Challenges and Opportunities for Adopting People-Focused Measurement Approaches to Access to Justice
ANDRIY VYSHNEVSKY CEO Legal Aid Ukraine
Understanding Effective Access to Justice Paris, France 3 November 2016
THE LEGAL AID SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT: MAIN STEPS
1
Adoption of the Legal Aid Law (2011)
2
Establishment of the new institution (2012)
3
Access to legal aid in criminal proceedings – defence (2013)
4
Quality of legal aid in criminal proceedings (2014) Access to legal aid in civil and administrative proceedings – representation of citizen’s interests in court (2015)
5 6
7
Integration of primary and secondary legal aid. Quality of civil legal aid (since 2016) Legal empowerment of local communities (since 2016)
MAIN PARAMETRES OF THE LEGAL AID SYSTEM
100% territorial coverage
500 000 CLIENTS:
(except the temporary occupied Crimean Peninsula and parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions)
290 000 vulnerable persons –
24/7 > 550 access points > 2 000 employed legal counsels > 5 000 freelance lawyers
defence & representation in court (for 46 months of operation)
210 000 – legal consultations & information
(for 15 months of operation)
MAIN SOURCES OF INFORMATION FOR POLICY-MAKING
Reports of NGOs, international organisations, governmental institutions (such as the Ombudsperson) Recommendations of independent assessment missions (such as CoE) Internal studies and surveys done by the legal aid system experts Statistical data collected within the legal aid system Information from lawyers providing legal aid Results of the permanent monitoring of legal aid quality Information exchange with human rights protection institutions (such as the National Preventive Mechanism)
EXAMPLE: ESTABLISHMENT OF EARLY ACCESS TO LEGAL AID Numerous reports of NGOs, the Ombudsperson’s Annual Report on the facts of illegal violence in detention centres
Adoption of the new Code of Criminal Procedure with the new mechanism of early access to legal aid for all detainees
Yevhen Zakharov, Director of Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group
“Access to legal aid is the second key factor that reduced the amount of illegal violence by law-enforcement officers. In comparison with 2011, the amount of such violations reduced by half.”
EXAMPLE: ENSURING ACCESS TO MEDICAL AID FOR THE CLIENTS OF THE LEGAL AID SYSTEM ADOPTION OF THE QUALITY STANDARDS OF THE LEGAL AID PROVISION IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS Survey among 550 lawyers providing legal aid on the violations of human rights by the lawenforcement officers (done by the Legal Aid System in 2013)
Overall standard 6: “If appearance or condition of the Client is indicative of ill-treatment or assault, or the Client has complaints about it, the Defender should immediately take measures to: provide medical aid to the Client, make a record of physical injuries, conduct forensic medical examination.”
41% of lawyers indicated the facts of physical and / or psychological pressure on detainees Series of trainings “Defender’s Activities on Ensuring Access to Necessary Medical Aid” to support the proper implementation of the standard (40 trainings with 1270 lawyers involved)
EXAMPLE: EXPANDING THE ACCESS TO LEGAL AID AND THE SCOPE OF LEGAL SERVICES IN 2016
Analysis of the data collected within the Legal Aid System about the clients of 100 legal aid centres:
Establishment of more than 400 legal aid bureaus covering the whole territory of Ukraine
RESULTS
Main functions – legal consultations and legal empowerment of local communities
Needs in legal aid: 80% legal consultations; 20% representation of interests in court Residence: 90% from the district where the centre is situated; 10% from the surrounding districts of the centre’s area of operation
EXAMPLE: ENVIRONMENT SCANNING AND EXPANDING ACCESS TO LEGAL AID FOR TARGETED VULNERABLE GROUPS
“Integrator” – specific position in local legal aid centres Environment scanning to find potential vulnerable clients (hospitals, geriatric institutions, orphanages, institutions for people with disabilities etc.)
Establishment of mobile and distant access points to legal aid Co-operation with NGOs to provide complimentary services for the targeted vulnerable clients
EXAMPLE: EXPANDING ACCESS TO LEGAL AID FOR VULNERABLE GROUPS
Analysis of the data collected within the Legal Aid System on access to legal aid for new vulnerable groups appeared in consequence of the military aggression against Ukraine from the Russian Federation and occupation of a part of the territory of Ukraine – internally displaced persons and participants of the counter-terrorist operation
Initiative to establish such eligibility criteria as “internally displaced persons and participants of the counter-terrorist operation” in the Legal Aid Law
EXAMPLE: “AGAINST THE VIOLENCE” INITIATIVE “Against the Violence” – literature, media and human rights defence initiative
supported by the Government of Canada within the project “Quality and Accessible Legal Aid” Set of radio programmes on “Public Radio” The book “Against the Violence” – collection of stories about domestic violence and simultaneously practical guidelines for the victims of domestic violence
Larysa Denysenko, famous Ukrainian human rights defender, writer, activist
Presentation of “Against the Violence” book
NEXT STEPS: FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THE WikiLegalAid TOOL Structure
Example of an article
Legal consultations database reflecting the structure of the clients’ legal requests to the centres
NEXT STEPS
Active participation in the development of the methodology for legal needs assessment in Ukraine (with the support of the OSI) Upgrade of the legal aid information-analytical system (with the support of the Government of Canada) Advanced study of the systemic legal problems raised by clients, so as to propose solutions for the legislators
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION! www.legalaid.gov.ua