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Abstract:

The idea of the paper is to determine how the free legal aid system is an effective mechanism for ensuring equal access to justice for all citizens in the Republic of Macedonia. The paper includes an analysis of the existing system and an overview of the use and availability of free legal aid to those who need it. The right to access to justice is one of the fundamental human rights. The state is the one that has the main role in the realization of the obligation for respecting, protecting and exercising human rights, which involves the establishment of an efficient system of free legal aid. Such a system aims to ensure equal access of citizens to the institutions of the system. The right to free legal aid is provided by persons who, due to their material status, could not exercise the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the law, without compromising their own maintenance and support of the members of their family living in a common household. Access to legal aid is part of the right to a fair trial, arising from Article 6 of the ECHR. Article 6 paragraph 3c on minimum rights in criminal cases ensures provision of free legal aid when the interests of justice so required. Hence, in addition to domestic legislation, the paper also analysies the international conventions that guarantee the right to access to justice and presents different approaches and practices for providing free legal aid. At the same time, it deals with defining the system's shortcomings in providing efficient and effective access to justice for all citizens.

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