Our members

The Legal Information Centre for Human Rights (LICHR) was founded in May 1994. In its activities the LICHR has mapped four high priority strategic spheres. Firstly, conflict prevention: identifying the causes of potential conflicts through analysis and dissemination of information, as well as by enhancement of awareness and knowledge about the human and minority rights. Secondly, fostering the creation of a society based on human rights. Thirdly, analysis of the legislation for its conformity with the international instruments on human and minority rights. Fourthly, the provision of legal advice and aid (through hotline, online and personal consultations) to individuals and groups of individuals, whose rights are violated or are not duly guaranteed.

Lithuanian Red Cross (LRC) is a humanitarian organization that provides different kinds of assistance to asylum seekers, refugees, migrants and stateless people in Lithuania. LRC monitors conduct border monitoring, which covers monitoring at the borders, asylum seekers' detention and accommodation centers and initial asylum interviews. LRC lawyers provide regular legal consultations to asylum seekers at the borders, detention and accommodation centers, as well as legal counseling to stateless people, residing in the territory of Lithuania. The focus of LRC strategic litigation is on asylum cases, detention of vulnerable asylum seekers cases and non penalization for illegal border crossing cases. LRC case managers assist asylum seekers at community based accommodation and refugees during their integration in municipalities. LRC runs two one stop shop centers in Kaunas and Klaipeda, where any foreigner can receive social, employment, legal, psychological assistance, learn Lithuanian language, get orientation courses and participate in community events. LRC advocacy focuses on reception conditions and asylum procedures, integration, community based accommodation for most vulnerable people, family reunification. LRC also provides Restoring Family Links services to those people, who are in need to contact, trace or reunite with their family members.

The Liverpool Law Clinic is part of the School of Law and Social Justice, University of Liverpool. The Clinic provides a free legal service. Third year law students work on immigration and asylum cases, including the cases of stateless people, under the extremely close supervision of qualified lawyers who are specialists in the field. Staff at the Law Clinic started this work in 2013 and now contribute to policy initiatives at national and international level.

Maylis de Verneuil is a French-trained attorney who has been working for the past ten years in humanitarian missions with different organizations throughout the world, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United Nations, OSCE and NGOs. She researched on migration issues and on the protection of minority rights in the Balkans, and received her PhD in Human Rights from Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (Pisa) in 2016, with a PhD thesis entitled “Statelessness of Romani Individuals in the Western Balkans: Negligence or Discrimination?”. She is currently managing two EU-funded projects, respectively on Child’s Rights and on Justice Reform in Albania.

NANSEN is an independent center of expertise in refugee law based in Brussels. Persons in a vulnerable position are core to our mandate in particular: victims of torture, stateless persons and migrants in administrative detention. Our mission is to develop and make available to all persons in need of international protection quality legal aid so that their fundamental rights become more effective. To achieve this objective, we combine technical legal expertise with an interdisciplinary approach to asylum. NANSEN was set up in 2017 by a group of lawyers and academics experienced in the field of refugee, human rights and migration law.

The Norwegian Organisation for Asylum Seekers (NOAS) is an independent membership organisation working to protect the rights of asylum seekers in Norway. Its main activities are to give information and legal assistance to asylum seekers, as well as advocacy work toward the political establishment and the general public. NOAS’ largest assignment is the Information and counselling program commissioned by the Directory of Immigration (UDI), which provides information and counselling to asylum seekers shortly after arrival to Norway. NOAS aims to contribute to an asylum policy and practice rooted in humanism, justice and international obligations. NOAS’ focus is on rights for asylum seekers, which also includes stateless persons – approx. 4 -600 stateless persons register as asylum seekers in Norway each year.

OPU, the Organization for Aid to Refugees, is the oldest and largest non-governmental organization in the Czech Republic which assists refugees, stateless persons and migrants. We provide free in-person legal and social aid to refugees, stateless persons and migrants. OPU offers this help throughout the entire country by means of aid in all eight reception, accommodation and detention centers and five regional offices. OPU has been the watchdog of any unlawful practices and systemic failures of the Czech asylum and migration policy, including statelessness procedure. This helps us to create systemic change. OPU’s director and lawyers appear in media regularly, criticizing the Czech Ministry of Interior and laws that hurt migrants. OPU has successfully represented many refugees, stateless persons and their families, has fought against unlawful detention and prevented deportation of the most vulnerable individuals and has publicly reported on grave breaches of international law.

PIC – Pravni center za varstvo človekovih pravic in okolja

PIC is a non-governmental organisation focusing on the protection of human rights and the environment. The main areas of work include the protection of the rule of law, refugee and migration law, environmental law and protection of victims of discrimination. PIC provides free legal help and representation and conducts extensive advocacy, policy and awareness activities. 

Praxis is a non-governmental organization based in Belgrade, Serbia and dedicated to the protection and promotion of human rights. Since 2004, Praxis has focused on the issues most relevant to the displaced and members of vulnerable minority groups, such as the Roma community. One such issue is the plight of the many persons who are currently stateless, legally invisible and/or at a risk of statelessness in the Western Balkan region. Praxis has spear-headed a multi-tiered effort aimed at solving this problem, preventing and reducing statelessness, involving the advocacy for changes to law and practice, provision of free legal aid, to persons at risk, publishing human rights reports on the subject, and providing training and awareness raising. Praxis’ legal advocacy is informed by its general goals: the eradication of discrimination, poverty and racism, and a vibrant civil society shaped by democracy, the rule of law, and respect for human rights.

I have been working as a humanitarian worker for almost 10 years with different organizations starting with UNHCR in Syria as a case worker and then as a senior child protection officer . As a Palestinian refugee living in Syria it was hard to live within the bad security situation during the war so the only option I had is to flee to Netherlands where I was considered a stateless. Being identified as a stateless person was not easy and made me think that we should pay more attention to this group and identify the risks and problems for this group and trying to find solution and make more awareness among the communities about it. Especially that whenever I am asked about the status on my residence permit and and I say it is stateless people have no idea what it means . in my point of view , there should be more awareness about statelessness as a legal term and then more deep in assessment for stateless people to tackle the issues they face in the country of asylum.
Recently my activities has been with NEW WOMEN CONNECTORS and vluchtelingenwerk Eindhoven and this issue of statelessness is one of things that I am dealing with.