EU, UNDP help raise professionalism of lawyers, improve access to justice in Georgia
EU4Justice presented results of their work that involved “tangible results” for citizens and law professionals. Photo: Delegation of the European Union to Georgia
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Achievements of a European Union and United Nations programme that aimed to train law professionals and improve access to legal aid have been celebrated this week.
EU4Justice, a 2016-2018 project that benefited tens of thousands of individuals in legal matters in Georgia, presented results of their work that involved “tangible results” for citizens and law professionals.
The presentation was held by Legal Aid Service of Georgia and the Georgian Bar Association with the assistance from the EU and the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
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 last 10 years”, said Catalin German, Deputy Head of Cooperation Section at the Delegation of the European Union to Georgia.
Organisers said over 45,000 people had received improved access to legal aid every year, while 2,400 law professionals had been trained within the programme.
Our project with UNDP brought many tangible results and thus improved importantly the access of people in Georgia to high quality legal aid and services”, German added.
Meliton Benidze, Director of the Legal Aid Service of Georgia, and Giorgi Tshekhani, Executive Director of 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.
Find out more about how @EUinGeorgia and @UNDPGeorgia work together with #Georgia to improve access to #legalaid services for over 45,000 Georgian citizens every year:https://t.co/9CwFz6Xnyh#EU4Georgia #EU4Justice
— EU Delegation Georgia (@EUinGeorgia) January 23, 2019
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 centre which serves up to 50 people every day.
The assistance to the Legal Aid Service and Georgian Bar Association is part of a wider EU-funded programme 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.
The European Union has decided to allocate additional €6 million for its Erasmus+ program in Georgia, which is the EU programme 2014-2020 for education, training, youth and sport.
The EBRD and the EU are extending their support to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine to the total of almost €1.1 billion in credit lines and trade finance and €58.3 million in EU grants.
Georgia has announced a co-financing grant programme for start-ups within the World Bank’s National Innovation Ecosystem (GENIE) project.
Four years have passed since the signing of the historic Association Agreement deal between Georgia and the EU.Georgia has received more than €400 million in financial support from the EU since the signing of the agreement on June 27, 2014, the Georgian Foreign Ministry says. The Foreign Ministry says that Georgia has progressed much in terms of legal and institutional integration with the EU and has become a member of Europe’s energy union.