Ilidža Municipality: 650 Citizens Sought Free Legal Aid

In the Ilidža Municipality, from January 1 to December 31, 2016, 650 citizens sought free legal aid, of which 444 for drafting written submissions and 206 for oral advice. The provision of legal aid in the area of labor relations involved drafting lawsuits and amending lawsuits, for payment of contributions for pension and disability insurance, unpaid wages, unlawful termination of employment contracts, and other claims arising from labor-law relations.

Additionally, appeals were drafted to the Civil Service Appeals Board due to termination of employment, appeals against employer-director decisions on candidate selection and employment based on competition announcements, objections to employer decisions on redistribution of working hours, night work, and special protection for night workers, as well as workers' rights to increased wages. Thus, seven lawsuits, three amended lawsuits, three proposals for enforcement of court judgments, nine appeals, two objections, and two requests were written.

In the area of veteran and disability protection, legal aid mainly involved drafting lawsuits to the Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina after the revision procedure, i.e., the lawful exercise of beneficiaries' rights under the Law on the Rights of Defenders and Members of Their Families, and five lawsuits, eight appeals, and two requests were drafted.

Legal aid was also provided to persons in need of social assistance, mainly by drafting submissions for recognition of the right to personal disability allowance, allowance for care and assistance from another person, orthopedic allowance, child allowance, exercising the right to compensation instead of salary for a mother in an employment relationship while absent from work due to pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare, and financial assistance during pregnancy and childbirth for a mother not in an employment relationship. Twenty-five appeals were written in this area.

Legal aid was also provided to citizens in the area of pension and disability insurance in the form of drafting appeals and lawsuits against decisions of the Federal Institute for Pension and Disability Insurance regarding the exercise of rights to disability and family pensions in accordance with the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance, including one lawsuit and twenty appeals.

Regarding the provision of legal aid in the area of civil status, proposals were drafted to the non-contentious department of the Municipal Court for initiating inheritance proceedings, proposals for issuing supplementary inheritance decisions, proposals for deprivation of legal capacity, proposals for declaring a missing person deceased, proposals for correcting data in land registers, and proposals for termination and deletion of mortgage rights on real estate.

Lawsuits were also drafted for child support, maintaining personal relationships and contacts with minor children, lawsuits for modification of final court decisions on support, maintaining personal relationships and contacts with minor children, and proposals for enforcement of final court decisions related to support, maintaining personal relationships and contacts with minor children, as well as requests to the Social Welfare Service of the Ilidža Municipality for consent to dispose of property of minor children, and lawsuits for contesting and establishing paternity, custody of minor children from extramarital unions, lawsuits for divorce, and requests for amicable divorce.

Furthermore, responses to lawsuits based on claims of public utility companies were drafted, appeals against decisions of the Municipal Court regarding these claims, as well as objections to decisions on enforcement of court judgments (related to citizens' debts for utility services), and requests, proposals for reopening proceedings, and appeals against decisions of services of the Ilidža Municipality administrative body, cantonal and federal administrative bodies, and administrative institutions. This totaled 358. Oral advice was also provided in all the aforementioned areas, in the area of property-law relations, spatial planning, and oral advice regarding the Decision on criteria for granting financial assistance from the Budget of the Ilidža Municipality to the most socially vulnerable persons.