The reform of Georgia’s legal aid system was discussed at the international conference, held on 15-17 November, in Buenos Aires, with support of the Government of Argentina, ILF, UNDP and UNODC. The conference “Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems” brought together the representatives of the Ministries of Justice, the Supreme Courts, the Public Defender and legal aid provider organizations from various countries, as well as representatives of the civil society and the international donor organizations.
The chairperson of Legal Aid Council Ms. Ekaterine Popkhadze and the director of Legal Aid Service (LAS) Mr. Meliton Benidze attended the conference from Georgia. They talked about the reforms made in 2013-2014. The focus was made on the institutional and legislative amendments, as a result of which the state-funded Legal Aid Service left the executive power and became an independent legal entity accountable to the Parliament of Georgia.
As an outcome of the reform, instead of the one supervising ministry, Legal Aid Council became the decision making body in legal aid field. The members of the Council are representatives of the civil society. Along with legal status of the Service, the reform also strengthened professional independence guarantees for the public lawyers employed at LAS.
Georgia has recently achieved significant progress in providing accessibility of free advocacy service for the socially vulnerable citizens. Throughout the country, there is a network of the legal aid offices in 19 cities of Georgia staffed by highly qualified lawyers.
Besides, Georgia supports international initiatives which call on the UN member states to ensure access to legal aid for their citizens.
The visit of Georgian delegation was funded by the EU-UN joint program “Enhancing Access to Justice and Development of a Child-friendly Justice System in Georgia”.