Author: Ina Allkanjari
Free legal Services in Albania face major challenges regarding access due to geographical restrictions and limited staff, leaving many citizens, especially those in vulnerable categories, without the necessary representation in court. Experts emphasize the shortcomings in the organization and clear vision within the provision of free legal aid by the state, while the audit by the High State Control emphasizes the need to improve information in order to provide effective legal aid to marginalized groups.
Born and raised in one of the villages of Northern Albania, V.GJ. for years he had become a victim of domestic violence. Faced with the unchanging reality, economic challenges and lack of support from her relatives, she decided to report the violence to one of the civil society organizations in Tirana, which referred the case for long-term housing to the Center for Women and Girls "Strehëza Edlira" Haxhiymeri". The citizen took shelter in the center together with her children, away from her abusive husband.
Citizen V.GJ. offered you free legal aid, which was supported by a lawyer from the Advice Line, a non-governmental organization.
During the stay at the "Edlira Haxhiymeri Shelter" V.Gj. was assisted by the lawyer in obtaining the protection order in court and later in the divorce proceedings and the preparation of the documentation for the benefit from the social housing programs.
Thanks to this multisectoral support with rehabilitation and re-integration Services, V.GJ. today she leads an independent and non-violent life with her children.
The benefit of free legal aid to citizens who are unable to obtain it against payment due to their financial constraints is not widely recognized. Just as there is a lack of information about the fact that this assistance is also offered to special categories, including: victims of domestic violence; sexually abused victims and victims of human trafficking, at every stage of the criminal proceedings; minor victims and minors in conflict with the law, at any stage of criminal proceedings; children, who live in institutions of social care; etc.
The provision of this assistance is offered in two forms, primary legal assistance which has as its object counseling and initial legal guidance in administrative bodies and secondary legal assistance which has as its object the representation in court of the beneficiaries of the scheme.
Marsela Allmuça, manager of the "Edlira Haxhiymeri Shelter", tells Sinjalizo about the importance of Free Legal Aid in the process of re-integration of women and girls, victims of violence.
"Regarding the cases that receive Services at the "Strehëza Edlira Haxhiymeri" Center, one of the areas of support in addition to safe housing, psychosocial support, referral to the necessary Services such as education, health, professional training, employment, etc., the cases have needs related to free legal support such as procedures for confirmation of protection measures, divorce procedures, custody of children, issues related to long-term housing, etc.
She points out that the center cooperates with some of the organizations that are licensed by the Ministry of Justice to provide free legal aid, which mainly provide primary legal aid.
Asked about the challenges, Marsela Allmuça lists:
-Lack of information on the existence of these Services.
- Services that are not accessible as they are located far from their areas or are missing in some areas/municipalities of the country. Also, the current free legal aid offices work with reduced staffs, i.e. one staff person for an office covering a wide territory.
-Lack of providing Services that are mainly primary, ie information, preparation of documents and not representation in court, which is very necessary for vulnerable categories.
"Most of the cases that receive Services at the center come from other cities where their cases are judged, such as those for the confirmation of the Protection Order, divorce/custody procedures, and in some areas we do not find free legal representation for the cases", emphasizes Allmuça.
Altin Hazizaj, head of the Center for Children's Rights in Albania (CRCA) dwells on the obstacles that children and young people in Albania may face in relation to their rights in terms of free legal aid.
"The legal aid provided by the state still remains unorganized and without a clear vision that places the citizen at its center, so in this regard we see serious deficiencies in its provision, both in terms of budget and programmatic aspects. In general, it can be said that all the existing public Services offered by our country, be they social, health or justice, are never sufficient to respond to the needs of citizens", says Hazizaj.
The Legal Office of CRCA Albania offers its support mainly for the cases of child victims of sexual violence or case by case for minor children in conflict with the law. As a very vulnerable category and important for increased attention, Hazizaj dwells on the legal framework and opportunities for improvement of Free Legal Aid for minors and young people.
"Albania is very far from this concept, i.e. a friendly justice system and institutions adapted to children and young people. We did not change the approach and mentality that these institutions are repressive by nature - it is difficult to provide justice for children and young people. Such changes start from Leadership - so the governing body must have a vision for this purpose. Without a vision, you can neither build the present nor the future of such systems", the head of CRCA emphasizes.
Citizens in need, but not informed
Low information of citizens and their lack of awareness is a problem that was also highlighted during the audit carried out by the High State Control. During the audit carried out within the framework of Free Legal Aid, KLSH emphasizes that a review of the methodology on informing citizens about the rights they enjoy should be carried out.
"In order for this mechanism to be considered efficient and effective, it is necessary to make citizens aware of this right. Mainly awareness campaigns should be oriented towards marginalized groups, who are also potential beneficiaries of the free legal scheme. These target groups have a very low level of knowledge about the rights guaranteed by the state, therefore, it is important that through campaigns, meetings and activities developed by the Free Legal Aid Directorate (DNJF) to inform these citizens about it the rights they enjoy", assesses KLSH.
