With the reform of the procedural laws in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the role of legal representatives in the proceedings before the courts has become indisputable. Poor and uninformed citizens, who cannot pay for the services often required by lawyers, are unable to properly and effectively protect their rights. Bosnia and Herzegovina does not yet have a framework law on free legal aid as a fundamental guarantee of equal access to justice and justice for all its citizens.

The Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina (MoJ BiH) has established the MoJ annual work program for 2015. The priorities contained in this work program are aligned and aim to contribute to the overall strategic priorities of MoJ BiH as expressed in the draft Strategy for Justice Sector Reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina 2014-2018 (JSRS in BiH), which envisages the adoption of the Law on free legal aid in November 2015. It is still uncertain when the draft law will be made available to the general public. In the previous period, civil society organizations, through several initiatives (ECAS, Justice Network, Network of Legal Aid Providers), took an active part in drafting, which unfortunately did not pass the adoption procedure as in the previous three drafts. The Association for Democratic Initiatives within the framework of advocacy activities for the adoption of the Law will organize a series of public events in the coming period with the aim of raising the awareness of decision makers and citizens about the necessity of passing this Law.