CAPACITY BUILDING OF LEGAL TEAMS FOR FREE LEGAL AID
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.
Marek Nowicki, a world renowned human rights expert, trained the trainers on the opportunities, strengths and weaknesses to be exploited within Kosovo legal system. Andrey Antonov, former Executive Officer in UNMIK Human Rights Advisory Panel (HRAP) and head of the Panel Secretariat, presented relevant case-law of HRAP. Participants of the training had the opportunity to talk with representatives of the Constitutional Court, Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Commissariat for Refugees.
The Government of Serbia and the EU fully support the Project. Internally displaced persons (IDPs), refugees and returnees under readmission agreement are vulnerable groups who have a right to proper access to justice. They are entitled to information about and support to enjoy their rights, and, where appropriate, representations by qualified advocates before the courts to secure their rights. In this way, the funding partners look to the project to help the vulnerable clients to find durable solutions to the unique problems they face because of their displacement from their place of origin.
The legal team from Nis is working in an office which has been established in the building of the National University, Trg Kralja Milana 8. Any IDP or Refugee or Returnee interested in seeking support or information from the Project to realize their rights in their place origin should contact the Project on freephone 0800 108 208.