Our members

Civil Rights Program Kosovo – CRP/K is a Kosovo-based, independent organization, established in 2004, that provides free legal assistance and counseling to persons at risk of statelessness, returnees, refugees, asylum-seekers, IDPs and persons who are considered to be vulnerable in realization of their civil rights.  It supports the facilitation of civil status registration of members of marginalized groups, with a particular focus on Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian (RAE) communities, and with the primary aim to prevent the risk of statelessness.

The Civil Rights Project Sisak (CRP Sisak) is a non-governmental, apolitical, non-profit, humantitarian organisation that works in Croatia. The goal of the organisation is providing humanitarian aid to refugees, returnees, IDPs, socially vulnerable persons, as well as the promotion and protection of human rights and values of all citizens regarding the development and strengthening of democracy and humanism, protection and affirmation of human, civil and political rights.

Clara Van Thillo is a PhD researcher and teaching assistant in international law at the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, KU Leuven. She is also a visiting teaching assistant at the University of Hasselt. At the Centre, Clara pursues a PhD on the role that UNHCR plays in the development of the international legal framework on statelessness under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Jan Wouters. 
Prior to joining the Centre, she worked as an intern at the General Representative of the Government of Flanders to the United Nations in Geneva. She holds a Master of Laws degree, which she obtained from KU Leuven in 2021. Her Master’s thesis examined the prosecution of sexual violence against the stateless Rohingya in Myanmar before the International Criminal Court. She also studied one semester at the University of Barcelona in 2019.

Comissio Catalana d' Ajuda al Refugiat (CCAR) is a non-governmental organisation founded in 2014. It is an independent organisation associated to the Spanish Commission for Refugees (CEAR). CCAR was born with the purpose of approaching and ensuring international mandates in Catalonia to protect those who seek asylum and other forms of protection, among them stateless persons. Moreover, it was founded to veil for the correct application of the 1951 Geneva Convention and other national and international norms addressed to asylum seekers. Our foundation goals are the protection of the right to asylum and refugees' rights, as well as the protection of immigrants' rights.  At the same time, we work in order to foster the social cohesion of refugees.

Conselho Português para os Refugiados (CPR) is a non-governmental organisation created in 1991. It works to uphold the rights of seekers and beneficiaries of international protection in Portugal and to promote the quality of the national asylum system. Within its mandate, CPR provides direct, free and independent legal, social and integration assistance to applicants and beneficiaries of international protection in the country. CPR also develops extensive advocacy, policy, awareness-raising and training activities, and is recognised by the Portuguese Asylum Act as an integral part of the national asylum system. Through its work, CPR also aims to promote knowledge on statelessness and adequate protection of stateless persons in Portugal.

The Italian Council for Refugees, founded in 1990, is an independent, humanitarian and non profit-making organisation, under the patronage of UNHCR. CIR works with the aim of empowering actions in defense of refugees and asylum seekers' rights in Italy, in particular in favour of vulnerable groups of people such as women, victims of gender violence, unaccompanied minors and victims of torture. Among its members CIR counts important humanitarian associations, the main Italian trade unions and national and international research institutes. CIR has been carrying out extensive lobbying activity with Parliament and the Government to pass a national comprehensive law on asylum. CIR provides social protection and legal assistance to refugees and asylum seekers at its main office in Rome and through its offices all over Italy.

Part of the Coram group of charities, Coram Children’s Legal Centre (CCLC) is an independent charity working in the United Kingdom and around the world to protect and promote the rights of children. We aim to uphold children’s human rights in law, policy and practice within the context of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the European Convention on Human Rights. We work to ensure that children’s interests are represented at every level of the legal process and in the production of policy and legislation. We seek to improve access to justice for children through the provision of direct legal services; the publication of free legal information and guidance; research and policy work; law reform; training; and international consultancy on child rights.

Cynthia Orchard is a human rights lawyer, trainer and policy expert. She was the Statelessness Policy and Casework Coordinator at Consonant (formerly Asylum Aid and Migrants Resource Centre) from 2018-2020 and Legal Policy Officer at Asylum Aid 2016-2018. She has previously worked with UNHCR (London), REDRESS, BADIL (the Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights), Oxford’s Refugee Studies Centre, the Center for Exchange and Solidarity in El Salvador and several other NGOs, and was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ivory Coast, West Africa. Cynthia was Consonant/Asylum Aid’s member of the Advisory Committee of the European Network on Statelessness for four years and collaborated closely with ENS and other organisations and individuals working on statelessness. She has a Bachelors degree in Political Science (University of California at Santa Barbara), Juris Doctorate (University of Virginia), and Masters degree in International Human Rights Law (University of Oxford). She speaks English (native), Spanish (fluent), French (basic) and Russian (basic).

The Cyprus Refugee Council (CyRC), is an independent, non-governmental, non-profit organisation, that envisions a fair and inclusive society that offers protection and support for all. CyRC strives to safeguard, support and advocate for the rights of vulnerable groups in Cyprus, promoting their effective integration into the host society. Focusing on refugees, asylum seekers, detainees, trafficking victims and survivors of torture, CyRC works closely with the local society in order to provide quality services at the individual, community and policy level. 

The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) is a humanitarian, non-governmental, non-profit organisation founded in 1956 that works in more than 30 countries throughout the world. DRC fulfils its mandate by providing direct assistance to conflict-affected populations – refugees, internally displaced people (IDPs) and host communities in the conflict areas of the world; and by advocating on behalf of conflict-affected populations internationally, and in Denmark, on the basis of humanitarian principles and the Human Rights Declaration. We understand "durable solutions" as any means by which the situation of refugees can be permanently and satisfactorily resolved, enabling them to live normal lives. Durable solutions can be voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement. In Denmark, DRC assists refugees in all aspects of integration as well as asylum procedures. Internationally, DRC actively participates in supporting the protection of refugees, and promoting durable solutions for conflict-affected populations.