A new regional assessment released today by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with support from the German Government, finds that Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine have made important progress in strengthening access to state-guaranteed legal aid for forcibly displaced people. However, significant barriers continue to prevent many from fully exercising their rights. 

The assessment "Justice Journeys in Displacement: A Baseline Assessment of Access to State-Guaranteed Legal Aid for Forcibly Displaced Populations in Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine" examines how national legal aid systems are responding to unprecedented levels of displacement triggered by the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine and the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. 

Drawing on interviews and discussions with around 150 participants, including legal aid providers, judges, lawyers, civil society organisations, refugee-led groups, universities, international partners, and displaced people, the study offers the first comprehensive regional baseline on access to legal aid for forcibly displaced populations in the four countries. 

The findings show that all four countries have strengthened their legal and institutional frameworks and introduced innovative practices to improve access to justice. Promising initiatives include mobile legal aid services, digital platforms, specialised quality assurance mechanisms, and stronger partnerships with civil society organisations. 

However, the assessment also concludes that formal legal guarantees alone are not enough to ensure that forcibly displaced people can navigate legal aid systems and exercise their rights.   

Across Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine, displaced people continue to face common challenges, including limited awareness of available legal aid services, language barriers, shortages of interpreters and translated materials, difficulties accessing services in rural areas and for persons with disabilities, insufficient public funding, heavy workloads for legal aid professionals, inconsistent quality, and gaps in data and policy coordination. 

As a result, many displaced people struggle to navigate complex legal systems despite having formal rights to legal assistance. 

The assessment highlights that strengthening legal aid is not only about expanding services but also about making justice systems more responsive to people’s lived experiences through trauma-informed, gender-sensitive and people-centred approaches. 

“Access to justice should never depend on where a person has been forced to flee,” said Robert Bernardo, Team Leader for Governance and Peacebuilding at the UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub. “This assessment demonstrates that Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine are building stronger legal aid systems, while also showing where additional investments and reforms are needed. Implementing the recommendations of the Tbilisi Declaration will help ensure that displaced people can exercise their rights with dignity and confidence.” 

Justice Journeys in Displacement 

The assessment is grounded in the Tbilisi Declaration on Access to State-Guaranteed Legal Aid for Forcibly Displaced Populations, adopted in December 2023 with support from UNDP and Germany by the state legal aid authorities of Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. 

The Declaration established a shared regional commitment to ensuring equal access to legal aid for displaced people through nine guiding principles. These principles promote non-discrimination, accessible information, inclusive services, women’s rights, quality legal assistance, sustainable financing, stronger legal and policy frameworks, and closer cooperation among national institutions, local authorities, civil society, and international partners. 

The new assessment examines progress in implementing these principles and identifies opportunities for further reforms. 

Based on extensive consultations across the four countries, the report presents 77 country-specific recommendations to make legal aid systems more accessible, effective, and sustainable. 

Among its key recommendations are: 

• integrating displacement-related needs into national legal aid and human rights policies; 
• improving outreach and legal information in relevant languages and accessible formats; 
• expanding digital legal aid services alongside in-person assistance; 
• strengthening continuous training and specialisation for legal aid professionals; 
• introducing systematic vulnerability screening and trauma-informed, gender-sensitive service delivery; 
• improving data collection on the legal needs of displaced communities; 
• ensuring predictable and adequate public funding for legal aid;  
• strengthening quality assurance mechanisms and making complaint and appeal procedures genuinely accessible to displaced people; and 
• strengthening cooperation among legal aid institutions, social services, migration authorities, civil society organisations, and refugee-led groups. 

“The challenges created by forced displacement require strong public institutions that protect people’s rights without discrimination,” said Esther Wagner, Head of the Political and Press Department at the German Embassy to Georgia. “This assessment provides practical evidence for strengthening legal aid systems so they can better respond to the needs of displaced people while reinforcing the rule of law and access to justice across the region.” 

Although focused on forcibly displaced populations, the assessment concludes that many of its recommendations would benefit all people seeking legal assistance by making national legal aid systems more people-centred. 

The assessment was led by the UNDP Country Office in Georgia led the assessment, with financial support from the German Government. Conducted between July and September 2025 through a participatory research process, it brought together a wide range of stakeholders across the four countries. Women represented at least half of all respondents and focus group participants, ensuring that the findings reflect diverse perspectives and experiences.