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JustRight Scotland

JustRight Scotland is a leading social justice organisation founded by human rights lawyers in Scotland. It uses the law to defend and extend people’s rights by providing direct legal advice to people who would otherwise struggle to access justice.  JRS operates 4 national centres of legal excellence, which provide the only specialist legal advice in these areas across Scotland: (i) the Scottish Refugee & Migrant Centre; (ii) the Scottish Women's Rights Centre; (iii) the Scottish Anti-Trafficking & Exploitation Centre; and (iv) the Scottish Just Law Centre.  Through these centres, it designs social justice collaborations which deliver legal advice in the areas of immigration, gender-based violence, anti-trafficking, and disability and trans discrimination.

Katerina Komita

Katerina Komita is a lawyer before the Supreme Court of Greece specialized in human rights. From 2011 until 2021, she had been a member of the Legal Unit of the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) specialized in vulnerable cases. In this context, for seven years she had been the coordinator of the multidisciplinary project Prometheus (provision of holistic services for the recovery from the consequences of torture suffered by asylum seekers and refugees on a legal, social, psychological and medical level). She has contacted the ENS research Statelessness Index-Greece [years 2019, 2020 and 2021 (ongoing)]. Additionally, she has more than 15 years of experience as a journalist.

Law Center of Advocates

Law Center of Advocates (LCA) is a public association founded in 1997. LCA’s mission is to implement projects and programs aimed at promoting the Rule of Law, judicial independence and respect for human rights in Moldova. It provides specialist legal training and other technical drafting functions. LCA offers legal assistance to all refugees, asylum seekers, beneficiaries of humanitarian protection and stateless persons. LCA is UNHCR’s legal implementing partner in Moldova.

Legal Information Centre for Human Rights

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

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.

Liverpool University Law Clinic

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

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

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.

Norwegian Organisation for Asylum Seekers (NOAS)

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.

Organization for Aid to Refugees (OPU)

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.