5 multifunctional printers were donated to the Ministry of Justice in North Macedonia, to support its regional offices and strengthen their role as free legal aid providers.
During the handover, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Mr. Muhamed Toci thanked the European Union and the Council of Europe for their support for the Ministry of Justice and its regional offices, emphasising the importance of this donation in the process of ensuring free legal aid to citizens and equal access to justice for all.
Lejla Dervisagic, Head of Operations in the Council of Europe Programme Office in Skopje, underlined the continuous co-operation with the Ministry of Justice in its attempts to improve the free legal aid system, as well as building a society in which access to justice is equal to all.
“The Council of Europe co-operates with the Ministry of Justice in promoting the system of free legal aid, which is very important for the citizens of the Republic of Northern Macedonia. The results so far have been encouraging and the equipment we are handing over today will contribute to further strengthening the capacities, above all, of the regional offices of the Ministry of Justice, removing the obstacles that existed in the past related to the lack of proper technical equipment. This will contribute to strengthening the efficiency and quality of the provision of free legal aid services.”, underlined Dervisagic.
Having an efficient free legal aid system for those who lack sufficient resources is an important element to ensure effective access to justice, in line with European standards. In the past, the regional offices have faced obstacles in their work due to the lack of proper technical equipment to perform their daily work and the donation of these printers and the previous donation of 25 laptops will greatly contribute to eliminating that problem.
The donated equipment with a value of 3200 EUR was provided through the support of the joint action on “Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid services in North Macedonia” implemented in close co-operation with the Ministry of Justice of Republic of North Macedonia. The goal of the action is to strengthen the capacities of the key actors in North Macedonia in their efforts to strengthen efficiency, quality, accessibility and awareness about the free legal aid.
This initiative is part of the joint European Union/Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022”, a co-operation initiative of the European Union and Council of Europe for the Western Balkans region and Türkiye.
