Effective Coordination will Improve the Quality of Free Legal Aid

November 6, Bishkek – The Coordination Meeting of Free Legal Aid Center under Ministry of Justice of the Kyrgyz Republic (MoJ FLA Center) with non-governmental organizations and legal clinics of higher educational institutions is being held today. More than 40 representatives of NGOs discuss the issues of effective mechanisms for coordination between government bodies, local governments, the Bar of the Kyrgyz Republic and civil society institutions in order to widen the legal opportunities of the population.

“We want to unite the efforts of all entities working in our country in the field of providing free legal aid. MoJ FLA Center intends to actively cooperate with the representatives of the civil sector in order to improve the quality of the provided free legal aid”, Akzhol Kalbekov, the Director of MoJ FLA Center told during the meeting.

During the meeting, the participants are discussing the Action Plan for the implementation of the Agreement on Coordination of MoJ FLA Center with NGOs and legal clinics of higher educational institutions, which was signed on June 12, 2018. To improve the quality of the provided free legal aid, the participants of the Coordination Meeting have proposed to organize the events aimed at raising public awareness about the possibility of receiving free legal aid; to conduct joint social campaigns within the framework of the provided free legal aid; to conduct meetings and establish effective coordination between non-governmental organizations on-site, MoJ FLA Center and local governments; to monitor the quality of the provided free legal aid, to carry out training activities on the issues of provided free legal aid for NGOs and many other issues.

“The system of free legal aid in our country works on the principle of a triangle, according to which the entities are closely interrelated with each other: MoJ FLA Center, civil society and the Bar of the Kyrgyz Republic. We can create a high-quality free legal aid system only when these three entities can effectively coordinate with each other”, Maripa Seidalieva, the civil society representative shared her ideas.

The members of the Coordination Council Secretariat for coordination of MoJ FLA Center with NGOs and legal clinics of higher educational institutions elected and Action Plan approved during the meeting.

The meeting is held under support of the UNDP in the Kyrgyz Republic and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland project “Towards sustainable access to justice for legal empowerment in the Kyrgyz Republic”.