Project Office: Francuska 5, Belgrade, Toll Free 0800 108 208 e: info@pravnapomoc.org
  • Nis, 21.12.2016.

    Project team of EU funded project "Protection and promotion of property rights of internally displaced persons, refugees and returnees upon readmission agreements" and Office for Kosovo and Metohija organized two-day training for trainers on 20th and 21st December in Nis. Senior and junior legal advisers who will be supervising the legal trainees recruited to work on the project have completed intensive training programme that will enable effective transfer of their acquired knowledge to the pool of trainees. This training is very significant because legal advisers are responsible for the professional development of trainees in proper case management and effective representation of vulnerable IDPs in the courts and other institutions in Kosovo and Metohija. This approach to the development of professional skills will be very important in establishing the future pool of effective advocates. Following a comprehensive training over the two year project, the young legal trainees will become familiar with professional case management that will integrate client, document and time management databases and ensure well-managed casework with a greater prospect of effective interventions and just outcomes for the clients. After completion of the project up to 20 law trainees will be fully equipped to take prepare and manage important legal cases and more importantly they will gain invaluable and direct experience of advocacy in the courts....

  • Belgrade, 07.12.2016.

    The Office for Kosovo and Metohia and European Union Delegation to Serbia continue to provide free legal aid through implementation of the project “Promotion and the protection of property rights of internally displaced persons, refugees and returnees upon readmission agreements”. The special significance of this EU project is in the representation of internally displaced persons before the courts in Kosovo and Metohia, thus one of the most vulnerable categories of population in the Republic of Serbia will be able to recover its illegally confiscated, damaged or destroyed property, was emphasized at Conference held on December 7th 2016 at the Palace of Serbia. Team leader Declan O’Mahony said at the conference that there were at least 60.000 property return requests made by IDPs from Kosovo to which local courts in Kosovo failed to respond, adding that such a situation resulted in huge backlog of cases impossible to process within a reasonable timeframe. According to O’Mahony, within the EU’s project aimed at providing free legal aid to IDPs, refugees and returnees under readmission agreement, four separate units will be set up in Belgrade, Nis, Kraljevo and Vranje with two additional working units in Kosovska Mitrovica and Gracanica. The beneficiaries will have to meet clear criteria for the provision of legal aid, counselling and court representation, he explained....

PROBLEMS IDPs, REFUGEES AND RETURNEES ARE FACING WITH:

  • Their homes have been destroyed or usurped or fraudulently taken from them and they are unable to return or plan to invest
    for their future in the places where they live
  • Exclusion from schemes giving compensation to workers upon privatization of their former employer.
  • Institutional obstacles in acquiring necessary documents to access basic rights and take part in normal civic activities
    (e.g. a birth certificate, health insurance records, citizenship certificates, recognition of diplomas, years of service, pensions
    and other employee rights and access to property and court records)
  • The lack of security in the places of origin
  • Difficulties in integrating and engaging in long term social, cultural and economic activities in a temporary place of residence

HOW DO WE HELP?

  • We give support to those who, due to lack of means or security, or other good reason are not able to exercise their property
    and other rights
  • The support is provided by six legal teams throughout Serbia including mobile teams and our website and toll-free 0800 108 208
  • The teams consist of qualified advocates and their unit of lawyers who can provide:
    • Essential information on the legal rights of IDPS, Refugees and Returnees
    • Free legal assistance
    • Free legal representation by qualified advocates to protect your rights, particularly your property rights and to help secure
      the return of illegally occupied, damaged or destroyed property