EU, UNDP Assist Georgia to Ease Access to Justice & Raise Lawyer Professionalism

Improved access to legal aid for over 45,000 people every year, training for 2,400 representatives of the legal profession, increased international cooperation in the field of justice – these are some of the key results achieved by the Legal Aid Service of Georgia and the Georgian Bar Association with assistance from the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The achievements of the EU4Justice programme in 2016-2018 were presented to the public on 23 January.

''I am confident that the EU played an instrumental role in developing both the State Legal Aid Service and the Bar Association in Georgia over the last 10 years,” said Catalin Gherman, Deputy Head of Cooperation Section at the Delegation of the European Union to Georgia. “We have done it through direct transfers of funds into the Georgian state budget, and through various projects. Our project with the UNDP brought many tangible results and thus vitally improved the access of people in Georgia to high quality legal aid and services.”

Meliton Benidze, Director of the Legal Aid Service of Georgia, and Ketevan Turazashvili, Head of the Training Center at the Georgian Bar Association, presented the progress made by both agencies in recent years.

Since its establishment in 2007, the Legal Aid Service has assisted over 330,000 people, including court representation in more than 123,000 cases. With complex support from the EU and UNDP, the Legal Aid Service has improved its internal systems of administration and management, adopted an organizational development strategy, trained lawyers, consultants and staff, and introduced an electronic case management system – Case Bank. The Legal Aid Service has adapted some of its bureaus for people with disabilities, launched a multi-language website adapted for people with visual impairments and established a call center which serves up to 50 people every day. The Legal Aid Service also leads a referral network of free legal aid providers which brings together the state, non-governmental and educational organizations.

In 2018, the Legal Aid Service hosted the Third International Legal Aid Conference, ILAC 2018, the largest global forum on legal aid in criminal justice.

The assistance to the Georgian Bar Association has focused on institutional and professional development of this largest professional association of Georgian lawyers, which represents over 4,000 members and is responsible for the regulation of the legal profession. Supported by the EU and UNDP, the Association has adopted a four-year Strategy and Action Plan, reformed its human resources system, moved to electronic document management and organized comprehensive training for lawyers in the framework of continued legal education.

“Access to justice is fundamental to democratic transition and sustainable development,” said Munkhtuya Altangerel, Deputy Head of the UNDP in Georgia. “The UNDP is supporting the Legal Aid Service and Bar Association of Georgia as the key institutions to provide Georgian people with quality justice services.”

The assistance to the Legal Aid Service and Georgian Bar Association is part of a wider EU-funded program EU4Justice which is based on the Financing Agreement on "Support to the Justice Sector Reform in Georgia" signed between Georgia and the European Union in May 2015.

Image source: 2civility.org