The significance of free legal aid for the protection of human rights, the forms of its implementation, problems and possible solutions were discussed during the conference by the alumni of the Human Rights House project “International law in advocacy. Electronic Human Rights Education for Lawyers”, as well as by representatives of universities from different countries and bodies of advocatory self-government.

“The issue of providing free legal aid is relevant to all countries, but in the countries participating in the project it is still a developing institution.It is symbolical that Russia hosts this conference, since the state is beginning to work in this direction; the law on on free legal aid was passed, which gives hope that this work will be productive and the results of the conference could be used to establish effective cooperation of lawyers, attorneys, representatives of legal clinics and NGOs, “- said the manager   of Human Rights House Network program “International Law in Advocacy” Liudmila Ulyashina (right).

The participants of the conference in Veliky Novgorod discussed diverse ways of providing free legal assistance – through NGOs and the media, legal clinics at universities, lawyers working on assignments, and lawyers working pro bono.Participants also discussed the forms and models of possible interactions between attorneys (lawyers) – alumni   of the project with non-governmental organizations, universities, national institutions for the protection of human rights.The discussion highlighted the difficulties faced by each of the providers of free legal aid: the lack of clear definitions, the problem of the distribution of responsibilities in the provision of free legal aid, lack of elaboration of this issue in the legislation, abuses existing in the legal community and law enforcement agencies of the post-Soviet states that discredit institute of legal aid, supported by the state budget.

Participation of representatives of the legal community of Norway has allowed the participants of the conference to compare the basics of organization of free legal aid and work of one of this country’s legal clinics with emerging institutions in the countries of the former Soviet Union

“The conference was organized by “Russian Research Center for Human Rights” which supported the initiative of alumni of the project from Novgorod. For us, this is the second regional conference of the project and this time we managed to bring together not only the graduates of the project from 5 CIS countries, but also advocates and representatives of the academic community. Most importantly, not only to gather, but also try to find ways of cooperation to ensure the right to a fair trial for the most vulnerable groups through the provision of free legal aid.  It is symbolic that the conference took place in those days, when the international Human Rights House Network celebrates 20th anniversary – it was founded in 1994 as an independent human rights initiative, bringing together organizations from different countries in order to promote the development of civil society, protection and promotion of human rights, the strengthening of institutional capacity and effectiveness of the human rights community. As the “Russian Research Centre for Human Rights” became one of the first members of the Network, we hope that our work will continue to strengthen the values ​​of human rights at the national and regional levels,” – said Yevgeniya Adrova, national coordinator of the project “Electronic Human Rights Education for Lawyers” in Russia (left).

The conference was aimed at finding out what resources and mechanisms for providing free legal aid already exist and in what areas attorneys and lawyers can work together to provide the most qualified legal assistance in the public interest.As the manager of Human Rights House Network program “International Law in Advocacy” Liudmila Ulyashina said it was the first time that the project managed to gather representatives of legal and human rights communities, NGOs, legal clinics and jointly discuss and develop new approaches and methods of protection   human rights.In recommendations adopted by the conference, considerable attention was paid to going beyond the national legislation and using the international human rights law.

Thanks to the participation of representatives of universities, the conference was the first step towards greater cooperation between alumni of the project and partner organizations with universities, primarily from the Yaroslav the Wise Novgorod State University. and legal clinics of several universities.

The conference participants voiced and signed an appeal to the Russian authorities to take action in connection with the illegal detention at Moscow airport Moldovan lawyer Vyacheslav Tsurkan, who planned to attend the conference.  The authors of the statement appealed to the higher authorities of the Russian Federation to oblige the Prosecutor General to initiate a criminal investigation into the human rights violations and discriminatory attitudes of border officers from Domodedovo.The signatories of the declaration recognized conditions of Vyacheslav Tsurkan’s and other detainees’ detention at the airport inhuman and degrading and demanded a public apology, with subsequent payment of compensation for moral damage and physical suffering.

During the conference statement was read on behalf of the participants in relation to the growing number of victims during the protests in Ukraine. “We express our solidarity and support to our Ukrainian colleagues and the people of Ukraine.  We urge to remember the value of human life and hope that a way to end violence and find compromises can still be found in order to avoid new victims, “- said the conference participants.

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Human Rights House Network program “International Law in Advocacy””   International Law in advocacy or ILIA) aims to facilitate the implementation of international human rights standards in national practice and to provide better protection for HR defenders and victims of fundamental rights violations.

The project started in 2009 in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia (2009-2011)., Moldova, Russia and Ukraine, and aims to establish a link between lawyers from the CIS countries, providing them with educational materials on human rights, prepared by international and national experts through the internet.

The conference was held with the support of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, Nordic Council of Ministers, Vidrozhdzhenne Fund (Ukraine), Yaroslav the Wise Novgorod State University and Novgorod Region Government.

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