Report of the Second European Forum on Access to Justice

The report from the Second European Forum on Access to Justice, held in Budapest, Hungary, on February 24-26, 2005, is now available. Papers from the forum and other background documents on legal aid reform are also available, including Russian-language materials.

The Second European Forum on Access to Justice brought together close to two hundred legal professionals, rights advocates, representatives of international institutions, and government officials from 40 countries to discuss strategies for improving access to justice in Europe and beyond. The event was organized by the Open Society Justice Initiative and the Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) with the financial support of the European Union, the Ford Foundation, the Open Society Institute, and the Safety, Security, and Access to Justice Programme.

The papers and reports presented at the forum reflect a range of regional and country-specific efforts to expand access to justice for the indigent. They include discussions of ongoing legal aid reforms in Europe and beyond, developments in international legal aid standards, and civil society and government initiatives to put these standards into practice. Updates on legal aid developments in ten European countries since a first Europe-wide forum, held in December 2002, are also available. The documents include examples of legal aid legislation and the results of empirical research into various legal aid systems. The report recounts the main themes discussed at the forum, and summarizes the key debates.

The Preliminary Report is available for download.