The Multikultura Association presented an analysis of the Law on Free Legal Aid (LFLA) and the effect of its application in practice. According to the results of the survey, 69% of the respondents are not aware that citizens can apply for free legal aid (FLA). Also, only 3% of the respondents know about the associations that are authorized to give FLAs in their city.
Did you know of the existence of Free Legal Aid?
Conditions for receiving free legal aid
The conditions one has to fulfil in order to be eligible for FLA are outlined in Article 12 of the LFLA. Paragraph 1 of this Article provides:
(1) The people who have a right to FLA, referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article, are those who, with regard to their financial situation, could not exercise the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the law without jeopardizing their own sustenance and that of the members of their family with whom they live.
Article 12 also outlines additional circumstances under which FLA may be requested.
Number of requests for free legal aid
From 2011 until 2016, when the Ministry of Justice’s last report was issued, a total of 742 requests for free legal aid were submitted in the Republic of Macedonia. This represents a small number of requests, given the high unemployment rate of around 25% and the high incidence of social cases.
Do you know which associations in your city are authorized to provide free legal aid?
Recommendations
One of the issues with the LFLA is that there is not enough promotion for it, for unknown reasons, and therefore citizens do not have enough information about its existence. It is necessary to ensure the promotion of the Law by the institutions, especially the Ministry of Justice, by publishing the text of the Law on the ministries’ websites.
Changes to the law are also required, especially in the part of the conditions for being a beneficiary of this assistance. The conditions are high and a large number of citizens cannot benefit from free legal aid. This way, when a FLA request is rejected, the costs incurred to procure the FLA documents will have to be borne by the applicant himself.
Take a look at the whole research following the link below.
The research of the Multikultura Association was prepared as part of the project "Network 23+", funded by the European Union.