North Macedonia: Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid Services
- There is a need to support, through targeted capacity building, the main stakeholders to readily and efficiently implement the new law, while also enabling them to prevent and address future shortcomings through improved coordination and cooperation.
- Regional Offices of the Ministry of Justice appear to be understaffed and existing staff suffers from limited resources and low levels of performance and motivation.
- FLA literacy of both legal professionals and potential beneficiaries needs to be enhanced to support broader accessibility, with a special focus on women, children, and vulnerable groups
The Action "Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid services in North Macedonia" aims at enhancing the efficiency, quality, accessibility, and awareness of free legal aid in North Macedonia. More concretely the Action will focus on the:
- harmonization of provisions, policies and practices related to free legal aid in North Macedonia;
- capacity building for the main actors in the field (Ministry of Justice, Bar Association and CSOs) including more structured and continuous coordination between the main stakeholders;
- awareness raising for the public and related institutional actors in the country to support increased access to free legal aid.
This Action is part of the Council of Europe/European Union "Horizontal Facility for Western Balkans and Turkey II"
The Action aims at supporting the main actors in enhancing the efficiency, quality, scope, accessibility, and awareness of free legal aid provision in the country and addressing identified shortcomings. It builds upon the results achieved in the implementation of the previous Action on this issue (HF-35“Supporting Free Legal Aid Reforms in ‘the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”) and supports effective implementation of the new Law on free legal aid, adopted in 2019.
- Capacities of Free Legal Aid providers to deliver quality legal aid are strengthened.
- Access to Free Legal Aid by the population will be enhanced and the efficiency of the Free Legal Aid in North Macedonia will be strengthened.
The project continues the work initiated under the phase one of the Project.
Ministry of Justice, Bar Association, CSOs and Legal Clinics authorized to provide FLA
Judiciary, Centres for Social Welfare
Free Legal Aid applicants, potential applicants and general population.
Rita Marascalchi, Project Co-ordinator (Strasbourg)
Irena Cuculovska Jakimovska, Project Manager (Skopje)
Anamarija Mitrovska, Project Assistant (Skopje)
Horizontal Facility project - North Macedonia: Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid Services
Supporting the Ministry of Justice in North Macedonia towards a more efficient management of free legal aid cases
Enhancing the efficiency, quality and accessibility of the free legal aid in North Macedonia constitutes an important priority for the European Union and the Council of Europe through their joint programme Horizontal Facility II. In order to assist the local authorities in their efforts towards a...
Horizontal Facility: North Macedonia - Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid services
Course for trainers on Free Legal Aid for the employees of the Regional Offices of the Ministry of Justice launched in North Macedonia
A training of trainers on Free Legal Aid Law has been launched in North Macedonia for the employees of the Regional Offices of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), with the support of the European Union and Council of Europe joint programme Horizontal Facility II. In co-operation with the Ministry of...
Horizontal Facility II - North Macedonia: Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid services
Launch of two courses on Free Legal Aid dedicated to victims of domestic violence and children
How to apply the Free Legal Aid (FLA) system in cases addressing domestic violence and justice for children will be part of the trainings organised in North Macedonia for attorneys and legal professionals, organised with the support of the European Union and Council of Europe joint programme...
National Co-ordination Body on Free Legal Aid discusses support for victims of domestic violence
The 5th meeting of the National Co-ordination Body for implementation of the Law on Free Legal Aid in North Macedonia gathered remotely to discuss important matters concerning a more efficient implementation of the Law on Free Legal Aid in North Macedonia. 36 participants from the key...
Third Steering Committee Meeting of the action “Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid services in North Macedonia”
In order to take stock of the current achievements and agree on the future interventions, the Third Steering Committee meeting of the EU and Council of Europe joint action “Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid services in North Macedonia” took place on 28 January 2021 in a...
New Local Co-ordination Body on Free Legal Aid established in Stip
A new Local Co-ordination Body to support the implementation of the Law on Free Legal Aid (LCB) was established in Stip to co-ordinate the work of all the local actors involved in the free legal aid services. With the support of the joint EU and Council of Europe action on “Supporting enhanced...
Horizontal Facility project - North Macedonia: “Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid services
National Co-ordination Body on Free Legal Aid in North Macedonia discusses key milestones
The 4th meeting of the National Co-ordination Body for the Free Legal Aid in North Macedonia gathered virtually to discuss important matters surrounding an efficient implementation of the Free Legal Aid Services for the citizens of North Macedonia. About 30 participants from key institutions in...
