Bishkek, April 7 / The award ceremony for the contest winners on the best free legal aid (FLA) media content among journalists and bloggers was held with the participation of the Deputy Minister of Justice and UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in the Kyrgyz Republic.

The best media content contest on FLA system and the public authority responsible for FLA state policy implementation was hosted in June - December 2020 by the Free Legal Aid Coordination Center under the Ministry of Justice, supported by UNDP and MFA of Finland project “Towards a sustainable access to justice for legal empowerment in the Kyrgyz Republic”.

In total, 31 materials were submitted to the contest. By the Contest Commission decision, composed of the Ministry of Justice, media experts and UNDP, the following authors were declared winners:

Best Journalist Nomination

First place was awarded to Gulbarchyn Moldoeva, Issyk-Kul media center journalist for her video titled “The Kyrgyz Republic Ministry of Justice provides free legal aid in Issyk-Kul and Naryn oblasts”.

Second place was awarded to Saltanat Kaldybaeva, Birinchi Radio KTRK reporter for her Legal Aid radio programme.

Third place was awarded to two contenstants:

Baima Sutenova, OTRK Directory of Programmes Director for Free Legal Aid video within Democrtiya Sabaktary author’s programme, and Taalaigul Sydykbekova, Birinchi Radio – KTRK Chief Editor for Free Legal Aid radio content.

Best Blog Nomination

First place is awarded to Darikha Mambetova for her work titled “Like Eyes in the Dark”.

Second place is awarded to Bekhzad Tozhibaev for his content “Do not let your rights be violated.”

Third place is awarded to Tulanbek uulu Ilyas for his video blog on free legal aid.

Elmira Arapova received the encouragement award for her series on FLA: Interview during Quarantine; FLA Lawyer – that sounds proud!’; Being a lawyer is my calling!

Deputy Minister of Justice Marat Kanulkulov thanked the participants of the competition for active participation and noted: «Information support, informing the population about the free legal aid provided by the state is an important component of ensuring public access to state-guaranteed legal aid. In this regard, it is difficult to overestimate the participation of journalists and bloggers in the coverage of issues of State Legal Aid».  M.E. Kanulkulov also thanked partners represented by UNDP for active participation in the implementation of the project "Towards Sustainable Access to Justice for Legal Empowerment in the Kyrgyz Republic" and organization of the competition.

Tomica Paovic, Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP in the Kyrgyz Republic noted: “Legal aid is a foundation for the enjoyment of other rights, including the right to a fair trial, and an important safeguard that ensures fundamental fairness and public trust in the national justice process. Journalists and bloggers play a significant role in promoting legal literacy among the population, including through the dissemination of information on free legal aid.”

The competition was held with a view to ensure legal empowerment of vulnerable groups, increase legal awareness of the population with regard to FLA system and widen coverage of the Ministry of Justice activities in the sphere of free legal aid provision to the country’s population. As we  might recall that, supported by UNDP, 15 Free Legal Aid Centers opened in Chui and Osh oblasts.

Photos from the event: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmVbSKV2

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Contacts for media:

Nurzhan Alymkanova

Communications Specialist

nurzhan.alymkanova@undp.org