A conference was held in Sarajevo today entitled “Civil Society in Action: Transitional Justice and Access to Justice”, where the results of the project of UNDP “Access to Justice: Dealing with the Past and Building Confidence for the Future” were presented, in the framework of the realization of 10 projects organized by civil societies.
The Organization of Civil Societies implemented activities in the area of transitional justice and access to justice by providing free legal aid from October 2011 to June 2012.
The Head of the Sector for Justice and Security of UNDP Amela Čosović-Medić said that the organizations of this program succeeded in getting funds that would improve the position of socially disadvantaged people, such as victims of war, rape, and domestic violence, women, unemployed and disabled people.
“For these 10 projects around 250,000 KM have been spent, which covered 5,000 direct beneficiaries, and an added 5,000 users received free legal aid because our goal was to enable everyone to enjoy equal access to justice and to help them take back their dignity after everything they have gone through’’, said Čosović-Medić.
Vanja Čolić, the Executive Director of the Humanitarian Group “Partner” from Banja Luka said that with the support of UNDP, they implemented the project “Free Legal Aid for People with Disabilities”.
“The goal of the project is for people with disabilities, who are active in their associations, to enable the provision of free legal aid to their members so that basic rights could be exercised”, explained Čolić.
According to her, even if the rights of these people is regulated by law, the majority of people with disabilities, especially those who are not members of an association, are not aware of their rights, and 15 people who have been trained under this project will continue to provide legal assistance.
