Respect of the Right of Access to Justice

The present study tackles the respect of the rule of access to justice in the East African region especially domestic courts and the EACJ, by focusing on the role of these courts in guaranteeing individuals access to justice. In this regard, the researcher assesses their capabilities and demonstrates how the principle of access to justice is daily infringed by those who are expected to deliver justice. As findings, access to justice is violated by domestic courts whereby the legal assistance is often ignored while compulsory; trials delay, the punishment of the contempt of court deprives a party from his/her lawyer. Besides, before the EACJ, the timeframe to file lawsuits is long; putting aside the rule of prior exhaustion of domestic remedies entails duplication of rulings; its rulings are hardly enforced within members of the EAC, to cite a few.