Increase Public Legal Knowledge (MN0040)

• Public Legal Knowledge (August 1, 2020)

Main objective:
Create conditions that programs on providing legal education to citizens are implemented equal, accessible and human rights based manner

Brief description of commitment:
-Develop special program for legal education provision taking into account of the target group needs and elaborate implementation plan. Within this framework, "Legal Guide" system will be established based in existing capacity and human resources of OGP stakeholders. In addition, all digital information channels will be used and materials will be distributed considering the accessibility of citizens to these channels.
-Improve conditions for target groups with special needs to deliver information on the rights of citizens as set forth in Law on Public Hearing, Law on Law Making and General Administrative Law.

Ambition:
Citizens' participation in decision making and access to information increased by adopting and implementing special program designated to provide legal knowledge to target groups. Prepared 50 legal guides for disseminating information to target groups, informal trainings organized constantly reaching out targeted 2000 citizens and increased the citizens' legal knowledge to a certain level.

Milestones:
1. Conduct study to identify needs of target group and content of legal education program
2. Develop methods and contents for sub-program on provision of legal education to the target group and elaborate plans for implementation
3. Establish human resources to work as Legal Guides for target groups, using the government and VSO partnership and develop and implement plan to ensure sustainable operations
4. Carry out evaluation on the implementation of government functions to provide citizens with information and getting feedback, as set for by Law on Public Hearing and General Administrative Law
5. Develop and implement a plan for improving performance based on findings of outcome analyses of enforcement of legislations

6. Increase legal knowledge of the target group through multistakeholder legal guide

• Develop special program for legal education provision taking into account of the target group needs and elaborate implementation plan. Within this framework, legal guide system will be established based on existing capacity and human resources of OGP stakeholders. In addition, all digital information channels will be used, and materials will be distributed considering the accessibility of citizens to these channels.
• Improve conditions for target groups with special needs to deliver information on the rights of citizens as set forth in Law on Public Hearing, Law on Law Making, and General Administrative Law.

Main Objective

Create conditions that programs on providing legal education to citizens are implemented equal, accessible, and human rights-based manner.

Milestones

1. Conduct study to identify needs of target group and content of legal education program.
2. Develop methods and contents for sub-program on provision of legal education to the target group and elaborate plans for implementation.
3. Establish human resources to work as legal guides for target groups using the government and CSO partnership and develop and implement plan to ensure sustainable operations.
4. Carry out evaluation on the implementation of government functions to provide citizens with information and getting feedback, as set forth by Law on Public Hearing and General Administrative Law.
5. Develop and implement a plan for improving performance based on findings of outcome analyses of enforcement of legislations.

Editorial Note: For the complete text of this commitment, please see Mongolia’s action plan at https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Mongolia_Action-Plan_2019-2021.pdf.

Commitment analysis

This commitment aims to enhance access to public legal education to ensure inclusive participation in the democratic process, with a specific focus on children, senior citizens, and people with disabilities, in compliance with the 2018 National Program for Improving Legal Education for All. Such education stands to empower citizens to know the law and their rights and entitlements, use the law to restore their rights if violated, and shape the law by participating in decision-making processes. ^[44] Administrative agencies across all levels of government will implement this commitment, in collaboration with the Mongolian Bar Association, the Open Society Forum (OSF), national media organizations, and other civil society groups.

The government introduced the National Program for Improving Legal Education for All in February 2018. ^[45] The program consists of 105 points of actions ^[46] that would be implemented to strengthen legal education through legal information disclosure, promotion, training, assistance, and study. This is premised on the understanding that effective public legal education would give citizens—particularly the underrepresented such as women, the poor, and minorities—a better opportunity to assert their individual and property rights, encouraging recourse to legal advice, legal aid, and courts. ^[47] Through this commitment, stakeholders propose to strengthen public legal education by identifying unique needs of specific groups and, thereafter, appointing legal guides to provide legal information using a variety of inclusively accessible channels.

