Free-of-charge legal assistance soon in Serbia

Belgrade, February 07 (Source: B92) - A project document to enable free-of-charge legal assistance signed yesterday.

The signatories of the project document titled "Creation of Efficient and Sustainable System for Providing Free-of-Charge Legal Assistance in Serbia" are Serbian Minister of Justice Zoran Stojković and Standing Representative of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Lance Clark.

After the signing, Clark told a press conference that the project aims to establish an efficient and economically available system of legal assistance financed and governed by the state. Beneficiaries of the system would be those who are not able to pay for legal services.

Clark specified that UNDP secured financial support for the project from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) amounting to $1.2 million, adding that the project will be realized in the course of the next 24 months.

He also explained that according to all international documents which Serbia signed, such as the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the International Pact on Civic and Political Rights, justice must be available to all citizens.

Minister Stojković pointed to the fact that the project is in accordance with the National Judicial Reform Strategy, and said that there were cases where poor people or those from marginalized social groups, such as the Roma, were not able to financially exercise their legal rights.

According to Stojković, citizens must be provided with a way to exercise their rights, and incorporate the appropriate system into state budget.

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