Refugee Legal Aid Resources

Fairness

Transparency

Accountability

This site is not associated with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and does not reflect the views of UNHCR.

 

 

 

 

 

A growing movement

 

Competent and ethical legal assistance is an essential safeguard in any fair refugee status determination procedure. A good legal advisor will help refugees explain their reasons for fearing persecution clearly, and can help decision-makers avoid misinterpreting the evidence, and in the end reduce the chances that a person in danger will be denied protection.

 

In western countries with sophisticated asylum systems, refugees often have access to low cost legal aid, often supported by government funding. But in the global south, legal aid is rarely available to refugees. In many places, UNHCR offices have refused to allow legal advisors to assist refugees in the RSD process.

 

Since the 1990s, refugee rights activists have been working to expand refugee legal aid in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. In 2005, UNHCR’s headquarters made clear that all asylum-seekers — including those applying to UNHCR’s own field offices — have the right to counsel. Asylum Access, RSDWatch’s parent organization, is the only US-based organization working to expand refugee legal aid in the global south. A list of major legal aid providers is available on the our links page.

 

 

Refugee advocates set ethical standards

 

At the end of January 2007, 15 refugee legal aid providers from South America, Africa, the Middle East, Southeastern Europe and Southeast Asia convened in Nairobi, Kenya for the first ever  Southern Refugee Legal Aid Conference. They produced two instruments intended to spur the growth of legal aid for refugees.

 

First, they drafted and approved Model Rules of Ethics for Legal Advisors in Refugee Cases (The Nairobi Code), which give specific guidance to legal aid providers in the refugee-specific context, and set minimum benchmarks for responsible organizations to follow. Second, they proposed a charter of a new Southern Refugee Legal Aid Network (SRLAN), which brings together legal aid NGOs from throughout the global south for joint advocacy, training and professional standard-setting.

 

RSDWatch has published the full text of the Nairobi Code and the SRLAN Charter.

 

 

 

 

 

Last updated 12 February 2007

 

 

 

 

RSDWatch.org

An independent source of information about the way the UN refugee agency decides refugee cases.

 

A project of Asylum Access