This commitment is relevant to the OGP value of access to information as it aims to improve public disclosure of legal information by utilizing legal guides, digital platforms, and other offline communication channels.

The Ministry of Justice and Internal Affairs, the National Legal Institute of Mongolia, and other academic institutions, regularly introduced a number of different policy initiatives and programs to promote public legal education, such as the National Human Rights Action Program in October 2003; the establishment of the Informal Legal Training Centre in February 2004; the ‘Digital Mongolia’ program in 2006; and the Action Plan for Protecting Human Rights in 2007 and 2008. ^[48] These initiatives generally aimed to strengthen public legal consciousness through access to legal education, information, and training. However, despite such efforts, insufficient funding and a lack of consistency in approach meant that public legal education programs could not fulfill their mandates. ^[49]

According to a 2017 general population poll on legal needs and access to justice in Mongolia, only 59 percent of respondents knew where to get legal advice and information; with only 34 percent accessing some form of help. ^[50] This lack of public legal knowledge is compounded by supply-side resource constraints, such as limited numbers of registered and practicing lawyers (2,077 in 2018), ^[51] of which only 52 operated at legal aid centers. ^[52] While there is limited socio-economic and demographic data of populations served by courts, previous project reports have found that public legal education and legal aid services were particularly important for minorities, persons with disabilities, and the poor, with women reflecting a greater share of assistance than men. ^[53] For example, between 2012 and 2013, 69 percent of those served by a legal aid clinic in a poor district in Ulaanbaatar were women. ^[54]

This commitment is expected to have a moderate potential impact on citizens’ access to justice in Mongolia. Importantly, this legal education initiative takes into consideration the information needs and preferred formats for various marginalized communities in Mongolia. Legal materials will be tailored to groups based on factors such as age, gender, rural or urban location, and education level. This is particularly important in Mongolia, where there are significant differences between the rural and urban population. Citizens in rural areas will receive illustrated comic books that communicate legal information, with numbers for hotlines and websites to access further information. Written material will be complemented by video and radio formats. D. Sunjid, from the Ministry of Justice and Internal Affairs, shared that legal outreach will include short videos on social media that contain quick and concrete messages. ^[55] Prioritizing customized legal outreach according to citizens’ needs and abilities greatly strengthens this commitment’s potential impact to increase citizens’ legal knowledge.

6.Increase legal knowledge of the target group through multistakeholder legal guide

Substantial:

This commitment intended to enhance access to public legal education by identifying the unique needs of marginalized populations and appointing legal guides to provide accessible legal information. This is a component of the National Program for Improving Legal Education for All, introduced in 2018. Under the commitment, following a needs-assessment, efforts were undertaken to strengthen public legal education, although only a small portion focused on the needs of marginalized people. 1,136 legal guides were certified, [23] but only 187 were certified for assisting the LGBTQ+ and disabled communities. [24] Legal education trainings were held for 2,000 members of the general public, 139 people with disabilities, 1,547 high school students, and 387 parents and guardians. [25] In addition, an electronic guide of legal advice and information for citizens was added to http://www.e-khutuch.mn in 2019. This portal features a legal database; information on legal frameworks for public transportation, employment, customs, taxation, business permits, education, financial services, and other areas; a feature facilitating discussion with government officers; and an embedded Facebook messenger chat box. [26]

Much of this commitment’s progress took place during first year of implementation, with positive collaboration between the Ministry of Justice and the Open Society Forum. There was little headway after 2020 due to the Forum’s funding limitations. [27] The commitment did not address supply constraints, such as a limited numbers of registered and practicing lawyers (2,077 in 2018), of which only 52 worked at legal aid centers. [28] According to the Forum, the commitment aimed to prepare paralegals to temporarily bridge the lack of lawyers for marginalized groups. Overall, the commitment did not accomplish its ultimate goal of establishing a national paralegal network. Future action plans would benefit from strong commitments on access to justice. [29]