Skills training for legal aid practitioners working with people with disabilities

On November 5, at Le Balance Heritage Hotel in Lao Cai province, the Department of Legal Dissemination, Education and Legal Aid (Ministry of Justice) organized a training conference on skills for legal aid practitioners working with people with disabilities.

This is an activity under the Project "Strengthening Legal Aid for the Poor and Vulnerable", funded by the World Bank from support from the Japan Social Development Fund.

The reporter shared information at the training class.

Attending and chairing the event were Ms. Vu Thi Huong - Deputy Director of the Department of Dissemination, Legal Education and Legal Aid ( Ministry of Justice ); Ms. NaKaZaWa Yu - First Secretary, Embassy of Japan in Vietnam; Mr. Dang Dinh Chung - Director of the Department of Justice of Lao Cai province; representatives of the leaders of the State Legal Aid Centers of the provinces: Cao Bang, Hung Yen, Ninh Binh, Thai Nguyen, Phu Tho, Tuyen Quang, Gia Lai.

Delegates attending the conference.

According to the summary report of the National Committee for Persons with Disabilities in Vietnam in 2024, the whole country has about 7 - 8 million people with disabilities, accounting for 6.11% of the population; about 10% of people with disabilities are from poor and near-poor households. In order to create conditions for people, especially people with disabilities, to have equal access to justice and to protect their legitimate rights and interests, our Party and State have issued many policies and laws, including the free legal aid policy.

From 2018 to present, state legal aid centers and organizations participating in legal aid have carried out 258,225 legal aid cases, of which 160,140 were litigation cases (accounting for 62.01% of the total number of cases); the rest were legal advice and non-litigation representation cases (more than 5,500 legal aid cases for people with disabilities).

Legal aid work has contributed to protecting the legitimate rights and interests of people, including people with disabilities, improving livelihoods, raising legal awareness, and spreading social responsibility towards this vulnerable group.

The project “Strengthening Legal Aid for the Poor and Vulnerable” will be implemented for 4 years (2022 - 2026), with the overall goal of improving the provision of legal aid services and promoting legal empowerment for people, especially those eligible for legal aid.

Ms. Vu Thi Huong - Deputy Director of the Department of Legal Dissemination, Education and Legal Aid, Ministry of Justice spoke at the conference.

The specific objectives of the project include three goals: raising people's awareness of legal aid and enhancing people's access to and use of legal aid services; improving the quality and effectiveness of legal aid services; and enhancing the participation of social organizations in legal aid in accordance with the provisions of Vietnamese law.

The project has four components: improving access to legal aid for people at the grassroots level, especially vulnerable groups in the Northern mountainous region; comprehensively improving the capacity of legal aid providers and relevant officials in providing legal aid to improve the quality and effectiveness of legal aid work; piloting the mobilization of qualified social organizations to carry out legal aid activities associated with improving the livelihoods of legal aid beneficiaries; project management, monitoring and evaluation, and information dissemination.

Delegates exchanged and discussed at the training class.

During the 1-day period, delegates exchanged and discussed specific situations, especially difficulties, obstacles, unclear issues, and limitations in legal aid activities to share and resolve difficulties and obstacles, contributing to improving the quality of legal aid for people with disabilities.

Source: https://baolaocai.vn/tap-huan-ky-nang-cho-nguoi-thuc-hien-tro-giup-phap-ly-lam-viec-voi-nguoi-khuet-tat-post886090.html