16-02-2022 11:30
3025 free legal consultations for people from vulnerable social groups have been provided by mobile groups of lawyers and Roma mediators in the last 10 months under a project of the National Legal Aid Bureau at the Ministry of Justice. Over 400 of the conducted consultations are for people below the poverty line, from remote areas and from the Roma community in Stara Zagora district.
This became clear during the meeting between the Deputy Minister of Justice Borislav Ganchev and the newly elected chairman of the Bar Association in Stara Zagora Zlatina Yovcheva.
The two discussed progress on the project "Improving access to justice for people living below the poverty line with special focus on women, children and the Roma community", funded by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014-2021.
The most common topics on which people seek legal aid are parental rights, child support and social assistance. A number of issues are also related to problems with domestic violence.
Deputy Minister Ganchev said that the Ministry of Justice is working intensively on the bill on domestic violence together with a wide range of institutions and non-governmental organizations. He is committed to overseeing the project and assisting.
According to the lawyer Yovcheva mobile teams work extremely well with Roma mediators, who also organize thematic meetings with the community, which condemn the opportunities to address specific pressing issues.
Seven lawyers are working on the territory of Stara Zagora under the project financed by NFM 2014-2021. Due to the high interest in the service provided, the National Legal Aid Bureau has approved an additional 5 lawyers, who will join the mobile teams there next week.