Legal assistance needs to be strategically organized to address the obstacles faced by national minorities in accessing justice, especially in cases of conflictrelated displacement.28 States should develop such strategies, in co-operation with key stakeholders, including the judiciary, prosecutors, law-enforcement agencies, national human rights institutions, bar associations, legal aid providers (including paralegals), other civil society organizations and representatives of national minorities. An important first step consists of putting in place, in consultation with persons belonging to national minorities, a regulatory and legislative framework for legal aid that is sensitive to the needs of minorities, and of minority women in particular. Several considerations should be taken into account when preparing such a framework. It should ensure that persons belonging to minority communities are able to access legal services in a language they understand, and preferably in their language (including through an interpreter), for criminal, civil and administrative cases at any stage of legal proceedings and also after, in case they serve a prison sentence.29 It is also important that national minorities are not unfairly excluded from legal assistance by the means test used to determine eligibility for financial assistance. In this context, consideration should also be given to making primary legal aid (consisting of legal advice only) free. A means test can then be applied before providing legal assistance to vulnerable individuals to prepare their case and to be represented in court (sometimes referred to as secondary legal aid). Legal assistance should also be offered, regardless of an individual’s means, if the interests of justice so require. It may be important to apply this principle in cases of hate crimes committed against persons belonging to national minorities because doing so will underline the importance that the State attaches to ensuring that these crimes are tackled vigorously.30 Deciding which particular areas of law to include in the provision of assistance should therefore be assessed against the needs of 28 29 30 See United Nations (1990) Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers (adopted by the Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders); UN General Assembly (2012) Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems (General Assembly resolution 67/187, annex); Council of Europe (1978) Resolution (78) 8 On Legal Aid and Advice (adopted by the Committee of Ministers at the 284th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies); Council of Europe (1976) Resolution (76) 5 On Legal Aid in Civil, Commercial and Administrative Matters (adopted by the Committee of Ministers at the 254th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies); and Council of Europe (1993) Recommen-dation No. R (93) 1 of the Committee of Ministers on Effective Access to the Law and to Justice for the Very Poor (adopted by the Committee of Ministers at the 484th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies). See OSCE (2003) Decision No. 566 Action Plan on Improving the Situation of Roma and Sinti within the OSCE Area, paragraph 18. See United Nations (2013) Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems, paragraph 21; and United Nations (1990) Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers (Adopted by the Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders). The Graz Recommendations on Access to Justice and National Minorities 21