Mechanisms for strengthening the legal capabilities of local communities were discussed in Chernihiv

On March 28, 2017, a roundtable was held in Chernihiv on establishing cooperation between government agencies and public organizations to resolve legal problems in local communities.

Opening the event, the Deputy Head of Staff of the Chernihiv Regional State Administration

Iryna Solomakha

emphasized that today the issues of decentralization are quite relevant: the powers of local government bodies are changing, the worldview in communities is changing, and the decentralization process itself is gaining more and more understanding among people.

“In Chernihiv region, 16 united territorial communities (UTCs) have already been formed, the leaders of three more will be elected in April. The most important thing in these conditions is to preserve the rule of law. Such events provide an opportunity for public discussion of existing problems, to hear opinions, troubles that exist in communities. We, as representatives of the authorities, must create such a platform for communication and response to problems,” the representative of the regional state administration noted.

Igor Puzan

, Head of the Department of Land Management and Land Protection of the State Geocadastre in Chernihiv region, highlighted the problems that arise in united communities in the field of land relations.

First, this is the privatization of land in the ATC. If the decision to allocate a land plot was issued many years ago, but the documents have not been executed by this time, or permits for the development of documentation were granted before 2015 – starting from July 2017, the documents will be invalid.

Secondly, land legislation is constantly being amended, so ATCs should have qualified specialists at their disposal to protect the rights of both their residents and the ATC itself. If the ATC has a full-time and professional land manager, the number of problems with the developers of documentation will decrease, since in many cases people do not conclude contracts with land management organizations when drawing up technical documentation for land. In the future, this leads to delays and technical errors in documents, which in turn leads to distrust of authorities and officials and creates social tension in the community. In addition, there are problematic issues with the lands of former collective-owned enterprises, public pastures, the preservation of fodder lands, the allocation of land plots for construction, the approval of new General Plans of settlements, etc.

The Director of the Regional Center for the Provision of Free Secondary Legal Aid in Chernihiv Oblast

Iryna Protchenko

reminded those present that currently 19 legal aid bureaus are already operating in Chernihiv Oblast. The bureau’s specialists provide free primary legal aid (legal consultations), ensure the receipt of applications for receiving free primary legal aid from citizens who, in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On Free Legal Aid”, are entitled to it and will ensure the representation of the interests of such citizens in court.

“The Chernihiv Regional Center for the Provision of Free Secondary Legal Aid, in cooperation with local governments and public organizations, is actively working on the implementation of local programs for the provision of free legal aid,” noted

Iryna Protchenko

. – Yes, in Chernihiv region, 9 Programs for providing free legal aid to residents of local communities have already been approved, in particular 3 of them – in the united territorial communities (Vertiivska, Kiptivska and Desnyanska AH)”.

– The Legal Aid Bureau is a network of points for active dissemination of legal information and access to legal consultations at the level of territorial communities and socially vulnerable social groups, – said the representative of the Chernihiv Local Center for Providing Free Secondary Legal Aid

Alena Mykhailenko

. – The activities of the Legal Aid Bureau are aimed at achieving such goals as increasing the legal literacy of residents of rural areas and small communities; promoting pre-trial settlement of civil and administrative disputes and reducing the burden on the judicial system; preventing crime, primarily among minors; strengthening the legal capacity and legal opportunities of territorial communities.

According to

Mykola Silenko

, coordinator of the Reform Office at the Chernihiv Regional Branch of the Association of Ukrainian Cities, first of all, it is necessary to attract state subventions for the development of documentation in the ATC.

In addition, new legislation has appeared and the legal status of the starosta has been established, the concept of a starosta district has appeared. That is, now a village can be divided into starosta districts if it is large, or vice versa – 2 small villages can unite into one district. Today, there is a possibility of joining other villages and settlements to already created ATCs. However, many legal problems still remain.

This opinion was also supported by

Volodymyr Boyko

, director of the Chernihiv Center for Retraining and Advanced Training: “ATCs are receiving new opportunities and powers, but the range of problematic legal issues that need to be resolved is also increasing. There is a legal conflict in a number of regulatory and legal acts, which in the future may create negative consequences for the residents of these communities.

Mykola Zavalny

, head of the Mykhailo-Kotsiubynska United Territorial Community, emphasized that indeed, today the state entrusts many functions to the AH, some of which are still not regulated by law. This may further lead to distrust of the authorities and increase social tension in the communities. Therefore, cooperation between both state institutions and public organizations is necessary, because many legal issues arise in the activities of AHs – for example, regarding the regulation of the algorithm for staffing in AHs, problems with land relations, issues arising from the regulations of AHs, etc.

In turn, the head of programs of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights

Natalia Kulikova

emphasized that public human rights organizations are actively working in all areas to strengthen the legal capacity and provide mechanisms for legal protection of local communities and their residents, primarily vulnerable categories.

After discussing the problematic issues, they came to a joint decision on the need to create a Remote Advisory Point to involve representatives of non-governmental organizations and government bodies to resolve legal issues in communities, as well as further cooperation through the adoption of relevant Programs for the provision of legal assistance in ATCs, conducting joint visits and providing consultations for both the NGOs themselves and for community residents.

The event was organized by the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights in cooperation with the Legal Development Network within the framework of the project “Strengthening the Legal Capacities of Local Communities of Chernihiv Oblast” with the support of the Program Initiative “Human Rights and Justice” of the International Renaissance Foundation.