MEDIA AND LEGAL EDUCATION OF THE POPULATION

As Viktor Tarasov, Executive Director of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights, and Serhiy Fedus, Head of the Press and Book Publishing Department of the Press and Information Department of the Chernihiv Regional State Administration, noted at the beginning of the event, legal education of citizens is an urgent problem in the context of the development of civil society.

Viktor Tarasov told the seminar participants about the activities of the initiative “Strengthening the Legal Empowerment of the Poor” and the features of cooperation between the media, NGOs and government bodies. He noted that in conditions of low legal culture of citizens and total impoverishment of the population, the role of print media as a carrier of accessible information about citizens’ rights and specific examples of solving legal problems is growing.

The role of justice bodies in legal education of the population was highlighted by Oleksandr Odynets, a leading specialist of the Chernihiv City Department of Justice. According to him, providing free legal assistance to poor citizens in public reception centers operating at justice departments is one of the main tasks of justice bodies.

Examples of the activities of human rights organizations to strengthen the legal opportunities of poor segments of the population were given by Alla Lepekha, director of the Chernihiv Women’s Human Rights Center. The organization has more than ten years of experience working with such specific categories of citizens as the low-income, homeless, and persons released from prison.

Oleksandr Solomakha, Head of the Information Support and Public Relations Department of the Chernihiv Regional Council, commented on the new Law “On Access to Public Information”. He is convinced that at this stage the role of units responsible for public relations is increasing. They should act as effective communicators between government bodies and society.

The seminar participants agreed that an important prerequisite for strengthening citizens’ legal awareness and building civil society in Ukraine should be close systematic cooperation between government bodies, local governments, public organizations, the media and legal experts.

The project “Improving legal protection and access to justice for low-income rural residents in Chernihiv region” is implemented by the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights with the support of the Rule of Law Program of the International Renaissance Foundation. The goal of the project is to promote access to justice, as well as prevent and eliminate human rights violations in the territory of Chernihiv region through the provision of legal aid to citizens

and legal education activities.