Unfortunately, many countries in the world have the systems of justice that give additional opportunities to the privileged strata of population only and, on the contrary, limit opportunities for the vulnerable. The main purpose of the second KyivLEPP 2020 Legal Empowerment Practical Program by the Ukrainian School of Practical Knowledge is to change this situation.
Five teams of innovators from Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, North Macedonia, Poland and Ukraine have proposed ideas to improve the systems of access to justice in their countries. And now, throughout the last week of November, experts of Kyiv LEPP have been helping to develop these ideas into solution prototypes during on-line meetings through the design-thinking methodology.
“How to fill in gaps in access to justice between the privileged and vulnerable strata of population? No universal answer. Each country has to find their solutions alone. That is why we have come to the conclusion that this format of mutual exchange with information and ideas is the most helpful for both the Ukrainian organizations and our partners”, Roman Romanov, Director of The Human Rights and Justice program of the International Renaissance Foundation told during the first training day
Five problems and five solutions
On Tuesday, representatives of five groups participating in KyivLEPP 2020 told about current problems in their motherlands and proposed the ways of solution thereof.
The first were guests from Kyrgyzstan with presentation of their project. According to them, number of cases of family and gender-based violence in this country during the COVOID-19 pandemic has increased by 65%. The speakers additionally noted that lawyers in many cases are unable and sometimes unwilling to deal with victims of similar offences because those cannot afford their services. In total, only 10% of such cases are brought to trial.
Even less sentences where punishment for a crime is proportional to the committed offence are passed. Usually, compensation for victims is so miserable that is not sufficient enough to recover from the injuries sustained. Moreover, cases when the weaker gender are depicted as provokers and not the victims.
To solve this problem, the training group from Kyrgyzstan is going to form a network of specialized para-lawyers in their motherland.
This year KyivLEPP involved two teams at a blow from the North Macedonia. One of the representatives of the Balkan Peninsula teams told about the problem of indigent citizens, namely gipsy communities. The thing is that in their country social bank accounts intended for welfare benefits from government are blocked by virtue of debts by the executive service, and thereby state “throws out” these people below the poverty line. Therefore the team wants to run an advocatory campaign which would help solving this problem in systemic manner.
Another North Macedonian team has an intention to arrange a mobile office of para-lawyers who would render legal aid to the residents of communities located in distant highlands. After the presentation was over, the group’s mentor, Executive Director of the Legal Development Network Yevhen Poltenko described the experience of operation of similar officers in Argentina. The cars also go to the distant areas to bring there not only para-lawyers but psychologists and social officers. The team’s mentor proposed to review this experience yet to allow for other public and governmental organizations to be engaged in the project and make it even more valuable for the society.
The Kenyan team has already developed a web-platform for alternative dispute resolution via on-line. By means of KyivLEPP 2020 training program the team would like to make the platform popular and available for each resident of the country.
A joint team of Ukraine and Poland will work over the international communication platform for students, mentors, and customers of legal clinics in both countries. Great idea, because this platform will allow the Ukrainians living in Poland and the Polish living in Ukraine to get specialized aid in taxation, family disputes, issues that may arise at crossing the state border. On the other hand, this constitutes a great opportunity for students to share experiences, take practice under supervision by legal clinic mentors.
We will sure to tell you about achievements of the participants of our program for week.
Let’s remind that this innovative Program has been implemented due to joint cooperation of colleagues from the Ukrainian Legal Aid Foundation, Coordination Centre for Legal Aid Provision, Legal Development Network, Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, PRAVOKATOR.Kyiv legal club and expert and financial support by The Human Rights and Justice program of the International Renaissance Foundation.