Foreign experience in the administrative activities of entities providing free legal aid in the field of preventing and combating domestic violence is examined in the article. It is noted that many states adopted special legislation that regulates the legal aid system in detail and establishes the main characteristics of programs for the provision of free (or partially free) legal services to the population. It is emphasized in the article that combating domestic violence is one of the important areas of social development today. It is considered to be not only a social problem, but, first of all, a problem of protecting human rights and, above all, women’s rights. Due to this fact, the development of appropriate legal means is required in order to resolve it. It is a fact that in all Council of Europe member states, in order to ensure effective access to justice, there is at least one way in which citizens can obtain legal aid. Systems vary between countries and there is no single model. There are fundamental differences in the paradigm, organization and management of legal aid systems between Council of Europe member states. Attention is drawn to the fact that today the governments of many countries around the world adopt laws, develop state programs and take special measures aimed at combating those forms of violence that until recently were considered to be a private matter of the family or an individual. The author concludes in the article that the vast majority of countries in the world, regardless of their legal system, have systematic efforts to prevent and combat domestic violence thanks to specially created bodies and institutions that are tasked with providing free legal assistance to victims of domestic violence. There is a systematic improvement in the practice of protecting victims of domestic violence, including by adoption of new legislation, introduction of state programs, improving the work of bodies and institutions that are responsible for providing free legal assistance to victims of domestic violence. It is also proposed that the analyzed foreign experience of free legal aid entities in the field of preventing and combating domestic violence can serve as a solid legal basis for the development of domestic legislation and law enforcement practice.

Key words: administrative activity, subject, legal aid, prevention, counteraction, domestic violence, foreign countries.

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