Free legal aid as an instrument of the right to access to justice: the basic notions of the legal concept, the history of its development and its implementation in Serbia

Abstract

Right to access to justice is the most important human right indispenable for effective enjoyment of other human rights. Because of its span and content, the right to access to justice is nearly impossible to define precisely. There are various guarantees included in the right to a fair trial and right to effective remedy which embody the ideas and interests that the right to access to justice in essence encompasses, as well as legal instruments which enable the effectivness of this human right. One of those instruments is the free legal aid, which was introduced to Serbian legislation only in 2019, even though many non-governmental organizations had been providing it as one of their main activities long before it would become subject of the national legislation. However, our analysis shows that effective access to justice through the means of access to the free legal aid is not yet achieved in Serbia for the failure of domestic authorities to implement the constitutional guarantees and ensuing legislation properly.