USAID Justice for All is a five-year activity designed to help the Government of Serbia solve people’s legal problems and satisfy their justice needs by strengthening the justice system and service providers and guaranteeing the rule of law. Justice for All will empower Serbian citizens to know their rights and use the law by fostering partnerships between justice actors and local communities to innovate, problem-solve, and deliver better services. As a result, Justice for All will increase the quality and delivery of justice and transparency of court proceedings, thereby increasing resiliency and contributing to USAID’s overall goal of a more prosperous and democratic Serbia committed to Euro-Atlantic integration and self-reliance.

The project “Access to Justice Pertaining to the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue under the EU Negotiation Framework” had the aim to create a comprehensive analysis of the beginning of the implementation of the Annex on the implementation of the Agreement on Normalization between Kosovo and Serbia (Ohrid Agreement), with a focus on the article 1, which refers to the mutual recognition of documents and the potential revision of interim benchmarks for negotiation chapter 35. It is supported by the Peaceful Change Initiative (PCI), which is the manager of the larger project “Serbia-Kosovo: Local voices for development”, supported by of UK Aid.

The project aims to improve the digital environment for journalists and human rights defenders (HRDs) in Serbia, with a specific focus on shielding them from abusive court proceedings, notably SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) cases.

“Strengthening fundamental rights in Serbia” aims to enhance the protection of fundamental rights in Serbia through three components: protecting personal data, providing free legal aid, and protecting the rights of suspects. The project seeks to support the Government of Serbia in improving its policy and legal framework to comply with international commitments and EU accession negotiation requirements particularly related to Chapter 23 and to increase the legal literacy of civil servants.

YUCOM will be responsible for developing and disseminating a Guide for MSMEs who are self-represented (the Guide). The objective of the Guide is to familiarize MSMEs with judicial processes and provide answers to questions that MSMEs might have before going to court, thus enabling them to understand the judicial processes more realistically and comprehensively before deciding whether to litigate. The target audience of the Guide are MSMEs. The Guide will include: i) basic information on courts in Serbia; ii) information on the costs of court procedures; iii) key information and guidelines for plaintiffs; iv) key information and guidelines for defendants; and v) relevant templates, such as templates for complaints and responses to a complaint.

About the project: The main goal of the project is to contribute to the improvement of access to justice for citizens and help to further improve the rule of law in Serbia. YUCOM, as an organization that provides free legal aid and support and creates recommendations for improving the legal framework that led to the adoption of the first national Law on free legal aid, will continue providing free legal aid and support to citizens whose human rights are threatened.

About the project: The Internet provides a wealth of information and knowledge opening up new opportunities but also challenges for freedom of expression. The principle of freedom of expression can be applied not only to traditional media, but also to the Internet and all kinds of media platforms, which contribute to the development of democracy and dialogue. Although the right to freedom of expression is a basic human right, it is not absolute. Like most rights, freedom of expression can be legally limited in the situations when the restrictions are reasonable and justified in an open and democratic society. Despite the declarative commitment to freedom of expression, many journalists, human rights lawyers, activists, and ordinary citizens face misdemeanor and criminal charges, civil lawsuits, and different types of persecution.

Although facing numerous challenges, Serbia continues to work on advancing judicial reform through the Action Plan for Chapter 35 (together with Chapter 23), which is an important step for Serbia toward necessary progress in the rule of law. YUCOM, with the support of the Balkan Trust for Democracy and the Royal Norwegian Embassy, is implementing the third phase of the Towards Stronger Judiciary through Citizens’ Monitoring project.

The primary problem the project seeks to address is the lack of adequate free legal aid and support for victims of gender-based violence in Serbia. The project aims to protect the victims of gender-based violence and domestic violence whose human rights are threatened, while the capacity of national free legal aid providers is still lacking.

About the project: The goal of the project is to enable closer communication between representatives of the judiciary and citizens and thus increase the transparency of the work of courts and the trust of citizens in the work of judicial institutions, with a special focus on the work of Misdemeanor courts. Within this project, a set of thematic open doors will be implemented on topics that are within the jurisdiction of Misdemeanor courts. In addition to the judges of Misdemeanor courts throughout Serbia, the panelists will be, depending on the topic, representatives of the Ministry of the Interior, Centers for social work, Bar Chamber etc. In addition to the events that will be held in a adjusted online format, within this project, the blog posts of representatives of the judiciary for which there is the greatest interest of citizens will be continuously published. Some of the most current topics will be translated into the form of infographics.

The impact of the COVID-19 virus pandemic on access to justice for national minorities and other vulnerable groups in the Republic of Serbia is the topic of a project implemented by the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria.

About the project: The aim of the project is to ensure that impartial and objective monitors observe the elections for the High Judicial Council and State Prosecutors’ Council. Monitors shall be present at polling stations to observe the voting and will conduct interviews with randomly selected judges and prosecutors to get information on whether the procedure for nominating candidates was fair. The monitors shall produce a report on the results of their observation of the election process.

Facing a number of challenges in the field of human rights and the judiciary, Serbia continues to make great efforts to advance judicial reform, especially those outlined in the Action Plan for Chapter 23, necessary to improve the rule of law. As Chapters 23 and 35 are key chapters and an unavoidable condition for final progress in all aspects, Yucom, with the support of the Balkan Trust for Democracy, is implementing the second phase of the Civic Monitoring for a Stronger Judiciary project.

The main goal of the project is to strengthen the capacities of human rights defenders both nationally and locally in Serbia. The project aims to improve the situation for human rights defenders such that they can perform their tasks with more confidence; advocate for greater alignment of the existing legislation to international human rights standards; and develop an early warning mechanism for reporting breaches of rights and pressures.

The quality of housing of the Roma population, as well as the legal uncertainty caused by the ownership of illegal housing, are the reasons why the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities (SCTM) and the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights (Yucom) support the legalization of buildings in Roma substandards settlements in 10 local self-government units. The service will be provided until October 31, 2020, and is organized within the program “EU Support to Roma Inclusion – Strengthening Local Communities for Roma Inclusion”, funded by the European Union and implemented by the SCTM.

The main goal of the project is to improve access to justice and help develop the rule of law in Serbia. Access to justice in Serbia is particularly important in light of the recently adopted Law on Free Legal Aid and amendments to other legal acts that will have a direct impact on citizens’ rights.

The main goal of the project is to improve the efficiency of institutions and to increase the independence of the Ombudsman, which would facilitate citizens’ access to information related to the Ombudsman’s work, as well as equal access to justice.

Legal capacity is a basic precondition for exercising other rights, and deprivation of legal capacity brings with it huge consequences for the daily life and freedom of persons with disabilities. Deprivation of legal capacity practically leads to “civil death” and deprives a person of basic human rights, which endangers his autonomy. Complete deprivation of legal capacity completely excludes any possibility of deciding and disposing of one’s rights.

Legal capacity is the fundamental prerequisite to realizing all other rights, and deprivation of legal capacity carries with itself enormous consequences to the everyday life and freedom of persons with disabilities. Deprivation of legal capacity practically leads to “civil death”, and deprives basic human rights to a person, thus endangering his/her autonomy. Complete deprivation of legal capacity fully excludes any possibility for decision making and enjoying of someone’s rights.