Screenshot from video
«Journalist» had a conversation with Oleksandr Khymenko, deputy head of the Department of Registration of Legal Acts, Legal Work, Legal Education of the Main Territorial Justice Department in Kyiv. During the interview, he spoke about the social trends in the work of the Ministry of Justice and, in particular, the Main Territorial Department of Justice in Kyiv. Khymenko explained in details the purpose and work of the large legal-education project «I have a right». How can citizens get free legal aid through this program? How does the project help to solve the issue of raiding, non-payment of alimony, domestic violence, etc.? The guest also talked about innovations that have already been introduced or are planning to be introduced soon, so that citizens of Ukraine can get the required document more easily and quickly.
- Since many citizens of our audience do not quite understand the structure of the Ministry of Justice, I would like to clarify what is the Main Territorial Department of Justice in Kyiv? And what this department is exactly doing?
The Main Territorial Department of Justice in Kyiv is a territorial body of the Ministry of Justice in the city of Kyiv. According to the statute law the Main Territorial Department of Justice in Kyiv is, in fact, a regional authority. Basically we perform functions that are assigned to the Ministry of Justice directly in the city of Kyiv. These are: registration of legal acts, legal education, legal work, control and provision of the activities of a notary in the city of Kyiv. In addition, it is the work of the state executive service, civil registration authorities and state registration authorities, judicial work, etc.
You have social direction of your work. For example, there is a big project «I have a right». Please tell me more about it.
The project «I have a right» is unique. At one time, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine initiated the creation of a major law-research project, which was supported by the government, and by the decree of the President of Ukraine, year of 2018 was recognized as the year of the project «I have a right». What this project is all about? The aim of the project is to pass to Ukrainians the information about their rights, create mechanisms, as well as opportunities for the realization of these rights. As I said, this is a big and unprecedented project. Its slogan: «I know. I act. I protect». You know, this project fits perfectly into the reform work of the Ministry of Justice and its authorities, because here it is not just about law-education activities. Along with this, a system of free legal aid is being created. This is a great positive change for people who, due to certain social problems, cannot receive qualified legal assistance. Within the framework of the project, effective legislative mechanisms are in place to protect the rights of citizens. - Where, if necessary, you can receive such legal aid? Where can people find out about the project? And how does it work?
In accordance with the law on free legal aid, a system of free legal aid was created in Ukraine. If we talk about the city of Kyiv there is a regional center and four territorial centers of free legal aid. There is a hotline phone. It works. By this telephone number you can find out exactly where you can get help, that is the address of the required center. Also, everything can be seen on the Internet site of free legal aid. How does this system work? The majority of people think that free legal aid is something not qualified enough. However, it’s not true. Person applying for it are those who have a certain income level, servicemen who participated in the Anti-terrorist operation, etc. There is a list of persons who are entitled to receive free legal aid. At the request of the center, a lawyer’s legal aid is provided. It’s not just a simple lawyer. This is a professional lawyer with higher education, who has a certificate of the right to practice law. Such a person was selected by the competition committee. Such a lawyer provides legal services to the client free of charge. However, the state, according to the price list, pays him the appropriate funds for the services rendered. Therefore, for the state, unlike the client, it is not free legal aid. And this is not just a consultation. This may be a statement of claim or representation in court, etc.
- This project still has a large informational part. Tell us more about it.
On the site of the project pravo.minjust.gov.ua you can receive information that is interesting for our citizens. You can also get answers to your questions at 0 800 213 103. You can call and receive legal advice directly, as well as information that can be disseminated within the framework of the project «I have a right». In general, the project works in several directions. For example, the collection of alimony, this project is called «Alien children do not exist». By the efforts of the Ministry of Justice, the State Executive Service and parliamentarians, an interactional group, called «Alien children do not exist» was formed. Changes were made to a number of laws that actually made life of non-payment of alimony impossible. Now a person who does not pay alimony for than three months falls into the relevant register of non-payment of alimony. If a person does not pay maintenance for more than six months, then such a person may be deprived of special rights, such as driving, or hunting rights, or the right to possession of weapons. Also, such persons may be restricted to travel abroad. This mechanism works, from the beginning of 2018 about half a billion hryvnas were additionally charged with the support of the state executive service. Within Ukraine, this is a fairly substantial sum.
I would like to say separately about one direction: «Stop violence». Domestic violence is a topical issue, because many years ago it was not accepted to speak about it. Law enforcement agencies, as a rule, almost did not react to domestic violence in any way. Therefore, this problem was silenced, the violence was latent. Why? Because the state could not protect the victims of domestic violence. However, appropriate changes have been made to legislation that prevents and discourages domestic violence. For example, according to the changes made, the offender falls into the register of persons who committed domestic violence. The person’s right to reside in the family may also be limited. There may be a limited right of the offender to approach the victims. In this situation, we are approaching international standards for the protection of victims of domestic violence. In addition, additional conditions are created by the relevant state bodies, for example, social housing for victims of domestic violence, appropriate centers are opened, etc.
Another big direction: «Stop Raiders». As we know, there are often cases in Ukraine where unscrupulous companies carry out the raider seizure of other companies. Our modern business is somehow even accustomed to this situation. However, at the initiative of the Ministry of Justice and parliamentarians, conditions were created even for pre-trial settlement of issues related to raiding. At each regional state administration, anti-raiding headquarters and relevant commissions are established at the Main territorial departments of justice in the oblasts and in Kyiv. Therefore, if a person becomes a victim of raids, you can contact directly and by calling 0 800 213 103 to find out about the anti-raiding staffs and the possibility of obtaining pre-trial assistance without a lawsuit.
