On December 20, 2021, a round table on improving the quality standards of free legal aid in the field of civil and administrative law was held. This event was organized by the Council of Europe Project “Support for judicial institutions and processes to strengthen access to justice in Ukraine” (hereinafter referred to as the Council of Europe Project) jointly with Coordination Center for Legal Aid, the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine under the Project "Development of mediation in the system of free legal aid" and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Mrs. Valeria Kolomiets, Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine, in her welcoming speech, noted that the right of citizens to free legal aid is provided by the Constitution of Ukraine. Since 2013, the state has been operating a system of free legal aid to ensure this right. At the same time, during the implementation of regulations in this area there are issues that need to be addressed through amendments to the Law "On Free Legal Aid" and the development of new legislation. In this regard, the cooperation of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine and the Coordination Center for Legal Aid with the Council of Europe and international organizations is extremely important.

The Council of Europe Project provides an expert support to Ukraine in improving legislation and practice, analyzing it in the light of the standards and recommendations of the Council of Europe and the best practices of the member states of the Council of Europe. “It is difficult to define uniform criteria for assessing the quality in such a matter as the quality of the provision of legal aid. However, if we talk about the system of free legal aid, it is possible to assess how much effort is being made to improve and develop its effectiveness”, - said Mrs. Iryna Kushnir, the manager of the Council of Europe Project.

During the round table Mrs. Velislava Delcheva, the international expert of the Council of Europe (Bulgaria), presented an analysis of the practice of the Council of Europe member-states in respect of the provision of free legal aid services to children. The national expert of the Council of Europe, Mrs. Victoria Mitko , presented an analysis of quality standards for the provision of free secondary legal aid in civil, administrative proceedings and representation in criminal proceedings, which was prepared within the framework of the Council of Europe Project.

The following issues were discussed during the round table:

• the access promotion to justice through mediation;
• the integration of the diversified system of alternative dispute resolution and mediation into the state system of free legal aid in Ukraine;
• the communication strategy of the system of free secondary legal aid on mediation for 2022-2024;
• the organization of assistance in providing access to mediation based on free secondary legal aid system.

The program of the round table https://rm.coe.int/programme-20-12-2021-eng-2782-2729-3445-2/1680a4f3b4