Horizontal Facility project - North Macedonia: "Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid Services"
PRESS RELEASE: Launching of the awareness raising campaign on Free Legal Aid in North Macedonia
Improving the quality of justice and ensuring access to enhanced quality of Free Legal Aid services is of paramount importance for the citizens of North Macedonia and a key priority of the European Union and the Council of Europe. On the occasion of the European Day of Justice, a high-level video...
Horizontal Facility project - North Macedonia: “Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid services"
Assessment of legal needs as a practice to improve access to justice
Enhancing access to justice through a proper assessment of the legal needs was in the focus of the roundtable (webinar) organised in Skopje, with key stakeholders and legal professionals – an initiative of the EU and Council of Europe joint action “Supporting enhanced access to higher quality...
Horizontal Facility project - North Macedonia "Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid services in North Macedonia"
Expert assessment and recommendations on delivery of legal aid in criminal proceedings in North Macedonia
Addressing shortcomings in the provision of Legal Aid in Criminal Proceedings in North Macedonia was in the focus of the research paper prepared in the framework of the EU and Council of Europe joint programme Horizontal Facility II. The paper (ENGLISH & MACEDONIAN) provides the basic concepts,...
North Macedonia: Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid services
Guidelines for establishing of a Referral Protocol and Directory of organisations adopted
Authorities in North Macedonia are committed to work together on an effective referral system that contributes towards improving the access to justice. This was underlined during the third meeting of the National Co-ordination Body for implementation of the Law on Free Legal Aid (NCB) that took...
North Macedonia: Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid services - Second Steering Committee Meeting (Skopje, 10 July 2020)
The Second Steering Committee meeting of the action “Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid services in North Macedonia” took place on 10 July 2020 in a form of an online meeting. The meeting brought together representatives of the Ministry of Justice, Bar Association,...
North Macedonia: Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid services
Advancing access and quality of Free Legal Aid in North Macedonia
In the process of enhancing the accessibility and awareness of free legal aid in North Macedonia, the EU and CoE Horizontal Facility action “Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid services in North Macedonia” is continuing to assist the Ministry of Justice and related legal...
North Macedonia: Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid services
Assessing the shortcomings in the provision of Legal Aid in Criminal Proceedings in North Macedonia
In the process of assessing the shortcomings in the provision of Legal Aid in Criminal Proceedings in North Macedonia, a series of remote interviews with relevant interlocutors (private and ex officio lawyers, judge, public prosecutor, representatives of the Ministry of Justice, custody officer...
North Macedonia (Horizontal Facility) Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid services
2nd meeting: National Co-ordination Body for implementation of the Law on Free Legal Aid
The Second Meeting of the National Co-ordination Body for implementation of the Law on Free Legal Aid (NCB) was held in Skopje on 10 March 2020 within the scope of the Action on “Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid services in North Macedonia”. Representatives of the...
North Macedonia (Horizontal Facility): Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid services
Establishment of a National Co-ordination Body for implementation of the Law on Free Legal Aid
The National Co-ordination Body for the implementation of the Law on Free Legal Aid has been established in Skopje with the support of the Action on “Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid services in North Macedonia” in January 2020. This newly established body will improve...
North Macedonia (Horizontal Facility): Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid services
Local Co-ordination Body for implementation of the Law on Free Legal Aid established in Bitola following the example of the National Co-ordination Body
Two days following the establishment of the National Co-ordination Body (NCB) for implementation of the Law on Free Legal Aid in Skopje, a Local Co-ordination Body for implementation of the Law on Free Legal Aid had been established for the first time in Bitola, with the support of the Action on...
North Macedonia (Horizontal Facility) Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid services
Towards efficient processing of Free Legal Aid applications: Training of Representatives of the Regional Offices of the Ministry of Justice
Representatives of the Regional Offices of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of North Macedonia were trained on the practical daily use of the tool and step-by-step guidelines for efficient processing of FLA applications by Regional Offices’ (ROs) officials. The training was part of the...
North Macedonia (Horizontal Facility): Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid services
CLOSED: Call for tenders: Consultancy services on gender analysis and mainstreaming
The Council of Europe is launching a call for tenders for the Project on supporting enhanced access to higher quality free legal aid (FLA) services in North Macedonia which is currently being implemented and will continue until 23/05/2022. In that context, it is looking for a maximum of 3...
North Macedonia (Horizontal Facility): Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid services
CLOSED: Call for tenders: Local consultancy services
The Council of Europe is currently implementing a Project on Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid (FLA) services in North Macedonia. In that context, it is looking for local consultants for the provision of consultancy services (legal, capacity building and communication)...
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