Access to justice is a broad concept that refers to the methods by which citizens are able to get legal information and legal services and have their disputes resolved. It includes access to court procedures, to legal aid and to extra-legal mechanisms to resolve conflicts. Effective access to justice does not refer only to reductions in costs, access to lawyers and access to courts; instead, it is a broad term that refers more generally to the effectiveness of a justice system in meeting the dispute resolution needs of its citizens. For citizens to be able to seek and access justice, they must be legally empowered.
On the global level data show that 4 billion people around the world live outside the protection of the law, mostly because they are poor or marginalized. The Republic of Macedonia is no exception. The Republic of Macedonia is classified as an upper middle income country. In 2015 according to the State Statistical Office (based on the Survey on Income and Living Conditions) the poverty rate was 21.5%. Limited access to justice for poor, Roma and other marginalized communities has provoked the establishment of different forms of legal aid modalities. Currently there are three modalities of provision of free legal aid and services in Macedonia, namely provision of preliminary free legal aid, community-based paralegals, and lawyering for the marginalized.
As part of the 2016 FOSM action plan under the Shared Framework, Association ESE in collaboration with Debbie Budlender, conducted cost-benefit analysis of provision of the three existing legal aid and services modality in the country. As explained in the study, the study attempts to cost three different forms of legal aid for the poor. The aim is not to show that one form of legal aid is better than another. Instead, the aim is to estimate the current costs of providing the services, to highlight who is covering the current costs, and to estimate what costs government would need to cover to provide effective free legal aid. Furthermore this study attempts to define the benefits across all modalities of free legal aid. It is worth nothing that this is the first such attempt in Macedonia. Accordingly, all obstacles faced and recommendations offered by the drafters of this analysis were carefully noted and taken into consideration when preparing the follow up analysis and follow up activities.
