The event was hosted by the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in Kharkiv Oblast and the Eastern Interregional Centre for Free Legal Aid. This partnership enables the engagement of experts who explain the procedure for providing free legal aid and answer practical questions from participants.
Growing need for legal aid
According to Dmytro Perepelytsia, the Deputy Head of the Central-Eastern Department of Free Legal Aid, the need for advice is on a steady rise. While last year the Department provided more than 460,000 consultations, in just seven months of this year the figure exceeded 680,000. That is why local self-government bodies must take their role very seriously: they must advise residents on how to apply for free primary and secondary legal aid and know which authorities to refer residents to if necessary.
What is free primary legal aid?
Dmytro Perepelytsia explained that free primary legal aid is a state guarantee that allows every person to learn about his\her rights and obligations, how to exercise and protect them, what to do if the rights are violated, and how to appeal against the actions or inaction of public authorities. It includes providing legal information, advice and clarifications on legal issues, assistance in drafting statements, complaints and other legal documents, as well as support in accessing secondary legal aid and mediation. All residents of municipalities are entitled to it.
About secondary legal aid
Free secondary legal aid enables vulnerable residents of the municipality to receive fair protection in court. It includes protection during detention, representation of citizens’ interests in courts, other state bodies, local self-government bodies and in relations with other persons, as well as the drafting of procedural documents, according to the speaker.
How can municipalities inform people about legal aid?
Municipalities should raise public awareness about these services by creating special resources and websites that explain in simple terms how to obtain legal aid, especially for people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups, noted Dmytro Perepelytsia. They should also ensure outreach through official municipality websites, social media and other communication channels used by the municipality. Local authorities should work closely with the free legal aid system to ensure that as many people as possible can benefit from these services.
What else was discussed?
At the event, participants also learned how to properly host personal receptions for citizens, assist in drafting statements and complaints and provide consultations on legal issues within the scope of the local self-government body’s powers:
“We further discussed how to contract lawyers and other experts to provide consultations. Establishing specialised institutions to provide free legal aid that address the needs of specific municipalities was yet another issue,” said Tetiana Filatova, a Policy Advisor for Decentralisation and Local Self-Government at the Regional Office of U-LEAD in Kharkiv Oblast.
In addition, Dmytro Perepelytsia presented the WikiLegalAid platform, which helps local self-government officials quickly find relevant legal information, procedures, and guidelines for providing advice to the public, making their daily work much more efficient.
Maryna Goncharenko, the Head of the Regional Office, believes that the event was an important step in supporting the ability of the municipalities in Kharkiv Oblast to provide quality legal assistance to residents and raise public awareness of their legal rights. She stated:
“The right to free legal aid is a right guaranteed by the state for citizens, and local self-government bodies are an important link in the system of entities providing this aid. The services that local self-government is authorised to provide in accordance with the Law of Ukraine ‘On Free Legal Aid’ include primary legal aid in the format of legal information, consultations and clarifications on legal issues within the scope of competence of the local self-government bodies, drafting statements, complaints and other non-procedural documents, and the demand for those is growing every day.”
