{"id":3659,"date":"2018-07-26T19:11:28","date_gmt":"2018-07-26T16:11:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/?post_type=event&#038;p=3659"},"modified":"2018-07-26T19:11:28","modified_gmt":"2018-07-26T16:11:28","slug":"introducing-free-legal-aid-programs-in-the-communities-of-dvorichna-district-of-kharkiv-oblast","status":"publish","type":"event","link":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/event\/introducing-free-legal-aid-programs-in-the-communities-of-dvorichna-district-of-kharkiv-oblast\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing free legal aid programs in the communities of Dvorichna district of Kharkiv oblast"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><i>\u00abHuman rights and freedoms, and guarantees thereof shall determine the essence and course of activities of the State. The State shall be responsible to the individual for its activities. Affirming and ensuring human rights and freedoms shall be the main duty of the State<\/i><\/em><em><i>.\u201d<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><i>(<\/i><\/em><em><i>Article 3 of the Constitution of Ukraine<\/i><\/em><em><i>)<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In the context of ongoing reforms that are currently implemented in Ukraine, access to legal aid and legal support for the activities of institutions, including of local self-government bodies, is becoming increasingly relevant.<\/p>\n<p>Providing qualified legal aid\u00a0in rural areas where there is a shortage of trained specialists and financial resources\u00a0is a particularly critical issue. For example, a local council should allocate some UAH 60,000 per year to employ a lawyer \u2013 even if the minimal wage is paid \u2013 not to mention the difficulty of finding such a potential employee.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, the Law of Ukraine &#8220;On Free Legal Aid&#8221; binds local self-government bodies to provide legal aid to the residents. Some possible ways to deliver on this obligation are to set up a specialized community provider or to engage a lawyer\/attorney or legal entity (including civil society organizations) on a competitive basis.<\/p>\n<p>A model for providing free legal aid in Dvorichna district of Kharkiv oblast which is implemented by Dvorichna office of the Legal Development Network is a good example of viable solution. The office carries out its activities through the NGO &#8220;Fund of Rural Communities of Dvorichna.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3660\" src=\"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/1.4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1984\" height=\"1488\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/1.4.jpg 1984w, https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/1.4-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/1.4-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/1.4-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/1.4-200x150.jpg 200w, https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/1.4-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1984px) 100vw, 1984px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><b>Background<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Dvorichna\u00a0district is an administrative-territorial unit in the northeastern part of Kharkiv\u00a0oblast\u00a0of Ukraine. It was established\u00a0in 1923. The population is 18,456 people. There are one\u00a0settlement council and 13 village councils\u00a0in the district. Total number of settlements is 55. The distance from the regional center of Kharkiv is 150 km. (according to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/uk.wikipedia.org\"><u>https:\/\/uk.wikipedia.org<\/u><\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>After the Law of Ukraine &#8220;On Free Legal Aid&#8221;\u00a0entered into force, in 2012-2013 the team of Dvorichna\u00a0Office of the Legal Development\u00a0Network launched an advocacy campaign to find a solution\u00a0that would provide residents with access to free legal aid.<\/p>\n<p>This solution was necessary because of the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the remoteness of villages from the district center and the lack of regular public transportationbetween them;<\/li>\n<li>low income ofoverwhelming majority of the residents in\u00a0the district which deprived them of access to paid legal services;<\/li>\n<li>lack of legal information and materialsin rural libraries;<\/li>\n<li>limited access of local residentsto the Internet;<\/li>\n<li>lack of lawyers in rural areas.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The access of people living in remote areas to social and legal aid is significantly limited. Unlike city residents, rural people\u00a0have access to much less providers\u00a0where they can get\u00a0legal information or advice. It\u00a0often leads to violation of\u00a0their\u00a0rights and prevents them from enjoying and protecting their rights.<\/p>\n<p>Free legal aid is a safeguard for\u00a0access to justice\u00a0and\u00a0building\u00a0legal capacity of vulnerable groups. Timely and effective aid\u00a0can prevent\u00a0a\u00a0litigation or a conflict. The\u00a0advocacy campaign widely used these arguments to support the idea of establishing a regular system of free legal aid.<\/p>\n<p>During\u00a0the campaign, a series of meetings with district leaders, members of local councils, experts and the public was organized. In particular, the topic of\u00a0providing free legal aid to the residents of the district was\u00a0discussed\u00a0at the round table and political and legal commission of Dvorichna\u00a0district council of Kharkiv oblast.