Thesis Title:
ACCESS TO JUSTICE: THE INFLUENCE OF DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE ON THE PROVISION OF FREE LEGAL AID IN THE COUNTRIES OF CENTRAL ASIA
Ever since I was a young girl, I knew I wanted to work on human rights. I come from Tajikistan – a Central Asian country that has faced its share of hardships after the fall of the Soviet Union. The peace we forged following our civil war in the 1990s came at a cost: the country was almost destroyed and human rights and access to justice remained precarious for a long time.
Growing up, I knew I had to do my part to change this, particularly for the women of Tajikistan, who face numerous obstacles in accessing justice. This has inspired me to become a lawyer.
During my study in a high school, I was interested in Civics and after getting the highest grade on the first exam, my teacher offered me to attend the competition on Civics, where my passion to be a lawyer doubled. Three successive years I was in the first place among the students of Tajik-Turkish high schools of Tajikistan, where I was studying. In 2006 in my last year in the high school, I got the second place at the National competition on Civics among all high schools of Tajikistan, and as a result, I was awarded a certificate which allowed me to enroll to the law faculty on a scholarship basis. I had studied for 5 years in the Law Faculty of Tajik National University. During my study I was interested in private law more than public law, my interest was mostly to civil law, business law, investment law and intellectual property law. That is why I selected “Legal regulation of investment in Tajikistan” as my topic of graduation thesis paper, which had been graded excellent. In 2011 I had graduated the university with a Diploma with honors, which I consider as one of the best achievements of mine.
My practical skills strengthened when I had an opportunity to work in two law firms for 6 years, providing legal service to a private sector. Despite being successful in this field, I always dreamed to work in the sphere of protection and promotion of human rights. In 2018 my dream became true when I was offered a job in Rule of Law and Access to Justice Project of United Nations Development Programme in Tajikistan.
For the past 5 years, I had worked at UNDP Tajikistan, where 3 years as a Policy and Legal Officer. I worked on projects focusing on human rights, particularly on the protection and promotion of rights of vulnerable people, including people with disabilities, women and girls living in rural areas. I have contributed to the main projects’ achievement, which has been the establishment of legal aid centers, where people can receive free legal support.
My main responsibilities were to cooperate closely with the national partners, including Ministry of Justice, Supreme Court and Ombudsman in terms of promotion of policy reforms. I actively collaborated with different state working groups, such as on Sustainable Development Goal 16, which promotes peaceful and inclusive societies, and preparation of Tajikistan for ratification of United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. The main part of my job was cooperation with lawyers of legal aid centers and public defenders that provide free legal services in criminal cases.
Pursuing master’s degree in law (LLM) was my dream for a long time. Thus, when I felt that I am ready to continue my academic growth, I applied to the LLM Program of the University of Windsor. I am proud that I am among the successful students who were accepted to this program. The university provides unique program for those who are keen in doing research in Access to Justice and Transnational Law topics, like me. My research will be focused on legal aid in Central Asian countries, focusing on influence of development assistance on the establishment and provision of such services.
The United Nations Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems provides that: “Legal aid is an essential element of a fair, humane and effective justice system not only in the frame of the criminal justice, but also of all other types of justice based on the rule of law principles”. This principle underlies basic human rights including the right to a fair trial and it is precondition of an important guarantee of a fundamental justice and public trust and confidence in the system of justice. Tajikistan is among the countries which has recently established state funded legal aid system, and the support of UNDP and other development partners was crucial in these regards. Considering the fact that, I was working for UNDP Rule of Law and Access to Justice projects, where I was closely cooperating with state partners engaged in managing and provision of state legal aid service, so I hope my research would help not only me –it would also help all those working on human rights in Central Asia, where research on access to justice (my chosen topic) is sorely lacking.
While education can open many doors, success relies on initiative. I have the desire and the determination to further strengthen my knowledge and acquire tools to better work in the field of human rights, thus this program would allow me to achieve my goal of creating favorable conditions in Tajikistan for the protection of human rights in my country. In addition, I am a mother of three wonderful children, who wants to raise them in the society where human rights is on the top of everything.
