Objectives;
Situation Analysis;
Strategy;
(Expected) Results / Outcome;
Major activities |
Background: There is clearly a need to strengthen national democratic institutions by enhancing their capacity and establish quality services for people seeking legal assistance and justice. In Uzbekistan, as in many countries, certain groups of population – such as women, the poor, senior citizens and people with disabilities, are prone to be marginalized and excluded from the justice system. In addition, awareness on the legal rights and opportunities among these populations is also limited. One of the immediate steps could be further development of Legal Clinics with pro bono services available. Nowadays the legal clinics education in Uzbekistan has become a real and effective mechanism for training qualified and specialized lawyers with both strong academic background and professional experience.
Legal Clinic was established in 2000 within the organizational structure of the University of the World Economy and Diplomacy (UWED) in Tashkent, where University’s law faculty serve as guest lecturers and advisors. It has provided legal assistance to more than 1000 people, and more than 200 student lawyers received their practical legal training while providing free legal services to the population in need. All informal legal mechanisms of dispute resolution that are suitable for each case including negotiations, mediation, amicable agreement, conciliation, arbitration, and other are used. Objectives: The main objectives of the project are:
1. To improve access to justice for people who cannot afford or have limited access to legal services, particularly the poor. Women will be given priority attention;
2. To increase quality of legal services through training of law students. Achievements and expected results: • Quality of pro bono legal services will be increased as measured by increased number of successfully completed cases and positive feedback from the services recipients;
• Capacity of 70 student lawyers will be strengthened during the two-year training program; (1, 2, 3) • Knowledge will be strengthened among 150 school children on rights and responsibilities of children within the framework of the UN Convention of the Rights of Child acceded by Uzbekistan with parliamentary ratification on 9 December 1992;
• New interactive training methods will be incorporated into the training sessions as reflected in the improved legal clinic training syllabus; (1, 2)
• Outreach strategy for legal awareness and empowerment to reach the most vulnerable (handicapped, divorced women, pensioners, students, orphans) developed and implemented; (1, 2, 3, 4)
• Various comprehensive information materials containing legal information for the public and legal professionals will be developed and distributed both in Russian and Uzbek languages to ensure the widest coverage of the population. |
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