedy trial, so they may at some point pass on the benefit of this information to undertrials as well. This training was attended by 33 convicts from all the 8 district jails in Rajasthan, and was planned with an intention to provide knowledge to the convicts on various procedures such as parole, furlough and to teach them the way to write a bail application. Most of these convicts were graduates, some even post-graduates, and were serving term for either 10 years or for life. The interesting aspect of this training was that it not only gave insightful information to the prisoners but a proposal was also put up wherein attendance for 3 days in the workshop gives the prisoners remission for 60 days in their sentence. This proposal has been forwarded, and is pending approval.

The workshop began with a formal introduction of all involved, the trainers, coordinators as well as the participants. With introductions out of the way, the discussion began with how the prisoners perceive the concept of law, and the answer that stood out was that it’s all a ‘khilwad’ (a joke). Another aspect that was covered before venturing into the field of nitty-gritty of law was the relationship they shared with their lawyers. This activity was carried out through a quawali session, wherein, the prisoners were divided in 2 groups as clients and lawyers and were asked to give voice to their grievances. The most common complaint that was given was that no lawyer wishes to hear their side of the story and most interaction they have had was with the ‘munshiji’ (Lawyers’ assistants) and not the lawyers themselves. Also, even though these lawyers were private counsels and not the legal aid lawyers, everyone felt that their case was not being given due importance and maybe even felt cheated. Thus, this information was stored away to be used in other workshops for the lawyers so as to tell them the client’s side of the story.

At one point, Mr O.R. Rohin, Superintendent of Jaipur District Jail, also came in and discussed the difficulties that are encountered by the prisoners. Once the groundwork was established, it was time to move on to the basic purpose of the workshop, as they were informed about the concept of bail, and the difference between bailable and non-bailable offence. As the participants also asked about the concept of parole and furlough, the same was also explained to them at length.

The second day of the workshop dealt with life in prison and for this purpose, the prisoners were asked to fill a questionnaire, and a copy of which was also given to the Assistant Jailor. One of the shocking aspects that was revealed by the prisoners was that the practice of handcuffing the prisoners is still prevalent despite various judgments by the Supreme Courts prohibiting this practice. One of the prisoners shared his experience, wherein two prisoners had health problems and they were handcuffed and the feet were tied together, and were kept on the same hospital bed. When one of the trainers referred to the case of Prem Shakar Shukla v. Delhi Administration, one of the prisoners mentioned that he has read the case, but sadly enough the ratio is still not followed. The day ended on a lighter note, with participants asked to prepare a skit on the topics provided to them, such as groupism, caste system, religious intolerance; and the same was judged by declaring prisoners from Alwar Jail as winners.

The last day of the workshop began with recapitulation of previous days’ events, and then moving on to the provisions of bail once again. The method of counting days of remand, whether 60 or 90 was explained to them, and they were also informed that if the chargesheet is not filed within the specified time period, they have a right to bail. Other relevant provisions of Code of Criminal Procedure were discussed along with Parole. It was explained there are two types of Parole – Regular and Emergency, and the same are laid out in Prison Rules. They were also informed about the way to draft a bail application and a RTI application. Lastly, various acts that are considered offences in jails were explained and the punishment for the same were also told to them.

The day concluded by giving participation certificates to the prisoners, and the same was handed by the Sunail Kumar Malhotra, Additional Director General (Prisons), Rajasthan. Mr. Malhotra also provided Criminal Manuals for every prison. The team members were given Bhagwad Gita as a mark of appreciation, and lastly the prisoners presented the team members with letters expressing their gratitude for the workshop. This workshop, though started with few hiccups, ended on a successful note, thus emphasizing the need to conduct more workshops of such nature in the future. IBJ also intends to get in touch with the authorities to see if the suggestions have been carried out by them.