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Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST)

Dhaka, Bangladesh
Joined April 2012
Presence in: Bangladesh
Focus: Community / Customary Land Rights, Criminal Justice, Family, Gender-based violence, Generalist Legal Services, Labor & Employment, Livelihoods, Right to Information, Traditional / Customary Justice, Women's Rights

BLAST is one of the leading legal services organizations in Bangladesh, and the only one that provides access to legal aid across the spectrum, from the frontlines of the formal justice system to the apex court. It prioritises support to women, men and children living in poverty or facing disadvantage or discrimination. It also provides legal aid, advice and representation across a range of areas, including civil, criminal, family, labour and land law, as well as on constitutional rights and remedies, providing access to judicial remedies alongside alternative dispute resolution wherever appropriate. Alongside individual legal aid, BLAST undertakes strategic litigation, or public interest litigation, as a key part of its advocacy for law and policy reforms to ensure effective legal protection of rights.

Currently operating in 19 districts across the country, BLAST works through its staff lawyers (and paralegals and researchers) at headquarters and in each district unit, in collaboration with its enlisted panel of about 2300 lawyers across the country who provide legal redress to clients on a pro bono basis, with a nominal honorarium. A panel of lawyers practicing in the Supreme Court of Bangladesh also undertakes litigation and advocacy on law and policy reform.