The project aims to improve the protection of the rights of vulnerable groups in the field of equal treatment (including discrimination cases, hate crime and incitement) and migration (including legal questions related to refugees, issues of respect for family life, residence permits) using a novel method for the protection of the interests in Estonia – strategic litigation.
Strategic litigation means proceeding civil, criminal and administrative cases by judicial or extrajudicial means in order to influence the quality of laws and the implementation of laws through chosen cases set by the objectives.
In the first phase of the project the emphasis is on the learning process about the strategic litigation methods and how to use them as well as how to communicate with victims and ensure their readiness to go through the necessary procedures and participate in the notification.
In the second phase we encourage the victims to notify about the unequal treatment, we document the cases and if necessary, start the procedure. As a result of the project the strategic litigation has been set the substantive goals, and the essential substantive expertise and sufficient human resources have been achieved in order to achieve the set objectives.
As a result of strategic litigation the enforcement of legislations and the quality of the legislation improves due to the requirements of human rights. The aim of litigation is to influence the legislations or the quality of their implementation through judicial and extrajudicial civil, administrative or criminal proceedings, either as an initiator or a third party.
The project’s activities related to migration are found on the refugees’ programme page.
Activities:
Preparations and creating competence
- Establishing the team (lawyers and trainees)
- Creating a network of lawyers-advocates
- Formation of Steering Committee
- Mapping out thematic objectives
- Study trip to Poland
- Workshop in Estonia
- The development of operation principles
Trainings:
- Thematic training courses
- Training courses for NGO’s
Strategic litigation
- Encouraging notification of unequal treatment
- Documenting the cases
- Proceeding the cases
Communication
Evaluation of activities and effect
- evaluation of effect
- collection of feedback
- re-evaluation of activities