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Successful practices of cooperation between human rights defenders and legal aid bureaus were presented in Chernihiv
On September 4, 2018, a press conference was held at the “Clean Politics” press center on the topic: “Successful practices of two years of work of the Legal Aid Bureau in the Chernihiv region.” During the event, speakers spoke about the results of the work of the Legal Aid Bureau in the Chernihiv region, in particular in cooperation with human rights NGOs.
The event was attended by the Director of the Regional Center for Free Secondary Legal Aid in Chernihiv Oblast
Iryna Protchenko
, Director of the Chernihiv MC for Free Secondary Legal Aid
Volodymyr Bobruyko
, Head of the Ripkyn Legal Aid Bureau
Oleksandr Gaan
, Lawyer of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights
Iryna Biryuk
and
Olena Yurnyuk
, a client who received free legal aid.
– The Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights constantly cooperates with the system of free secondary legal aid in the region, including the Regional Center for Free Secondary Legal Aid, public human rights organizations continue to work actively in all areas to strengthen the legal capacity of the community, which today has received both new opportunities and many unresolved issues, so our cooperation is necessary, – noted the representative of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights
Iryna Biryuk
, – today we help not only with consultations, but also together with local and regional centers for free secondary legal aid we hold seminars, trainings, round tables on topical issues in communities, because with joint efforts we can do much more than alone, so such cooperation is needed and it exists.
“From January 1, 2013, regional centers for assistance in criminal proceedings began to operate (ensuring equal access to justice for detainees, suspects, accused and convicted persons), and from July 1, 2015, 3 local centers for the provision of free secondary legal aid began to operate in Chernihiv region (in the cities of Chernihiv, Mena and Nizhyn), which provide access to such assistance in full to all categories of persons defined by law in civil and administrative cases, later, from September 1, 2016, 19 newly created legal aid bureaus began to operate in Chernihiv region – departments of local centers for the provision of free secondary legal aid (all candidates for the positions of heads and deputy heads underwent competitive selections), – noted the director of the Regional Center for the Provision of Free Secondary Legal Aid in Chernihiv region
Iryna Protchenko
, – the work of these bureaus is aimed, first of all, at strengthening the legal capacity of communities, ensuring equal access of every citizen to free legal aid, and their main tasks are legal education, providing free primary legal aid (legal information and consultations), ensuring access to free secondary legal aid (defense, representation of interests in court, drafting of procedural documents), ensuring access to electronic services of the Ministry of Justice.
– During these 2 years of work,
21877
people applied to the bureau for legal aid,
2236
cases were sent to court (of which in 520 cases the interests of clients were represented by full-time employees of the Legal Aid Bureau), 1082 out-of-office consultation points were held (during which clients were able to receive assistance at home, at workplaces and in temporary accommodation facilities), and street information of the population about free legal aid is constantly being carried out, – added Ms. Iryna, – employees of the Local Centers
332
persons have been provided with access to electronic services of the Ministry of Justice, since the bureau began operating, employees of the local centers have held
1629
legal education events, employees of the Legal Aid Bureau are constantly undergoing training and improving their qualifications, where a large role can be played by cooperation with the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights, which promotes such events, and also in fruitful cooperation with the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights, joint field receptions of citizens were held to resolve problematic issues in the field of protection of the rights of landowners and land users.
“I remember how difficult it was for us to start our work and conduct receptions of people in villages, so the creation of a legal aid bureau made our work easier and became a step forward, and the number of people’s appeals immediately increased and, as practice shows, most often they turn to the procedure for deregistration of a place of residence and deprivation of the right to use housing, the procedure for assigning temporary state assistance to children in case of non-payment of alimony (and changing their amount), consultations on subsidies, explanations on drawing up a donation agreement or a will, – said the director of the Chernihiv local center for the provision of free secondary legal aid
Volodymyr Bobruyko
, – people are also interested in the issues of pension recalculation, concluding a lease agreement for a land plot or share, the belonging of title documents (when the surnames in different documents do not match), replacing a party to enforcement proceedings, renewing the term for accepting an inheritance (more than 6 months) and many others urgent issues”.
– In our work, citizens most often contact us with two main issues, the first of which is the problematic cases of “Chernobyl survivors”, since there are many victims of the Chernobyl accident in the Ripka region (for example, a woman with a disability of group 2 and category 1 of victims of the Chernobyl accident was compensated in court for the cost of travel tickets for treatment and moral damage in the amount of 300 UAH), – said the deputy head of the Ripka legal aid bureau
Oleksandr Gaan
, – the second popular issue is the replacement of a party to enforcement proceedings, for example, a woman was transferred a pension and other payments in the amount of 17,000 UAH, but she did not have time to receive them and died, so her son managed to become the legal successor of his mother and receive the money due to her in court.
Also present at the event was a citizen
Olena Yurnyuk
, who successfully applied for free secondary legal aid due to the fact that her prematurely deceased father did not have time to register the ownership right to his apartment in favor of his daughter in advance and therefore the daughter could not inherit the property through a notary office, after which the ownership right to her father’s apartment was restored in court, and now the satisfied woman lives in it.
We remind you that for advice and protection of your rights you can contact local centers for the provision of free secondary legal aid () and their structural units (), as well as the 24-hour telephone line –
0 800 213 103
.
The event was organized by the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights and the Regional Center for the Provision of Free Secondary Legal Aid in the Chernihiv Region as part of the implementation of the project “Development of the Legal Capacity of Communities in the Chernihiv Region” with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation.