How to apply the Free Legal Aid 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 EU and Council of Europe joint programme Horizontal Facility II. The trainings of trainers (ToT) on “Dealing with domestic violence cases in the Free Legal Aid system” аnd “Justice for children: Application of the Free Legal Aid Law when dealing with children” will be conducted online in the next three months for more than 30 lawyers, in cooperation with the Bar Association in North Macedonia.
Ms. Lejla Dervisagic, Head of Operations of the Council of Europe Programme Office in Skopje, during the welcome speech on the launching event, underlined the importance of the access to justice for the citizens and the role of the Council of Europe and the Programme Office in Skopje in assuring equal access to justice for all.
Ms. Rita Marascalchi, Project Co-ordinator at the Council of Europe, in her welcoming remarks informed the participants about this initiative and introduced the ToT approach as long-term investment for sustainability of project results and contribution to enhance the institutional role of the Bar for continuous education of lawyers.
Ms Jelena Ristik, Vice President of the Bar Association of the Republic of North Macedonia, during her welcoming speech stressed that these capacity building initiatives for lawyers will significantly improve the effective implementation of the Law on Free Legal Aid and ensure equal access for everyone with special focus on women and children, emphasizing the empowering, strategic and crucial role that the attorneys play in the FLA system.
The event continued under the facilitation of the international tutors Mr. John Eames and Ms. Maria Marinova Alkalay and the national tutors Ms. Bojana Netkova, Ms. Elena Georgievska and Ms. Ana Dangova Hug, who shared with the participants some key principles and challenges surrounding the implementation of the Free Legal Aid system in North Macedonia when dealing with cases of domestic violence and cases with children and took the participants (enrolled lawyers) through the courses format, programme, structure and content. Following the launching event, the courses will be implemented online using different methodologies for online learning for the selected group of participants.
The launching event and the ToT courses are organised by the action “Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid services in North Macedonia” which is part of the joint European Union/Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022”.
