Law in Action - Developing Civil Society

16 February 2006

Law in Action - Developing Civil Society

Beginning in March 2005, the ERRC is implementing an 18 month project to develop the capacities of civil society organisations in Croatia and Macedonia to undertake effective public interest law initiatives, in particular to ensure access to services delivered by local authorities and to encourage equal participation in the democratic process. The project is funded by the CARDS regional programme 2003 of the European Commission and is implemented in partnership with the Zagreb-based Croatian Law Center (CLC) and the Kumanov-based Roma Community Center DROM.

In the project, the ERRC is mentoring the CLC and DROM to transfer best practice in monitoring, strategic litigation and legal advocacy. As part of the project, 18 strategic cases will be jointly brought before domestic courts in Croatia and Macedonia in which Roma have suffered severe forms of discrimination, 6 joint legal advocacy actions undertaken to change central and local government policies, laws and practices that discriminate against Roma, and 4 workshops held to train human rights activists and lawyers working for CSOs in Croatia and Macedonia.

Further information on the European Community's CARDS regional programme is available on the Internet at: http://europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/cards/index_en.htm.