Submitted by crinadmin on
A conference on the 'Human right to legal aid', which took place in March 2007, was attended by almost 120 delegates from twenty-five countries. Its main purpose was to bring together legal service providers from Ukraine, and from countries in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe to discuss how to develop legal aid programmes which help to promote and protect human rights. Among the delegates were Government representatives, legal aid practitioners, academics, and representatives from human rights, legal advocacy, and legal and justice sector reform organisations. This publication serves as the official record of the conference proceedings and documents the Kyiv Declaration on the Right to Legal Aid adopted by the participants at the conference’s conclusion. It also gathers together some of the opening and keynote statements delivered by the conference organisers and invited guests. A second publication, to follow in 2008, will bring together articles by the conference speakers and others, addressing the conferences six central themes: public legal aid service providers; private and community-based programmes; rights-based approaches in delivery of legal aid services; informal justice mechanisms and alternate dispute resolution forums; the role of the legal profession; and holistic approaches to legal aid service delivery. “Human rights implementation means more than the mere formal harmonization of national laws and international standards; but also those legislative, administrative, judicial and other systems and structures that are in place to ensure its effective application,” stated Paul Dalton from DIHR, commenting on the conference results. “Experience from many countries suggests that the most effective legal aid systems take an holistic approach; in other words, a mixed model for delivery of free or subsidised legal services is adopted where the client can choose for themselves which of the ‘offers’ of assistance available are best suited to addressing his or her particular problem,” he said.