Recognising the Power of Pro Bono on International Refugee Day

TrustLaw has launched a series of exciting new initiatives to scale up the pro bono response to the global refugee crisis. Here are some updates and ways to get involved.

Be the first to see this moving film following the lives of three refugees in Jordan, told through the story of an innovative new legal project.

Check out our new ‘Know Your Rights Guide’, developed in partnership with the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), Journey’s End Refugee Services (JERS), and an important law firm partner to help people potentially affected by the US travel ban to navigate the executive order and relevant immigration law and policy.

Read our recent comparative study of the laws relating to border control and asylum in Europe, developed in partnership with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Latham & Watkins.

Finally, find out more about TrustLaw's new Refugee Rights Working Group for organisations working to support those affected by the European refugee crisis.

 

No Exit: Jordan’s Most Vulnerable Refugees

Jayne Fleming is the leader of the Reed Smith Refugee Protection Project, a mobile legal clinic offering legal and psychosocial support to some of Jordan’s most vulnerable refugees – mostly from Syria, Iraq, or Sudan. Their goal is to resettle their clients to third countries where they can start their lives anew. Their clients include victims of torture incapacitated by trauma, children with life-threatening or degenerative illnesses, and victims of rape or gender-based violence. They want to get to countries that can provide support which is unavailable in Jordan. If they don’t achieve this, many may not survive.

Watch this moving video following the lives of three refugees in Jordan, told through the story of this innovative legal project.

Rapid legal responses to the global refugee crisis

Legal Analysis of Laws Relating to Border Control and Asylum in Europe

Since 2015, more than 1.2 million refugees have sought sanctuary at Europe’s borders, fleeing ongoing conflict and instability in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, Eritrea and elsewhere. Without safe routes to seek refugee status, over 3000 people have drowned at sea as they flee wars and persecution. To support humanitarian and advocacy work in response to the European refugee crisis, TrustLaw facilitated a cross-border research partnership between the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Latham & Watkins and a consortium of local legal experts, public international law consultants and academics on legal issues related to border control, asylum and refugee resettlement in 2016.

Ongoing legal support is key to address the overwhelming human suffering caused by war and persecution around the world today. The cooperation and dedication shown by the IRC and the pro bono lawyers on this project demonstrate just how that can be done.  The project won the 2016 TrustLaw Collaboration Award.

'Know Your Rights' Guide for People Affected by the US Travel Ban

On March 6 2017, the President of the United States issued an Executive Order temporarily suspending the U.S Refugee Admissions Program for 120 days and banned people from six majority-Muslim countries from entering the United States for 90 days.  In partnership with the Thomson Reuters Foundation and with the assistance of Journey’s End Refugee Services (JERS), the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) and important law firm partners prepared a ‘Know Your Rights Guide’ to inform members of the public of: the scope of the travel and refugee bans, the implementation of the order and the rights and legal recourse for impacted individuals.

TrustLaw Launches NGO Refugee Rights Working Group

In February 2017, TrustLaw invited high impact organisations working in the field of forced migration to join the first meeting of our Refugee Rights NGO Working Group as part of a coordinated effort to scale-up the pro bono legal response to the needs of refugees in Europe. This platform brings together NGOs, lawyers and experts to work in partnership on research projects to support the advocacy efforts of front line organisations.

The group’s first collaborative research programme is already underway. We are delighted to be working with Save the Children UKAmnesty International and Latham & Watkins LLP to build the case, through expert legal analysis, for unaccompanied refugee children in the UK to sponsor family members that remain abroad.

TrustLaw will be launching new collaborative research projects to protect the rights of refugees in the coming months and hold its next working group meeting later this year. 

To get involved with TrustLaw's Refugee Rights NGO Working Group, get in touch below.

Thanks to all our partners on these initiatives:

  • | Latham & Watkins
  • | International Rescue Committee
  • | Journey’s End Refugee Services
  • | International Refugee Assistance Project

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