Free Legal Consultation Yields Privatized Land for Ukraine’s Farmers
At least half of the 3,000 registered farmers in Ukraine’s Kherson region have heard of Viktor Poleshchuk. Poleschchuk was the first farmer in the region to privatize arid and sandy land instead of fertile chornozem land. While chornozem is a much more valued commodity, Poleshchuk felt that sandy land was adequate for grazing cattle and growing watermelons and grapes.
In 2004, the local Tsyurupynsk administration denied Poleshchuk the right to privatize land that he had leased 10 years earlier under a right of continual use contract. According to local officials, who misinterpreted the law, sandy soils couldn’t be privatized because they weren’t considered cultivable land. The fight for 24 hectares of sandy land of Poleshchuk’s “Zelenyi Ranok” (Green Morning) farm would probably still be ongoing if it weren’t for his activism and a TV program.
The TV program featured Olena Merkulova, manager of a USAID-supported Free Legal Consultation and Arbitration Court project, who was filmed with members of the Pryazovya Rural Farmers and Land Owners Association discussing new opportunities for protecting and defending farmers’ rights. For Poleschuk, the information came as a godsend, especially since he couldn’t afford legal consultation. He decided to access the free consultation services to try and solve his longstanding problems with privatizing the sandy land.
Poleshchuk and the project lawyer wrote an appeal to the Tsyurupynsk District Court asking for a reversal of the local government’s decision. The court subsequently ruled in Poleschuk’s favor, forcing the Tsyurupysnk District Administration to transfer the leased land to back to him cost-free. The court’s decision came as a surprise to the district government. Local authorities appealed the decision to no avail.
Word of Poleshchuk’s success in the court spread among local farmers who increasingly began to turn to the Pryazovya Association to help protect their rights. From June 2004 to July 2005, the association provided more than 300 free consultations and project lawyers conducted 17 educational seminars throughout the Kherson region. As a result, over 60 property disputes were resolved in court, with the majority being reviewed in the Court of Appeals. Not a single case was lost in court.
“We were able to achieve several project goals. We showed Kherson farmers that problems can be resolved through the court system. Poleshchuk’s case confirmed that the privatization of arid and sandy land is legal, and now, neither the local or district administrations can deny farmers the right to privatize such lands. Thanks to the project, farmers have learned to solve other problems applying existing legislation,” said Merkulova.
She added, “Government representatives learned that interfering with farmers’ work is not in their interests, which may be the most important outcome of all.”
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Farmer Viktor Poleshchuk tends his flock
PHOTO CREDIT: H. Hopko |
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