The Albanian Helsinki Committee (AHC) found a number of issues related to the provision of free legal aid to people in Albania.
AHC noted that “delays in the implementation of legislation, issuance of bylaws, the establishment of structures responsible for the management and administration of the free legal aid scheme, have affected the missing or delayed access of citizens to the judiciary and have created difficulties for civil society organizations that provide free legal services to citizens, some of which have provided this service on a voluntary basis and without financial support.”
In a recently published report, AHC has highlighted the following issues:
- The Directorate for Legal Aid (HR) has been set up outside the legal deadline, creating difficulties in providing legal aid to citizens. The law stipulates that the HR should have been set up 3 months after the entry into force of the law while it has been set up 10 months from the entry into force of the law.
- Delays in the appointment of the director of the HR have made it impossible to provide legal aid to those who need it, as well as have hampered the work of the organizations that provide it.
- The highly bureaucratic nature of the documentation required for NGOs wishing to apply to be part of legal aid providers has made their work extremely difficult.
- No cooperation agreement has been signed yet between the Directorate of Free Legal Aid and Law Clinics set up at public or private universities.
Free legal aid is a service related to the drafting of legal acts or legal advice to citizens in economic need or in special conditions.
Under Article 6 (1) of the ECHR, everyone has the right to a fair hearing in the determination of civil rights or criminal matters. Under Article 6 (3) (c) everyone has the right to defend themselves in person or through legal assistance. If they do not have the means to pay for this, they are to be given it for free when the interests of justice so require.
