1. LEGAL SERVICEs

Free Legal Aid

The Free Legal Aid Program for persons with disabilities assists persons with disabilities and their family members, through providing legal information and assisting with administrative and court cases.  This program also provides for the secondary legal aid services in the court of justice for all those specific and strategic court cases aiming at establishing good legal practices to guarantee the rights of disabled persons.  Special attention to the Free Legal Aid program is also dedicated to the improvement and monitoring of the implementation of the legal framework in the field of disability.  

Follow-up of Strategic Cases

The legal service is concentrated and will continue to pay attention in the future to the strategic cases related mainly to the discrimination, cases that expand in time and require more specialized intervention.  The treatment of strategic cases will be accompanied by advocacy and lobbying activities aiming at legal amendments or the case law that will finally influence and benefit a wider group of persons with disabilities. 

Discrimination due to Disability

ADRF works to strengthen the interest groups, persons with disabilities and organizations for disabled persons, so they can identify and report the discrimination instances.  We provide the disabled persons with the means to exercise their rights not only in front of the courts of law but to also negotiate with employers, social, health and employment services providers.  ADRF promotes the implementation of the Law on Protection against Discrimination, through exercising of pressure and offering of concrete proposals as to how this law should become applicable in the context of disabilities.  

2. ACCESS TO JUSTICE

Supported Decision Making

For the first time in Albania, we have undertaken initiatives that specifically address the right for equality before the law, according to the Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).  Article 12 of CRPD recognizes the right to recognition before the law of all persons with disabilities, especially the right to recognition of persons with intellectual disability and those with psychosocial disabilities.  Its uniqueness lies in the fact that the recognition does not mean only having these rights, but also exercising them equally with the others.  Through this article, the CRPD calls for the removal of the legal custody, as a discriminating, evasive and abusive system to the rights of the person and presents the model of the supported decision making meaning that all persons can take their own decisions regarding all aspects of their lives when they have the right and necessary support.  

Enabling of Inclusive Approaches to secure Efficient Access to Justice for Persons with Disabilities

Through its programs, ADRF aims at enabling the efficient access to justice for persons with disabilities via the increase of knowledge of the justice institutions for the improvement of practices and legislation in the field of guaranteeing access to justice for all categories of disabled persons, according to the international standards affirmed by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.  ADRF works to empower persons with disabilities and organizations that operate in this field to advocate and lobby to put into practice the international standards to guarantee efficient access to justice.  

Good Governance in the Context of Disabilities

ADRF continuously undertakes initiatives that aim at the promotion of accountability and transparency of the local and central governmental institutions, as well as other law enforcement institutions, through the monitoring of the level of the legal framework and the identification/reporting of the negative practices.  Through the awareness-raising, strengthening of capacities, promotion of accessibility, ADRF aims at increasing the responsibility and transparency of the central and local institutions.  We intend to achieve all of the above through the strengthening of the persons with disabilities to request their rights through the application of the legal mechanisms and the improvement of monitoring capabilities.