Legal advice — online

Free legal services for residents of remote areas will become more accessible. They will be consulted using the latest information technologies. For example, professional lawyers will provide advice to citizens using video communication. These innovations have begun to be implemented in the Chernihiv region by the Charitable Organization “All-Ukrainian Coalition for Legal Aid” and the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights.

The fact is that the Chernihiv region is one of eight regions where the all-Ukrainian project has started. It involves the creation of remote consultation points in regional centers, which will operate on the basis of regional libraries. In the meantime, residents of the regions will be able to receive free legal assistance using computers connected to the Internet in local libraries. Local libraries, which have the necessary equipment for video communication, will be access points to consultation points. At the same time, specialists from the Main Department of Justice in Chernihiv Oblast, the Main Department of the State Land Agency in Chernihiv Oblast, the Main Department of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in Chernihiv Oblast, and the Department of Social Protection of the Population of the Chernihiv Oblast State Administration will also be involved in such interactive communication, since most of the citizens’ appeals concern their competence.

Such a human rights initiative is aimed at providing the prerequisites for the implementation of the Law of Ukraine “On Free Legal Aid” in the region, explains Nataliya Piddubna, head of the public reception of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights, which is the project coordinator in the region.

Meanwhile, the regional authorities are ready to support initiatives, including human rights ones, that contribute to the development of civil society and the implementation of state policy, notes the acting head of the regional administration. Deputy Head of the Regional State Administration Yuriy Muzyka.

The remote consultation point will operate on the basis of the Chernihiv Regional Universal Scientific Library named after V. G. Korolenko every 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month, starting from January 23, 2014 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

At the appointed time, residents of the Chernihiv region can contact local libraries in

Bakhmach, Varva, Gorodnya, Kozeltsa, Novgorod-Siverskyi, Sosnytsia, Nizhyn and Pryluky

and receive consultations in video mode.