One of the strategic orientations of Association ESE is the enhancement of the level of legal protection for women who have suffered domestic violence. Association ESE recognizes the importance of effective legal protection through free legal aid in this regard, and that the provision of free legal aid for women can contribute to decreasing the rate of domestic violence in the country. This happens, in particular, when the civil court issues restraining orders. In 2015 Association ESE undertook initial steps for calculating the costs related to the provision of legal protection for women who had suffered domestic violence, as part of its efforts directed toward putting pressure on the Government to increase access to free legal aid and allocate sufficient funds for provision of legal services for women who have suffered domestic violence. In this regard, in 2015 Association ESE conducted cost analysis for legal assistance in domestic violence cases by calculating the costs for legal advice, preparation of written submissions, and court representation. These costs are usually incurred by the woman involved or, for those who access ESE assistance, the costs are incurred by ESE. What was evident from the calculations is that the state fails to allocate adequate funds for legal aid, including court representation in cases of domestic violence. As a result, the women who have suffered domestic violence are left on their own to find their own funds to seek protection.
In 2017 Association ESE conducted cost-benefit analysis by calculating the costs and assessing the quality of the procedure in domestic violence cases. The analysis incorporated the salaries and operational costs related to the work of ESE’s Legal Assistance Centre (LAC), as well as the costs that are paid by the women who suffered domestic violence. The latter included travel costs, clients’ lost work cost, childcare costs, costs for initiation of court procedures, costs for court verdicts, administrative costs etc. Another aspect that was analyzed was the quality of the procedure for women who suffered domestic violence using the following parameters: time spent in searching for free legal aid; quality of the services provided through the Legal Aid Centre; and the stress suffered by the women as a result of the legal problem and the process that they went through.
The process of data collection continued in the next years and resulted in the preparation of a three-year summary analysis for the period 2017-2019, to which was later added the annual analysis for 2020. Consequently, the collected data from 2021 regarding the costs and benefits of providing legal aid was compared to the summary period 2017-2020, and used for determination of trends in the costs incurred by women who have suffered domestic violence in their access to justice in the last 5 years.
This continued collection of data and calculations of costs and benefits for this vulnerable group of women is part of ESE’s efforts for collecting people centered justice data and in parallel with the cost benefit analysis, ESE is preparing annual in-depth analyzes on the use of right to be exempted from paying the court fees and right to child alimony.