<\/p>\n<p>Based on the findings of\u00a0discussions, it was decided to opt out for engaging a lawyer to providing free legal aid to local residents within the framework of the respective district program. Then, the representatives of Dvorichna\u00a0Office of the Legal Development Network jointly\u00a0with\u00a0officials of local self-government bodies developed a draft district\u00a0program &#8220;Provision of Legal Aid\u00a0to the Residents\u00a0of Dvorichna\u00a0District for 2014-2018.&#8221; The draft program\u00a0was reviewed and submitted to the session of the district\u00a0council.<\/p>\n<p><strong><b>On December 20, 2013, the program was approved by the decision of Dvorich<\/b><\/strong><strong><b>na<\/b><\/strong><strong><b>\u00a0district council of Kharkiv <\/b><\/strong><strong><b>oblast<\/b><\/strong><strong><b>. <\/b><\/strong><strong><b>A<\/b><\/strong><strong><b>\u00a0professional lawyer was selected on a competitive basis<\/b><\/strong><strong><b>\u00a0to provide free legal aid to the residents.<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><b>Practice<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At the very beginning of the program, free legal aid was provided once a week in the municipality of Dvorichna. It was clear that the system should be\u00a0further developed\u00a0and expanded\u00a0to remote settlements.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to the cooperation with international development organizations, in particular with the International Renaissance Foundation,\u00a0the Office incrementally started expanding to the village councils of Dvorichna\u00a0district. In particular, the\u00a0Office provided a series of trainings for 20 employees of local self-government bodies and 40 employees of cultural institutions. These people became assistants in legal and other relevant issues. In addition, four\u00a0legal units were set up in the village councils. Representatives of these units received\u00a0basic legal training at the School of Law and have become legal grass-roots advisers. In fact, a network of paralegals was established in the district.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to providing legal advice to people, a number of extra measures were taken through the program such as expert support to\u00a0the activities of local self-government bodies, associations of citizens\u00a0and other civic initiatives. Such interaction helped\u00a0involve all 13 village\u00a0councils\u00a0and\u00a0one settlement councils of the district to program activities, including to funding them.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3661\" src=\"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/PerevirteTrudovu_Kejs.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"675\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/PerevirteTrudovu_Kejs.jpg 900w, https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/PerevirteTrudovu_Kejs-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/PerevirteTrudovu_Kejs-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/PerevirteTrudovu_Kejs-200x150.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Implementation of the program activities\u00a0yielded the following results:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Residents of the district gotpermanent access to qualified free legal aid;<\/li>\n<li>Lawyers and experts of DvorichnaOffice of the Legal Development Network constantly take part in the Network activities to improve their knowledge and study experience of addressing\u00a0legal problems in other regions of Ukraine;<\/li>\n<li>The number of appeals to local self-government bodies has decreased threefold(in 2015, 2016\u00a0and\u00a02017,\u00a0Dvorichna\u00a0settlement council received\u00a0154, 45\u00a0and\u00a045\u00a0appeals respectively, the\u00a0rural councils \u2013 316, 252\u00a0and 191\u00a0appeals\u00a0respectively), which in turn reduced the burden on the officials of local self-government bodies;<\/li>\n<li>In addition, local authorities and the community as a whole gotaccess to expert legal support (involvement and legal support of reforms, advocacy campaigns, implementation of restorative practices (mediation), training and support to paralegals, assistance in preparing project proposals for donor funding, analysis of legal acts, letters, requests, drafting of responses to requests of controlling bodies, etc.).<strong><b><br \/>\n<\/b><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><b>H<\/b><\/strong><strong><b>al<\/b><\/strong><strong><b>y<\/b><\/strong><strong><b>na Turbaba, <\/b><\/strong><strong><b>Head<\/b><\/strong><strong><b>\u00a0of Dvorich<\/b><\/strong><strong><b>na <\/b><\/strong><strong><b>district council<\/b><\/strong>, highlights:\u00a0\u201c<em><i>We <\/i><\/em><em><i>believe that<\/i><\/em><em><i>\u00a0this reduction in appeals to local councils <\/i><\/em><em><i>is due to<\/i><\/em><em><i>\u00a0the work of Legal Development Network <\/i><\/em><em><i>O<\/i><\/em><em><i>ffice and the implementation of program activities. This work <\/i><\/em><em><i>helps<\/i><\/em><em><i>\u00a0find <\/i><\/em><em><i>solutions to the <\/i><\/em><em><i>issues and appeals<\/i><\/em><em><i>\u00a0and contributes to improved legal awareness of our residents.\u201d<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><b>Success Stories and Positive Impact on the Community (2017)<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><i>\u201cThe community saved UAH 20,000\u201d<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Kolodiazne\u00a0village council violated the terms of the lease agreement as it did not pay for the pothole filling on rural roads in time. The money should have come from the state budget as a grant. As a result, the contractor applied to the court\u00a0and\u00a0it\u00a0requested to make the village council pay for the works and impose penalties.