Project title: "Research on Effective Criminal Defense in Bulgaria, Lithuania, Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine"
Year: 2011-2012
Budget in USD: 19 500
Funding sources: OSGF Human Rights and Good Governance Program (Criminal Justice Direction), Network Human Rights and Good Governance Program, Open Society Justice Initiative  
Project Coordinator: Tamar Kaldani

The project has been implemented by OSGF Human Rights and Good Governance Program in cooperation with the network programs.

The Legal Aid Reformers' Network (LARN) is an international information-sharing network of organizations and individuals working to promote the right to legal aid. LARN builds on the experience of the OSJI, which has created an informal network of public defenders, joined later on by legal aid managers from Bulgaria, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Mongolia and Ukraine where legal aid reforms are under-going. The Network provides for a platform to exchange experiences and collaborate for developing further the newly created legal aid systems, involving both policymakers and legal practitioners (www.legalaidreform.org).

The activities of LARN are implemented through a joint in-house project, operated by network programs of Soros Foundations of countries involved.

Project goal is to explore and compare access to effective defense in criminal proceedings across 5 European jurisdictions quoted above and prepare a comprehensive research on "Effective Criminal Defense Rights in LARN member countries" based on the tested methodology and experience of this research project.

Project objectives:

A)     to take a broader view on what happens in the criminal justice system of participant countries;

B)      to bring examples of critical academic research in all participant countries;

C)      to use the 9 countries (8 EU member states and Turkey) experience for identifying good and bad practices;

D)     to use the findings of the LARN research project for advocacy purposes in the LARN countries and beyond.