About 500 lawyers who provide state guaranteed legal aid are to be trained to apply good practices and quality standards in non-criminal cases involving children. The activity forms part of a project implemented by the National Council for State Guaranteed Legal Aid with the assistance of UNICEF Moldova, IPN reports.

The Council’s executive director Lilian Darii said the project was preceded by another one within which there were thought up and approved quality standards for lawyers who provide state guaranteed legal aid to minors involved in criminal cases as suspects, witnesses or victims. There was worked out a mechanism for externally monitoring the quality of services provided by lawyers in such cases. Within the new project, emphasis will be placed on the supplementing of that set with standards and instruments typical of civil or criminal cases that involve children.

Lilian Darii also said that the launched project includes the propagation of the state guaranteed legal aid services. Society will be informed that any child in the legal system, either as a witness or a victim, can benefit from free legal assistance at one the local offices of the Council.

Attending the event, UNICEF Representative to Moldova Nune Mangasaryan said that about 2,500 children benefitted from state guaranteed legal aid in 2014-2015. “The quality of these services needs to be ensured so that the system works for the benefit of the children. We have that nationwide network of specialized lawyers that consists of 28 lawyers, who satisfy the special needs of children when these need legal aid and it is very important to strengthen this network,” stated Nune Mangasaryan. The UNICEF Representative referred also to the necessity of identifying the optimal instruments that these lawyers will apply and instruments for monitoring their work.

The project is to be implemented in 2016-2017.