\u00a0The\u00a0specialists of Dvorichna\u00a0Office of the Legal Development Network conducted successful talks and managed to persuade the contractor to revoke its claim for UAH 20,000 fine.<\/p>\n<p><em><i>&#8220;600 s<\/i><\/em><em><i>q.m. of community premises rented out to generate income to <\/i><\/em><em><i>the district budget&#8221;<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n<p>The premises of former Central District Pharmacy were transferred to the community of Dvorichna\u00a0district from the regional level. For more than a year, the council was not able to register ownership because of the alleged &#8220;arrest.&#8221; At the request of the council\u00a0head, the experts of Dvorichna\u00a0Office of the Legal Development Network gathered\u00a0necessary evidence and proved that the arrest was imposed on another room that belong to a different legal entity and was never put onto the community books.<\/p>\n<p><em><i>&#8220;<\/i><\/em><em><i>A <\/i><\/em><em><i>10 hectares<\/i><\/em><em><i>-big land plot is working<\/i><\/em><em><i>\u00a0for the community&#8221;<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n<p>The lawyers of Dvorichna\u00a0Office of the Legal Development Network provided assistance to Lyman\u00a0village council to establish that two land plots in the village are escheat property and put them onto the village community books. As a result, these land plots\u00a0were rented out\u00a0through the auction, and the\u00a0revenue to the local budget has tripled.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><b>Program Funding<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0program &#8220;Provision of Legal Aid\u00a0to the Residents\u00a0of Dvorichna\u00a0District for 2014-2018\u201d is funded from the district\u00a0budget. Program expenditures include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>payment for legal advice;<\/li>\n<li>mobile receptions;<\/li>\n<li>stationery.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Year-by-year funding:<\/p>\n<p>2014 \u2013 UAH 30,000<\/p>\n<p>2015 \u2013 UAH 50,000<\/p>\n<p>2016 \u2013 UAH 80,000<\/p>\n<p>2017 \u2013 UAH 150,000.<\/p>\n<p>Since\u00a02016, all 13 village\u00a0councils\u00a0and a settlement council started contributing to the program financially. Such financial contribution is possible is village budgets collected extra money or if leftovers are available. The money is transferred to district budget from village and settlement budgets and is\u00a0&#8220;targeted.&#8221;\u00a0It means that the members of a district council cannot decide on allocating this money on any purpose other than the one specified by a village council or a settlement council that provided this money.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, positive performance of Dvorichna Office of the Legal Development Network\u00a0helps raise funds from international donors (about UAH 300,000 annually) for developing the free legal aid system in the district.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3662\" src=\"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/bdc378e4074d4b7a449b46d01cc12392_XL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"675\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/bdc378e4074d4b7a449b46d01cc12392_XL.jpg 900w, https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/bdc378e4074d4b7a449b46d01cc12392_XL-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/bdc378e4074d4b7a449b46d01cc12392_XL-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/bdc378e4074d4b7a449b46d01cc12392_XL-200x150.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong><b>Plans for Future<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0program for the provision of free legal aid in Dvorichna\u00a0district expires this year. Accordingly, experts from Dvorichna\u00a0Office of the Legal Development Network are planning an\u00a0advocacy campaign for the adoption of the subsequent program for the period of 2019-2024.\u00a0Also, experts are analyzing\u00a0previous experience and developing suggestions for\u00a0further improvement of the free legal aid system in Dvorichna district.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><b>Vitali<\/b><\/strong><strong><b>i<\/b><\/strong><strong><b>\u00a0Bab<\/b><\/strong><strong><b>y<\/b><\/strong><strong><b>k<\/b><\/strong><strong><b>a<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><b>Head of Dvorich<\/b><\/strong><strong><b>na<\/b><\/strong><strong><b>\u00a0Office of the Legal Development Network<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><b>Yevhen Poltenko<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><b>Executive Director of the Legal Development Network<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00abHuman rights and freedoms, and guarantees thereof shall determine the essence and course of activities of the State. The State shall be responsible to the individual for its activities. Affirming and ensuring human rights and freedoms shall be the main&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3660,"template":"","project":[],"section":[484,415],"event-type":[],"region":[],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event\/3659"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/event"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event\/3659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"project","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project?post=3659"},{"taxonomy":"section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/section?post=3659"},{"taxonomy":"event-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event-type?post=3659"},{"taxonomy":"region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region?post=3659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}