Research, 2021
Access to Justice for Roma: Legal Education of Students, Community and Health Mediators
What 329 people in marginalised settlements in Fier, Rrogozhinë and Berat know about their rights, and the legal problems they face.
Key findings
-
329
people surveyed in marginalised settlements, 56% of them women and girls.
-
76%
had never heard of the right to information.
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29.8%
of respondents had no education; only 4.2% had been to university.
-
80
legal cases were identified during the project, not all of which could be followed up.
Abstract
Thirty young Roma community and health mediators were trained on the institutions that protect human rights, then ran a short questionnaire in marginalised settlements in their own towns. The study reports what people know about their rights, the legal problems they raised, and what it would take to close the gap between communities and free legal aid.
Method
Questionnaires conceived as a pop-quiz, run by trained community and health mediators with 329 people aged 17 to 80 in Rrogozhinë, Fier, Berat and Gosë, from October 2020 to June 2021.
Women are furthest from justice
Women and girls from marginalised groups face intersecting discrimination and have less access to information than men. Gender roles keep them further from equal justice, and education matters too: the less schooling a person has, the harder it is to claim their rights or meet their obligations.
The legal problems people raised
- Unfinished divorces. The most frequent issue: cost and procedure keep women from divorcing legally, not only in fact.
- Homes and land. Legalisation applications pending for years without information, land under the state cadastre, poor housing and social housing, and damage from the 2019 earthquake.
- Social protection. People excluded from social assistance without explanation, domestic violence, and children born abroad left unregistered.
- Children’s rights. Custody and adoption cases, and children in conflict with the law.
- Work. Bans on informal recycling and on street trading, even where people say they pay municipal taxes.
Recommendations
- Hold street law activities more often, to raise awareness of rights and of the free legal tools independent institutions provide.
- Follow up every case after it is reported to an institution.
- Build the capacity of small local organisations to refer cases.
- Educate and empower women and girls to use legal services.
- Give mediators advanced, start-to-finish training in case management with the Ombudsman and other institutions.
Conclusion
A nine-month project is not long enough for work this complex. Communities need a lasting, structured relationship with the institutions that offer free legal aid, and cases need follow-up, not a single visit.