In the context of the project «I have a right» there is a lot of information about the registration of a subsidy, how can you get land ownership, how to resolve a dispute. You can ask questions related to the enforcement of court decisions. An informational issue for the debt collector as well as the debtor is developed. Both the debtor and the debt collector have certain rights. The state cares about everyone.
In the context of the «I have a right» project, a lot of attention is paid to young people and their rights, for example, in education. There is information on how to protect students from bribery in higher education. And much more.
All of these Internet users can read on the project site, right?
Of course they can. - But besides the project «I have a right» you have another interesting project. This is the «Regional Justice Main Department in Kyiv city Cup». Can you tell us about this project?
First of all, I would like to say that in the context of this project – a megaproject «I have a right» – we are making a huge number of law-enforcement events in Kyiv. And territorial administrations in other oblasts also hold a huge amount of law-equity shares in each oblast. Speaking about the Main Territorial Department of Justice in Kyiv, in fact for first half of 2018 we conducted about three thousand events in Kyiv. This is informing citizens through the distribution of information leaflets, placement of relevant video materials on the resources of our partners, including the provision of free consultations, the creation of outbound consultation points, the public reception, which operates every Tuesday and every Thursday at our address: street. Verkhniy Val, 32. There are also a huge number of events that are held with higher educational institutions, social institutions, and non-governmental organizations.
However, I would like to tell you today about an interesting project that we started last year. More precisely, it was launched three years ago, but to these scopes we came only in 2017. This is a legal tournament for the Cup of the Main Territorial Department of Justice in Kyiv city. It will be held in 2018 for the third time, but we have slightly changed the format of these competitions, because it is difficult to attract student youth to certain competitive processes. That’s why we wanted to create something new and interesting this year. Our tournament is quite long and lasts for almost six months. It begins with a competition of scientific works (it has already taken place in May). The second stage of our tournament is a competition of social video clips on legal topics. The team of students will shoot these films, and then we will expose them on our resource on Facebook, and, accordingly, viewers will be able to determine their own films, which film they most liked, and will determine the finalists of our tournament. On the 8th of October, 2018, the final of this event will take place. In the final, there will probably be 4 teams of finalists. To finish everything there will be an intellectual game, it will be determined who is smarter, who is more active, and who is faster. On the 8th of October we want to make a good show, award winners, nominees, invite the Minister of Justice, honorable guests, who will sign up for participation.
Why do I say that the Cup is interesting and original? Unlike other competitions, we are trying to discover the potential of children in different areas. Competition of scientific works. We want from the universities who have submitted their teams to us, to take the children who are the best scientists, and, first, to enrich the work of justice with their ideas. Secondly, to reveal their potential, to support them, and we want to publish these works, their scientific achievements in the professional editions, so that this is not just a work written, which will then be put on the shelf, and this will be a work that will be continued. This is a positive and good aspect for the university as well, because students have their own publications in professional journals, and for students when entering the postgraduate study, or in further academic activities.
We currently have 14 teams in the tournament. These are 11 teams from Kyiv (NAU, Vadym Hetman University, Trade and Economics University, University «Uсraina», Academy of Advocacy and many others), as well as three regional teams: Chernivtsi University named after Fedkovych, Chernihiv National Technical University and Kharkiv University named after Karazin This is the scale we now have, this is our geography. Therefore, a fairly large student audience will be involved in this, and this will be an interesting large-scope competition. - Do you think that if students and pupils in school will develop an understanding of laws, an understanding of their own rights and responsibilities, it is possible to change the level of consciousness and awareness of society?
Formation of legal culture is an important process. We can say that the formation of a legal culture as a result of the formation of legal consciousness is a perfect counteraction to such a phenomenon as the legal nihilism with which we meet now. However, we not only inform people about their rights, but also about their responsibilities. At present, an important aspect is that children, schoolchildren, are well-informed about their rights, but do not know their responsibilities. Therefore, it must be explained that their rights always correspond to their respective responsibilities. Legal education should be comprehensive. With proper legal education, when creating a positive image of law and establishing rights in society as a positive and good phenomenon, it can become an important ground for the formation of a civil society with a high level of legal consciousness. However, we can talk about this when society will see the effectiveness of the law and the effectiveness of the mechanisms of legislative regulation. But this is a task not only for civil servants, but it is your job as journalists who bring information to the public. This must be done objectively. For example, sometimes an image is created for an individual that society does not believe in his or her committed a crime. Imagine what pressure is being imposed on a court when a society has formed the idea that a person is absolutely innocent of committing a crime. As a person who was the head of the Department of Judicial Work of the Main Territorial Department of Justice in Kyiv for a year, I did not see signs of corruption in court.
You mean that the situation is exaggerated but in fact everything works differently?
In many cases I can say yes. Sometimes citizens, when applying for the protection of their rights, are not completely aware about the system, hyperbolize these moments. However, there are enough problems in Ukraine, and we all need to work towards asserting respect for the law. We can do this, based on objective realities and the creation of appropriate conditions for the realization and maintenance of law. It is important.
I also wanted to say about the innovations that we are introducing, for example, to simplify the mechanisms of various kinds of registrations. In particular not so long time ago a person had to wait three days to get a birth certificate, now the birth certificate is given to parents directly in the maternity hospital. The same goes for getting the baby’s birth help. The first part of the funds can already be obtained directly in the maternity hospital. Now we are trying to simplify the system of obtaining copies of documents, various certificates. You can do this, order online, and specify the time and place to pick up your document. This in its own way prevents corruption. Also, we have the project «Marriage in the day», which is now active. Citizens can marry in a short time.
We work for you! Realize your rights, and everything else will be taken care of by the justice system.
For a video version of the interview, see the «Journalist» website.
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