Description
The aim of the project is to build local platforms of cooperation between lawyers-practitioners and anti-discrimination organisations. The project leads to systemic cooperation between them and will be mutually beneficial. The organisations will receive professional legal support, while the lawyers will have access to the knowledge and experiences of organisations promoting equality. The project is a response to the need of professional legal support for organisations promoting equality in their statutory tasks. The partners of the project will be Human Rights Committee of the Polish Bar Council and Norwegian Bar Council. Their experts, in cooperation with members of organisations and a team of lawyers, will analyse the quality of cooperation between the two parties in Poland and in Norway, in particular in the context of combating discrimination and pro bono legal help. Good practices and recommendations will be published in a handbook for lawyers' self-government bodies and NGOs.
Summary of project results
"Ministry of Justice data indicate an increase in the number of anti-discrimination claim cases. While non-governmental organisations are interested in supporting discrimination victims, a monitoring study held by the Society in 2012 proved that their contribution to such proceedings is incidental for reasons of poor knowledge of legal mechanisms, and of insufficient lawyer knowledge of the needs of groups discriminated against. The main project purpose was to improve discrimination victims' access to the judiciary by pooling the experience and resources of the legal community and non-governmental organisations within the framework of local co-operation platforms. Access to the judiciary was improved for discrimination victims in 8 cities. Seventy lawyers were informed of court proceeding-related options of engaging non-governmental organisations; 60 organisation representatives were told that local corporations have plenipotentiaries ready to offer assistance. Eight meetings of local legal corporations were organised, knowledge shared and needs identified. Three anti-discrimination training courses were delivered for court proceeding plenipotentiaries; one similar course was held for non-governmental organisations. A “Pro Bono for Equality"" manual was published (400 copies) and presented during the conference. Activity-related data was published in 21 issues of a newsletter delivered to 248 recipients. Project beneficiaries included 44 lawyers and 24 activists - training course attendants. The project concept was presented to 70 plenipotentiaries and 60 representatives of non-governmental organisations (meeting attendants), 248 newsletter recipients, 40 conference participants, and 400 manual recipients. The Polish partner (Human Rights Commission of the Supreme Bar Council) was responsible for recruiting legal counsellors. The foreign partner (Norwegian Bar Association) shared experience in the area of legal co-operation with non-governmental organisations in Norway."
Summary of bilateral results
Thanks to the bilateral contribution of the Norwegian Bar Association we gained a new perspective on pro-bono cooperation between legal advisers and human rights NGOs. Our partner is much more experienced in this area and we had opportunity to learn details of projects they had conducted in Norway. We also appreciated suggestions and recommendations which we recevied with regard to each part of the project from Arlid Humlen who was a member of the Project Monitoring Team.