The mission of the project is to ensure that human rights in Latvia are understood and respected.
The association Apeirons has observed that people with disabilities still do not have sufficient understanding of human rights in general. In addition, there are too few cases filed to courts to protect their basic human rights. It is also important to mention that, the Judiciary is not always ready to ensure the standards set by the UN Conventions – environmental access, communication, etc. when it comes to people with wide range of disabilities. This project will ensure activities that will support an increase of knowledge and understanding of human rights and the court system/Judiciary will receive a valuable set of tools, improved understanding of disabilities that will lead to better service while in court. The main target group to be reached is people with disabilities as well as those who work for Judiciary but in reality the project results will reach out to much wider audience via social media, related professions, possibly municipalities and the word of mouth.
The main activities are training and educational materials, development of a Court Standard and encouragement of people. We stress the long-term affect and importance of sustainability of every outcome. This is one of the reasons why the partnership with the Latvian Judicial Training Centre is agreed for the purpose of this project. Latvian Judicial Training Centre (LJTC) is a foundation, that was created with the aim to ensure training and professional development for judges and court staff. LJTC is involved in this project as a partner, which will provide communication and exchange of information between citizens and court staff. LTJC together with Apeirons will participate in workshops, will develop e-course and training for judges and court staff. A judicial standard will be jointly developed to ensure respect for human rights in courts for persons with disabilities.