A Methodology to Rewrite the Belgian Letter of Rights

Authors

  • Florence Cols Droits Quotidiens (Belgium)

Abstract

This paper explains how we rewrote the Belgian Letter of Rights. This is the document that arrested persons receive, which explains to them what their rights are: the right to remain silent, the right to obtain legal assistance, the right to receive medical help, etc. The problem is that this document is not appropriate for persons to correctly understand their rights, especially as they receive it in a stressful context. They are unaware of their rights, or they don’t know how to exercise their rights.

We rewrote the Belgian Letter of Rights, in order to make it clear, understandable and efficient for persons under arrest.
This paper presents the steps and methodology we followed.
It also presents the results and impact we hope for this project. This impact is mainly to provide better access to justice because the first step towards justice is to understand rights and obligations.

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Published

2021-02-23

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 1 (2021): Special issue on "Communicating the law and public information to vulnerable audiences"

Section

Contents

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