Legal Empowerment of the

Poor

Within the System of Free Legal Aid Delivery

Implementing the

idea of “Empowerment…”

– 2008 - establishing the Commission on Legal

Empowerment of the Poor;

– 2009 – the report of General Secretary of UN on

Legal Empowerment of the Poor and poverty

reduction;

Launching of implementing the LEP Initiative in

Ukraine by the IRF within support of Open Society

Justice Initiative (Budapest).

Ukrainian context

The IRF supported the Legal needs’ assessment research, which

showed:

• Ukrainians need the legal aid. However they are passive because

feel the lack of information regarding the sources of this aid -

77% of respondents.

• Poverty and distrust to the legal system are main reasons and

and barriers for the people to maintain their rights. 52% could

not get legal aid because they lacked money. 83% think that the

rulings issued by judges are influenced by wealth status and

those who possess more wealth will have the advantage when

turning to judiciary system.

Network

of Community

Law Centers

Ensuring

access to justice

CLCs provide the persons attending the Centers with requests with the information on legal issues, identify legal needs of local residents, actively cooperate with local government bodies to resolve individual problems and protect community interests.

Geography

Lvyv (2), Volyn (1), Rivne (2), Khmelnitsly (2), Kyiv (1), Chernigiv (1),

Poltava (1), Odesa (5), Kherson (6), Luhansk (6), Dnipropetrovsk (1),

Mykolayiv (1) regions.

Mission and impact

• To establish the social links in the

communities;

• To include vulnerable groups to the social

and decision making processes;

• To raise the peoples’ capability to maintain

their rights in legal ways.

The Centers’

principles

• Aid is provided for free for all community members;

• Aid is geography accessible, including for rural residents;

• The Centers are ruled by the common Provision on the

Community Law Centers and use the same client

reporting forms;

• The Centers operate as civil society organizations;

• The Centers cooperate with self-government institutions

on defining legal needs and readdressing the issues of the

community members.

Program areas

• Pro bono services provided by attorneys;

• Mediation and alternative dispute

resolutions;

• Training paralegals and volunteers;

• Establishing connections between rural

communities of Ukraine.

Approaches

Cooperation with

the libraries

Group consultations on most frequent legal issues

Informational materials development

CLCs in Internet

On Facebook

Legal Empowerment of the Poor Ukraine

On-line consulting on

www.pravo.prostir.ua

Outputs

• 2009 – 2011 > 20 000 consultations;

• Majority of the clients are women (>60%);

• Most frequent requests are on social

welfare issues (>50%);

• > 70% requests were satisfied during the

first visit to the CLC.

Outline“Acting legal rights are not luxury one can dispense with,

but a general need. Exclusion of

the poor from the scope of law – is not only an outrageous

injustice, it means depriving

them of the opportunity to improve their life, and is the

element that keeps down the development of poor

countries”.

Report of the UN Commission on.

Legal Empowerment of the Poor.

“Making the law work for everyone”,

2008.

Thank you for watching it!

International Renaissance Foundation

Rule of Law Program

2011