Deputy Minister of Justice, Alen Dereban, addressed the 15th meeting of the National Coordinating Body for Free Legal Aid organized by the Program Office of the Council of Europe in Skopje. Referring to the activities of the Ministry of Justice, Dereban indicated that it is of great importance to ensure access to justice for everyone, by providing primary and secondary free legal assistance to all those who cannot afford it.
"This tool is available to the most vulnerable categories of citizens, those who meet the conditions have the opportunity for the state to pay all their costs in court proceedings. This includes: a lawyer, expert witness costs, and will they be exempt from paying court fees. Through the system of free legal aid, we offer the protection of human rights, thereby guaranteeing equality between people in the legal order. From the previous practice, we can state most requests for free legal assistance are in the field of family law, such as divorce cases, custody of children, probate proceedings, property disputes, labor disputes, debt-trustee relations for issues of pension and disability insurance, for representation of victims of domestic violence, for disputes with insurance companies", said Dereban.
The National Coordinating Body for Free Legal Aid established and supported by the Council of Europe is a successful mechanism that enables continuous coordination and communication between the main stakeholders providing free legal aid, such as: the Ministry, citizens' associations, legal clinics and lawyers, from 2020.
The Ministry, taking into account the conclusions of the national coordinating body, proposed amendments to the Law on Free Legal Aid for compliance with the Law on Expertise, which were passed in the Parliament of the Republic of North Macedonia during the month of September.
“It is our obligation to provide all citizens with appropriate independent and impartial judicial mechanisms. With this, citizens who are in a difficult financial situation will be able to get legal help from a lawyer and a fair trial. In this way, we show that we care about the vulnerable categories of citizens", emphasized Dereban.
