Experts are close to finishing the draft Law on state-guaranteed legal assistance

The representatives of the institutions involved in the law-making and in offering and administrating state-guaranteed legal assistance, as well as of the donor organisations, are about conclude the draft Law on legal assistance guaranteed by the state, by aligning with the international standards. The participants of a roundtable organised on Friday, March 30 by the Ministry of Justice, Soros-Moldova Foundation and the Moldova-based bureau of the American Bar Association (ABA/CEELI) discuss key-aspects of the aforementioned draft law which passed first reading in June 2006. The discussed issues are the eligibility criteria for legal assistance guaranteed by the state, totally and partially free of charge, organisation and administration of the legal assistance guaranteed by the state system, models of offering legal assistance, including through public lawyers, as well as the concept and methods of offering primary legal assistance including by parajurists. The fact that Moldova passed the state-guaranteed legal assistance Bill is an extremely important step towards implementing the commitment of Moldova to ensure efficient and real access to justice of its citizens and other persons living on its territory, commitment accepted by signing and ratifying the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The commitments on ensuring free access to justice are included in the EGPRSP, Action Plan Moldova-EU, and Action Plan on the implementation of the Preliminary Country Plan within the US Program “Millennium Challenges”.