The Association ESE is continuously working to improve the court protection of women who have suffered domestic violence, with a special focus on facilitating access to family dispute proceedings. Recognizing the importance and urgent need of women to address the legal issues of domestic violence, ESE in 2019 undertook an initial survey to determine the impact of court fees and costs and the awareness of the practice of legal opportunities for exemption from court costs among women who have suffered domestic violence. In this field, we aim to determine the current situation and identify the obstacles that women face as they try to resolve legal issues in court as a result of the domestic violence suffered.
The initial analysis from 2019 collected data from women who in the current year applied for free legal aid in ESE. This analysis covered all types of court proceedings in family disputes with the conclusion that women lead an average of two procedures in family disputes. Women have limited financial power to pay court costs with small differences for different proceedings, and few asked for exemption from payment of costs because they were not informed about this possibility before initiating the proceedings.
In this field, the research continued in 2020, with the conclusions from the second analysis being interpreted in relation to the previous analysis. Both analyzes reflect the current situation of women in terms of the availability of court proceedings in family disputes with the conclusion that despite the legal innovations to facilitate access to court protection, in practice they are still insufficiently known or insufficiently experienced by women who have suffered domestic violence.
The Association ESE continued with the research in 2021 in order to identify possible changes to improve the situation in practice after the legal innovations for easier access to court protection for the poor and women who have suffered domestic violence as a vulnerable category of persons.
The purpose of the analysis is to contribute with recommendations based on data collected from the research on women who have conducted or plan to conduct family dispute proceedings. The analysis is expected to identify the key issues and obstacles that make it difficult for women to utilise the legal possibilities for conducting family disputes by exemption from payment of court costs, including professional legal assistance from a competent institution or free representation by a lawyer.
