The team participating in the Kyiv Legal Empowerment Practical Program from Kyrgyzstan has completed its plan to create a network of paralegals for victims of gender-based violence. What is planned to be done for its implementation?
According to the Ministry of the Interior of Kyrgyzstan, the number of domestic violence cases in the country is increasing every year. From 2012 to 2015, between 2,500 and 3,500 facts were registered. In 2016-2018, this index did not fall below 7000. And in 2020, it exceeded 9,000 cases.
The real suffering of people hides behind all these figures. Imagine a man pushing a pregnant woman with a three-month-old baby into the street after having beat the living daylights out of her to cause a miscarriage. This wild story happened in Bishkek last year.
According to experts of the local non-governmental organizations in the area of access to justice (A2J), the growth of domestic violence in Kyrgyzstan contributes to several factors, including low legal culture in society, gender stereotypes of law enforcement officers, judicial authorities and lawyers. Approximately 90 percent of all lawyers, beside not having the necessary professional skills and knowledge of how to protect victims of gender and family violence, simply do not want to work in such categories of cases. How is it possible to help victims of violence in such cases? The team from Kyrgyzstan formulated the answer to this question when taking a course of design thinking of the Kyiv Legal Empowerment Practical Program together with the teams from Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, North Macedonia and Poland.
Recently, the team, with the support of Kateryna Yeroshenko, the curator from the School, program and project coordinator of the Ukrainian Legal Aid Foundation, completed the action plan based on a prototype developed during KyivLEPP. Their idea is to create a network of paralegals from community leaders – men and women – who would provide on-the-ground legal assistance to victims of gender and family violence.
First, the team plans to create an initiative group with the support of both non-governmental and state organizations, then to hold a meeting with vice-mayors of Bishkek, Osh and Balikchi to conclude a memorandum of cooperation on assistance to the population, prevention and combating domestic violence. The work is going to be organized with six local territorial administrations (LTA) in the above-mentioned cities. After selecting those wishing to participate in the program, the project refers to teaching them the skills of counselling on domestic violence and helping to draw up an action plan. For training, it is planned to prepare a panel book for paralegals, containing brief information on how to advise victims of violence in various specific situations.
The plan presented by the Kyrgyz team envisages that due to this decision, about 7,200 people are to receive legal advice. KyivLEPP2020 graduates are intended to create a network of paralegals with professional skills and knowledge on the ways of protection of victims of gender and domestic violence in 4 months, that is in July. A round table on the results of this project is planned to be held in September.
The program is implemented by the Ukrainian School of Practical Knowledge on Access to Justice through the joint creation of colleagues from the Ukrainian Legal Aid Foundation, the Coordination Center for Legal Aid Provision, the Legal Development Network, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the Law Club PRAVOKATOR. Kyiv and with the expert and financial support of the Human Rights and Justice Program of the International Renaissance Foundation.