Hence, it is obvious that local self-government units in very few cases, almost statistically negligible, provided citizens with free legal aid in these procedures. SOCIAL WELFARE CENTRES: Taking into consideration that according to the Law on Non-Contentious Procedure social welfare centres are authorised petitioners in the procedures for determining the date and place of birth38, Praxis addressed them with requests to provide the information on the number of cases in which they had initiated these procedures and the number of cases in which they otherwise assisted parties in these procedures. Out of the total of 154 social welfare centres to which the requests were sent39, 110 centres (71%) responded, 42 centres (27%) did not respond, and one centre responded that they did not keep this kind of records, while one centre refused to provide information. From among the centres that provided responses, 14% (or 15 centres) were petitioners in the procedures for determining the date and place of birth - in 23 procedures. Most centres were petitioners only once (13 SWCs), while one guardianship authority initiated 3 procedures, and one initiated 7 procedures. Other type of assistance was provided by 6 centres in 7 cases. Of that number, in 4 cases the centres’ employees drew up petitions for clients, but the social welfare centres were not petitioners in these cases - the petitioners were clients themselves. Hence, we can say that social welfare centres in the total of 27 cases facilitated the initiation of the procedure for determining the date and place of birth. LAW ON FREE LEGAL AID: The presented data show that legally invisible persons in a very small number of cases could rely on the assistance of local self-government bodies and social welfare centres. Since the entry into force of the Law on Amendments of the Law on Non-Contentious Procedure in 2012 the local self-government bodies and social welfare centres only in 56 cases drew up petitions for initiating the procedure or initiated the procedure by themselves. For comparison, in that period Praxis drew up 455 petitions for determining the date and place of birth for its beneficiaries, which is eight times more than all of these authorities together. Hence, it is clear that the state has not assumed responsibility for assisting the citizens who need legal aid for the exercise of basic human rights: the right to registration into birth registry books and the right to citizenship, but has ceded this activity, almost completely, to the civil sector. However, this approach is not sustainable in the long run and therefore it is necessary to finally adopt the Law on Free Legal Aid to establish an efficient legal aid system, available to all, which will also be adapted to the specific problems and needs of legally invisible persons and persons at risk of statelessness. Also, in determining free legal aid providers, this law should take into account primarily the interests of citizens who need assistance. In this regard, we must not disregard the role of the organisations that have been providing free legal aid to the most vulnerable groups for years, and whose activities aimed at the protection of guaranteed human rights benefit not only individual beneficiaries, but also the whole society. 38 39 Article 71a, paragraph 2 of the Law on Non-Contentious Procedure. Requests were not sent to the social welfare centres from the territory of the AP Kosovo and Metohija. 28