A training on solving current legal problems in local communities was held in Chernihiv

On February 13, a training session “Solving Current Legal Problems of Vulnerable Populations in Local Communities” was held in Chernihiv for legal aid providers and activists/paralegals of the Chernihiv region.

The Director of the Regional Center for the Provision of Free Secondary Legal Aid in the Chernihiv Region, Iryna Protchenko, and the Program Manager of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights, Nataliya Kulikova, delivered welcoming remarks to the attendees.

They noted that conducting such trainings contributes to the continuous development and self-improvement of legal aid providers and public activists of the Chernihiv region.

An important part of the event was the discussion of the problems of unregulated land and property relations in communities, as well as problematic aspects of the implementation of land decentralization in the region and the provision of land plots to ATO participants.

In particular, the head of the Department of Land Management and Land Protection of the Main Department of the State Geocadastre in Chernihiv region, Ihor Puzan, highlighted the current issue of transferring state-owned agricultural land plots to the communal property of united territorial communities (UTCs).

According to Mr. Puzan, the Government instructed the State Geocadastre to ensure the formation of land plots by conducting their inventory and transferring them to communal property of the UTC.

To date, the Main Department of the State Geocadastre in Chernihiv region has already signed relevant memorandums with 36 united territorial communities (out of 37 currently created in the region).

Before the plots are transferred to the ATC, the State Geocadastre will manage them exclusively in agreement with the local government body of the relevant community.

It is planned that the first transfer of state-owned lands outside the settlement will take place in March 2018.

In addition, among the problematic issues that arise in practice, situations of acquisition of ownership of land plots under public law agreements by foreign citizens, granting permits for one plot to several persons, and others were considered.

The training participants also considered the issue of exercising the rights to obtain a land plot for ATO participants. In particular, it was emphasized that not all districts of the region have free land plots, and those that do exist do not always suit the ATO participants.

The event was organized by the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights in cooperation with the Regional Center for the Provision of Free Secondary Legal Aid in the Chernihiv Region and the Legal Development Network within the framework of the implementation of the project “Development of the Legal Capacity of Communities in the Chernihiv Region” with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation.