Prospects for cooperation between free legal aid providers discussed in Chernihiv

On June 23, 2016, a roundtable was held in Chernihiv on cooperation between local governments, local centers for the provision of legal aid and public organizations to ensure access to legal aid in local communities.

The event was attended by the acting head of the Main Territorial Department of Justice in Chernihiv Oblast

Vyacheslav Khardikov

, deputy director of the Regional Center for the Provision of Free Secondary Legal Aid in Chernihiv Oblast

Olesya Pyrkovska

, director of the Chernihiv Local Center for the Provision of Free Secondary Legal Aid

Volodymyr Bobruyko

, program manager of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights

Nataliya Piddubna

, representatives of local governments, the legal community, public organizations and the media.

The head of the Regional Department of Justice

Vyacheslav Khardikov

informed those present about the current process of reforming the justice system.

“Until the centers for providing free legal aid began to operate, the provision of free legal aid by the authorities was not effective. That is why, since 2013, the process of introducing a network of regional and local centers for providing free legal aid began in the state, – said Mr.

Khardikov

.

In general, according to statistics, residents have questions about receiving free primary legal aid, therefore, from September 1, 2016, legal aid bureaus will operate, where residents will be able to receive information or consultation, and if a person who has applied to the Bureau also needs secondary legal aid, they will be able to receive free secondary legal aid. That is, the bureaus will be a kind of “front offices” of the centers for providing free legal aid, which will ensure the accessibility of legal aid.

The Director of the Chernihiv Local Center for the Provision of Free Legal Aid

Volodymyr Bobruyko

spoke about the specifics of the work and the assistance that the center’s employees and lawyers provide to residents of 4 districts of Chernihiv region, as well as to residents of Horodnyanskyi, Kozeletskyi, Ripkynskyi, Chernihivskyi districts and the cities of Chernihiv and Slavutych, which fall under the Law of Ukraine “On the Provision of Free Legal Aid”.

According to the head of the local center, the categories of those entitled to free legal aid are expanding, the number of applications from residents is increasing, as the amount of information about the Center’s activities has increased. But residents of remote areas are still not sufficiently informed about the Center’s work, and often do not have the opportunity to contact the Center for a number of reasons.

According to general estimates, about 20% of citizens in Ukraine have the right to free secondary legal aid. Special attention is paid to working with orphans and children deprived of parental care, therefore, work is constantly being carried out with the management of boarding schools and children’s services.

In total, over the 11 months of operation of the Chernihiv Local Center for Legal Aid, 1,500 applications were received, but most of them concerned primary legal aid.

“The Chernihiv Local Center for Legal Aid, in cooperation with local governments and public organizations, is actively working on implementing local programs for providing free legal aid,” noted

Volodymyr Bobruyko

. – Yes, today programs for providing free legal aid to residents of Desnyanska and Kyptivska united territorial communities have already been approved. Work in this direction continues with many other districts and cities.”

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

Natalia Piddubna

emphasized that public organizations are actively working in all areas of providing legal assistance and protecting human rights and provide assistance to all citizens who turn to them.

During the round table discussion, the issues of the impossibility for all citizens to receive free qualified legal assistance were raised, the problems of legal awareness of the public, namely residents of remote settlements of the Chernihiv region, were discussed, and those present tried to find ways to solve them.

The event was organized by the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights in cooperation with the Chernihiv Local Center for the Provision of Free Secondary Legal Aid within the framework of the project “Integration of Primary and Secondary Free Legal Aid at the Level of Territorial Communities of Chernihiv Oblast” within the framework of the Project “Affordable and Quality Legal Aid in Ukraine”, which is implemented by the Canadian Bureau for International Education with the support of the Government of Canada and the Program Initiative “Human Rights and Justice” of the International Renaissance Foundation.