Report on the work of the Center for Legal Information and Consultations of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights in 2011

General indicators of the reception desk 1. Gender aspect During 2011, 986 people applied for legal assistance to the ChGKZPR, of whom 601 were women (61%), 385 were men (39%). The predominance of women is explained by the social orientation of the public reception desk. Namely, for 12 years, the reception desk lawyers have been providing legal assistance in resolving social, civil, housing, and labor disputes. In addition, women are characterized by greater social activity. In general, the increase in applications to the public reception desk is associated with the deepening of crisis phenomena in the country, which led to an increase in the number of violations of current legislation, and the deterioration of people’s financial situation.

2. Providing legal assistance

The majority of people contact the public reception directly on reception days (every Mon., Tue., Wed., Thu. from 10:00 to 17:00). Consultations are provided in the majority – orally, but there are also cases of written consultations (namely for applicants who apply in writing). The majority of people who contact the reception are better able to perceive the information that lawyers explain to them. This is due, in our opinion, to people’s insufficient legal awareness, the lack of a culture of perceiving legal documents.

For many years, the information and reference service of Ukrtelecom in Chernihiv (tel. 109) has been providing the phone number of the public reception office of the ЧГКЗПЛ to everyone who applies for free legal assistance.

A separate area of ​​activity of the public reception office of the ЧГКЗПЛ is the provision of legal assistance outside the reception office. Lawyers of the public reception office travel to district centers and rural communities of the Chernihiv region several times a month, where they conduct receptions for citizens.

A separate area of ​​activity of the public reception office of the ЧГКЗПЛ is the provision of legal assistance to foreigners during on-site receptions at the Temporary Residence Point for Foreigners and Stateless Persons Illegally Staying in Ukraine in the village of Rozsudiv, Ripky district, Chernihiv region. These field visits almost always address issues related to the rights of foreigners to obtain refugee status or to resolve the issue of voluntary return to their homeland.

Since 2006, the website of the ChGKZPL – www.protection.org.ua – has been operating. The website provides the opportunity to communicate with readers. In 2011, 49 (about 5%) people received legal advice via the Internet and e-mail. The relatively small percentage of such requests is explained by the fact that access to the Internet is usually provided by young wealthy people living in cities. Most often, consultations on housing, civil, social security law and criminal law are provided in electronic form.

41 (4.7%) requests were received by the reception office in writing. These were letters from citizens from settlements remote from the regional center who learned about the work of the public reception office from the media.

Approximately 145 (16.1%) people who contact the public reception desk learn about its work from acquaintances. 91 (10%) people learned about its work from employees of state bodies and other organizations, in particular, employees of the offices of courts of justice bodies are sent to help low-income citizens prepare procedural documents. Information about the work of the reception desk has also been actively disseminated in local government bodies. As before, citizens learn most about the public reception desk from the media and in places where advertisements are placed (about 680 in total – 66.2%).

The public reception desk of the ChGKZPL in providing legal assistance is not limited to consulting. During 2011, 421 persons (42.5%) were provided with assistance in preparing procedural documents. This is also explained by the fact that many people applied with similar problems, for example: payment of pension supplements to “children of war”, “Chernobyl victims”, non-enforcement of court decisions in civil cases, etc.

Unfortunately, due to the increase in the number of applications to the reception, lawyers are unable to provide representation to all clients of the reception in state bodies, and represented the interests of 31 people in court, primarily victims of human rights violations by the authorities.

In order to involve more people in providing consultations, ensure the possibility of legal support in instances and protect the interests of visitors, the public reception of the ChGKZPL has established cooperation with the legal clinic “Bona Mente”. In addition, the ChGKZPL cooperates with other public receptions and organizations of the Chernihiv region, human rights defenders from other regions of Ukraine.

According to the members of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights, the provision of both primary and secondary legal aid contributes to raising the legal awareness of the population. In Ukraine, legal services are inaccessible to most people (both due to their high cost and the lack of quality legal aid). Therefore, we consider it equally important to engage in both consulting (dissemination of legal knowledge) and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of people, because only a comprehensive approach to the problem can ensure its solution.

3. Category of appeals

By category, during 2011, the reception desk was mainly addressed by pensioners – 521 people (52.6 %) of the total number of appeals), disabled people – 75 (8 %), unemployed – 306 (31 %), refugees and asylum seekers – 91 (9.2 %) and other low-income and socially vulnerable persons who need legal assistance and do not have the financial opportunity to contact lawyers or law firms. This situation in 2011 did not change in general compared to previous years and is explained primarily by the social focus of the public reception desk.

4. Problems with which people turn to the public reception desk

In general, the issues with which people turn to the reception desk have remained the same as before.

These are issues of protecting property rights (including removing obstacles to the use of property, inheritance of property);

– administrative law (in addition to cases under the Code of Administrative Offenses, cases considered in accordance with the Code of Civil Procedure have also been added, in particular regarding asylum seekers and refugees);

– social rights – violations of pension and social legislation (incorrect pension accrual, failure to provide social assistance);

The number of applications under criminal, housing law and the protection of labor rights (illegal dismissal from work, non-payment of wages, etc.) has increased.

The unresolved problems are due to the deepening economic crisis, which led to a reduction in production, a decrease in profits, mass layoffs, and the bankruptcy of many organizations. Political instability in the country was reflected, first of all, on socially unprotected citizens. The number of complaints about non-enforcement of court decisions has increased. First of all, due to non-enforcement of court decisions on the collection of pension supplements for “children of war”, since there are a lot of such cases.

The “traditional” problems associated with the delay of legal proceedings also remained. Judicial red tape is due to the heavy workload of judges, deliberate delaying of the process by the parties, and the lack of effective control over the terms of consideration of cases. Unfortunately, today there is no real and effective control mechanism, except for an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

Reference information

The public reception of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights is located at: 57/1 Gorkogo St., Chernihiv, 14000. Tel.: (0462) 612-532, fax: (0462) 675-281, E-mail: info@protection.org.ua. The primary reception is held Mon., Tue., Wed., Thu. from 10:00 to 17:00. Reception is by appointment.