Project overview

The project is aimed at promoting legal empowerment of the disadvantaged groups and vulnerable population in the Kyrgyz Republic with a focus on rural women, children and youth at risk, persons with disabilities and improvement of their access to justice and legal aid in compliance with international human rights standards and recommendations.

The main achievements of the project (2014-2017):

• The new Law on State Guaranteed Legal Aid was signed by the President of KR on 25 December 2016. The new law included provision of legal aid for civil and administrative cases and widened the circle of individuals entitled to free legal aid.

• The laws "On protection from family violence" and "On amending certain legislative Acts of the Kyrgyz Republic on protection from family violence” were signed by the President of the Kyrgyz Republic on 28 April 2017. The laws provide citizens with more effective protection measures from domestic violence and facilitate interaction between the implementing bodies to fulfill their protection responsibilities efficiently.

• The new law excluding norms infringing the rights of PwDs  in the legislation was developed and adopted in June 2017. The law contains norms on legal regime of the facsimile signature, status of sign language interpreters.

• 11 Free legal aid centers under the Ministry of Justice of the Kyrgyz Republic were established.  The centers provided 9408 legal consultations for 8372 people as of the end of 2017.

• 4 Legal empowerment centers were launched at the local village municipalities in pilot Osh and Chui oblasts. 2053 legal consultations were provided for 1842 people by the end of 2017.

• The Ministry of Justice was supported in development and implementation of the Concept on raising legal culture of the population, 2016-2020. 
• an extensive information campaign is conducted to ensure access to justice and to disseminate positive examples of citizens’ legal behavior through media and the Internet;
• “Bus of Solidarity": a group of lawyers travels to remote villages and provides legal assistance to local population. “Bus of Solidarity" visited 173 Aiyl Okmotus of Chui and Osh oblasts and provided 7042 consultations for 6604 citizens by the end of 2017.

• The Bar and Ministry of Justice of the Kyrgyz Republic were supported in developing standards on provision of legal assistance.  

• Interactive web-based map of legal service providers in the Kyrgyz Republic. The map was created to raise awareness of the population on their rights, guarantees and access to justice: www.legalmap.gov.kg    

• Assistance was provided to the Ministry of Justice in development and optimization of the Central database of legal acts of the KR. 
• mobile application of the Central database of legal acts “Законы КР” was developed. The application was downloaded 51 thousand times as of December 2017;
• Open Data of Central database of legal acts. 11 mobile applications of KR Codes developed based on Open Data:  https://play.google.com/store/search?q=кодексы%20кр&c=apps;      
• central database of legal acts is adapted for people with disabilities and can be used offline.

• Project promotes ratification of the UN Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities (UN CRPD): 
• conferences, round tables, media campaigns on promoting UN  CRPD ratification process; 
• UN CRPD implementation plan and its financial assessment.

• Improved access to justice for people with disabilities (PwDs):
• four court buildings  in Osh and Chui oblasts became accessible for PwDs; 
• sign language interpretation was introduced to the evening news block of the Public Broadcasting Company;
• legal compendium is available in Braille and audio format in Kyrgyz and Russian;  
• 36 sign language interpreters were trained on legal terminology http://minjust.gov.kg/ru/content/surdoperevodchiki    
• 1417 PwDs were trained on legal issues.

• Trainings - legal empowerment of population. Training modules on the rights of women, children, youth and people with disabilities, including international standards and ethical norms of justice were developed. Training modules are integrated into 6 educational centers and universities’ training programs.

• 1896 representatives of formal and informal justice institutions were trained on the rights of vulnerable groups of population and access to justice.

• 3946 representatives of project target groups especially women, PwDs, children, youth were trained on realizations and mechanisms of protecting their rights.

• State Registration Service under the Government of the KR conducts mobile visits for documentation and legal consultation of local people.  2507 people received 2540 legal consultations, 1965 of them were documented as of the end of 2017.

• SRS automated informational system of the civil status acts registration (AIS ZAGS) was introduced in 10 pilot village municipalities of Osh and Chui oblasts. 2346 documents issued.

• MoLSD public reception centers were equipped to conduct video conferences between the residents of the Southern region and the Ministry’s senior management in Bishkek. Public reception center provided 4717 legal consultations during 2016-2017.

• Media products of the project reached about 2 million people through:
• Website and FB page “Access to justice” (more than 2900 unique users);
• 90 000 copies of the newspaper “Echo of right”; 
• trained team of journalists covering access to justice issues;
• media campaigns, press conferences, round tables, TV, radio discussions, competitions (more than 2000 media products); 
• organized street theatres on legal issues.

Total project budget: 2 million €

Duration:  1 January 2014 – June 2018 (phase I)

Pilot regions: Chuy oblast (including Bishkek city) and Osh oblast (including Osh city)  

Donor: Government of Finland