Reform of the system of free legal aid in Ukraine

Throughout the world there are people charged with various crimes who cannot afford themselves to pay for a lawyer.  The right enshrined in international legislation and national constitutions, the right to effective legal aid for those unable to pay becomes a fiction, when the programs of government are ineffective and are not provided with proper financing. In civil cases international and national norms are weaker; in many countries the majority of people are deprived of the access to judges and justice. Thus, human rights depend, to a great extent, on social status and material state.

Despite the problems in this sphere, free legal aid to the accused in criminal cases and aid in civil cases frequently are not apprehended properly.

National legislators and politicians, preoccupied with demonstration of severe struggle with criminality, frequently do not show such activity in the sphere concerning urgent necessity and complexity of rendering of juridical representation of the persons accused of the commitment of crimes. As a result, the policy of governments in this sphere is, quite often, ad hoc (accidental), insufficiently considered or poorly regulated, or even does not exist at all.