OSCE helps to promote free legal aid in Kazakhstan

A roundtable discussion  on the draft law on state-guaranteed free legal aid organized by the OSCE Centre in Astana with the parliamentary Committee on Legislation and Legal Reform was held in Astana on 18 April 2013.

Other co-organizers of the event include the Soros Foundation-Kazakhstan, the Central Asian Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the EU Project on Support to Judicial Reform in Kazakhstan, and the Legal Policy Research Centre.

The event brought together parliamentarians from Kazakhstan, experts from Armenia, Belgium and Germany,  and defence lawyers and civil society representatives to address international best practices on the provision of free legal aid as well as the management of the government-funded legal aid system, and the promotion of the bar’s independence.

This event is one of a series of OSCE initiatives to promote public discussion of amendments to Kazakhstan’s current legislation on state-guaranteed free legal aid.