Civil society organizations demand the passing of the Free Legal Aid Act and the respect for minimum standards found in contemporary legal regulation in this field.

The Republic of Serbia is the only country in Europe which has not adopted a law on free legal aid. Even though such a law has been directly designated as one of the first steps in further advancement towards integration into the European Union,  the Republic of Serbia's Government and National Assembly have for ten years now lacked the political capacity to execute the explicit constitutional obligation and pass the law.

A contemporary free legal aid act has to be able to prevent the possibility of establishing a monopoly in this field and therefore to secure an equal legal position for all service providers, which is not the case with the existing draft law. In view of the fact that the beneficiaries of free legal assistance (poor citizens and victims of violence, trafficking, discrimination and so forth) must be guaranteed respect for their specific needs and positions, and must not become hostages to other persons’ desire to get rich, civil society organizations are calling for the responsible ministries, Government and members of the National Assembly to complete the procedure of adopting the law on free legal aid without delay.

For more information, see the related announcement here.