According to the KLSH report for 2022, primary legal aid counts 7616 reported cases. From the total number of cases treated, it is noted that 65% of the beneficiaries are persons in financial insufficiency and their claims are mainly of an administrative or civil nature.
While the service of secondary legal assistance has been provided by 157 lawyers and the total number of requests addressed to the courts for this type of assistance turns out to be 1030.
The State Supreme Audit Office presented the problems associated with Free Legal Aid during the implementation process. The audit highlighted that some of the institutional weaknesses that affect the effective management of the Services provided to the DNJF are: Low number of lawyers in the centers providing primary assistance; infrastructural conditions of the primary aid delivery centers; Low number of monitoring staff to guarantee quality Services while providing free legal aid; After-the-fact assessment of service quality and standards for secondary legal aid providers.
These challenges defined by the SSC constitute daily problems for the centers which help citizens in need in practice. Marsela Allmuça dwells on the difficulties that "Strehëza Edlira Haxhiymeri" encounters during cooperation with justice bodies and lawyers to ensure that women and girls who need legal assistance receive appropriate and fair support.
"We often encounter difficulties in finding free secondary legal aid in those areas where the organizations that mostly offer it do not operate. Meanwhile, the reform in the justice system has influenced a distancing of these Services from the citizens. Many women and girls who are victims of domestic violence have to go from their area to the district court, which often means that they do not appear and the case is not judged on time or decision-making is postponed. This means that the cases do not receive the necessary support in time or do not benefit from other Services such as shelters, economic assistance, support for re-integration, etc., says Allmuca.
Financial insufficiency
Law no. 111/2017 "On legal aid guaranteed by the state" risks excluding individuals who really need help from the Free Legal Aid benefit scheme. This is because, according to the High State Control, the law only takes into account a person's income, but not the mandatory and necessary expenses for living, this in the conditions when Albania has not approved an act for determining the living minimum, and the calculation of the limit of financial insufficiency is made by considering only the income of a person, but not the necessary and mandatory expenses for living.
According to the data published by the Directorate of Free Legal Aid, for the year 2022, a total of 78,900,000 Lek budget funds were allocated to carry out its activities, of which 26,400,000 Lek were allocated for the liquidation of court decisions that have women as beneficiaries of legal aid and girls in need.
Currently, the Free Legal Aid Directorate administers 20 (twenty) Primary Legal Aid Service Centers throughout Albania.
Meanwhile, according to the Annual Performance Analysis carried out by the Ministry of Justice, in terms of secondary legal aid, it is underlined that from 2019 to 2022 there is an increase in the number of lawyers contracted within the framework of Free Legal Aid. Specifically, in 2019, there were 60 lawyers on the list of lawyers providing legal aid guaranteed by the state; 70 lawyers in 2020; 124 lawyers in 2021, while in 2022 157 lawyers were contracted.
Although the free legal aid system has experienced several changes and reforms in recent years, with the aim of improving access to justice for all citizens, it still faces challenges and concerns regarding the quality of Services, lack of transparency and insufficient funding. .
Vulnerable categories
TLAS is one of the non-profit organizations that operates in the capital and offers free legal Services to citizens in need. Although the Law on Legal Aid Guaranteed by the State entered into force in 2018, TLAS operates in the Albanian market offering free legal Services to groups in need since 1999. In one of the reports published by TLAS, it is evident that over the course of 23 years it has managed to provide Free Legal Service to 30196 citizens. While only for the year 2022, 1286 citizens managed to receive free legal assistance.
But who are the vulnerable categories that most needed free legal aid this year?!
The report shows that the greatest weight is occupied by children, accompanied by the unemployed and women heads of households.
Cases that get loud
One of the cases handled by the Tirana Free Legal Service (TLAS) is that of an 8-year-old child with the initials ST who was denied the right to education, as he was not registered in the National Civil Registry.
"At the time when the child was born, the parents were uncelebrated. As a newborn, the child was abandoned by his mother, who left by marrying a Macedonian citizen - from whom he got his last name. In these conditions, due to the departure of the child's mother and the lack of legal marriage, the process of his registration has become impossible, according to the civil status law. For all these years, father and grandmother have made continuous efforts, but without success", is written in one of the cases handled by TLAS.
After receiving the case from TLAS, the Krujë Administrative Unit office (the city where the child was born) was requested to send the first written notice to the child's mother to officially remind her of the legal obligation to appear in person before the civil status office for registration of her child.
However, until the deadline of 20 days passed, the Free Legal Service (TLAS) writes that neither the mother nor any representative from the mother's family was interested or showed up to register the child.
"After the registration of the child in the mother's name was completed through the administrative procedure, the lawyer of the Free Legal Service (TLAS) in Tirana, Rudina Brari, drew up the request for recognition of the paternity of the child with the initials ST. The recognition of paternity was done through judicial procedures, from which, TLAS , taking into account the difficult economic situation in which the family was, covered the costs of the lawyer, court and notary expenses as well as the scientific expertise of the DNA".
