AJJR

The Access to Justice and Judicial Reform (AJJR) is designed to address the lack of access to justice for the poor and vulnerable layers of populations on one side, and the institutional weakness of the Judiciary as guarantor of the Rule of Law on the other side.

Background

Since 2001, the Access to Justice and Judicial Reform project had been implemented by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). In December 2008, HELVETAS, following a successful tender bid, began the implementation of Phase 5 of the AJJR project in the Republic of Tajikistan which goes through February 2011.

Approaches and Implementation

The project comprises three main components which are inter-linked (i) free legal aid provided to poor and marginalized individuals (ii) supporting the Judicial Training Center to render continues, effective, and up to date training for judges and other members of the judiciary (iii) support to the Government of Tajikistan and to local NGOs to prepare national and alternative reports to the UN Human Rights Treaty bodies.

The first component of the project is implemented by local NGOs which provide free legal aid, including representation in court as needed, to the most vulnerable layers of the population. The partner NGOs of the project are listed in the attached annex. The project plans to expand the service network to Khatlon province in the south of the country.

The second component works with the Judicial Training Centre under the Council of Justice to increase the competence and professionalism of Tajikistan’s judges, as well as improving judges’ ability to render justice in accordance with the law.

The third component of the project supports the Government of Tajikistan to prepare its reports to the UN Human Rights Treaty bodies in a timely and effective manner. In addition, the project will support local NGOs which wish to prepare alternative reports.

Each of these three components links to each other through a feedback mechanism which is intended to build synergies among the components to further enhance outcomes which may not have been possible if each component was implemented in isolation.

Overall Goal

The goal of the AJJR project is to contribute to increased respect and protection of the rights of poor and marginalized people, in Tajikistan by strengthening the rule of law, access to justice and measures for improved administration of justice.

Project Objectives

The project concentrates on the following objectives:

1. To improve the capacities of partner NGOs to provide good quality free legal aid and other legal services to vulnerable groups and the public at large, raising awareness, and ensuring linkages between this experience and advocacy processes

2. To contribute to the improvement of training provided to judges and other judicial actors and through this the application of rule of law based justice in the country.

3. To contribute to the effective functioning of the Human Rights Treaty reporting system thereby facilitating improved legislation in the country and better rights protection

4. To contribute in a systematic and integrated way to the national processes designed to strengthen human rights protection and judicial reform.

Activities

· Standardize and specialize the provision of free legal to vulnerable layers of the population

· Promote, advocate and raise legal awareness of population

· Develop improved training to judges and other members of the judiciary

· Support the Government of Tajikistan to prepare its state report to the United Nations Human Rights Treaty Bodies and support local NGOs to prepare alternative reports.

· Enable government institutions to function effectively and implement the recommendations of the UN human rights treaty bodies

· Develop researching, planning and implementation of the national priorities

· Facilitate the analyses of legal issues related to rights protection.

NGOs HELVETAS Partners involved in free legal service provision, raising legal awareness of the population and analysis of legal issues

№	Description	Head of Organization	Address	Tel	Email
1	INIS	Ms. Gulbahor Safarova, Director	# 6 Mirzo Rizo str., Dushanbe	+99... +992 918... (mob)	Office.inis@gmail.com gulbahor_safarov@mail.ru
2	Madadgor	Mr. Bahriddin. Rahimov, Director	# 3 Tugdona str, apt 22, Vahdat	+99... +992 907 82 06 03 (mob)	madadgor@mail.ru
3	League of Women-Lawyers	Ms. Zebo Sharipova, Executive Director	# 53 Aini str. Apt 3, Dushanbe	+99... 221 13 33 +99... (mob)	lwl_toj@rambler.ru zebo_sharifova@mail.ru
	Khujand Branch Office	Ms. Rahimova N. Head of Office	# 120 Firdausi str. Apt 204. Khujand		nazira.raximova@mail.ru n.usmanova@mail.ru,
4	Human Rights Center	Nurmahmad Khalilov., Director	# 114 Chekhov str. Apt 81. Dushanbe	+99... +99... (mob)	hrc.tajikistan@gmail.com
	Khujand Branch Office	Nargis Mullojonova	№ 32/33 Tanbui str.	+992 ... +99... (mob) +9... (mob)	nargis.lawyer@gmail.com,
	Isfara Branch Office	Ergashev S.			s.ergashev@gmail.com.

The AJJR project in brief:

Project duration	V phase: December, 2008 - February, 2011
Financing	3 mln. CHF
Donors	Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
Partners	Government of Tajikistan, local and international NGOs
Beneficiaries	Legal Aid Centers, Training Staff and Management of Training Providers, Government Legal Institutions, and ultimately poor and vulnerable population, facing problems with the access to justice.

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