Refugee Rights Turkey (RRT) launches a new 12-month project in partnership with Danish Refugee Council (DRC) Turkey Office and with funding support from ECHO. The project will channel funds to complement and strengthen RRT’s already existing legal information and assistance services for persons in immigration detention and RRT’s policy advocacy efforts to promote more widespread and effective use of Alternatives to Detention (ATDs) in Turkey context. RRT had previously implemented two consecutive similarly ECHO-funded cooperation projects with DRC Turkey, which ran from 15 June through 31 December 2016 and from 1 January 2017 through 31 December 2018 respectively. These successfully completed projects had enabled RRT to further strengthen legal counselling and assistance services offered to persons subject to administrative detention

On 15-16 March, RRT held a two-day refugee law training in the town of Mersin in Southern Turkey, in collaboration with Support to Life and Mersin bar association. The training covered the basic criteria and procedural tenets of both the international protection procedure for non-Syrian asylum seekers and the temporary protection regime in place for refugees from Syria as well as rules and criteria governing detention and expulsion decisions. In addition to theoretical presentations, the training also featured clinical discussions on effective use of appeal mechanisms. The training was organized in the framework of a project implemented by RRT with the financial backing of US State Department Bureau for Population Refugees and Migration (PRM). RRT delivers refugee law trainings for

Heinrich Böll Foundation Turkey’s funding support to RRT activities, first initiated in 2006, is set to continue. The support framework serves to strengthen RRT’s legal assistance services benefitting particularly vulnerable asylum seekers as well as advocacy efforts at national and European level. In the scope of the new 3-year cooperation framework agreed between the two organizations, Heinrich Böll Foundation Turkey will continue supporting RRT’s legal assistance programs and networking and advocacy interactions at European level. The program will also offer support towards the development of analyses and recommendations pertaining to key aspects of Turkey’s migration and asylum legislation and practice.

On February 10th Sunday RRT carried out a one-day specialization seminar for lawyers in the city of Van in Eastern Turkey, in collaboration with the provincial bar association. The training focused on legal concepts and procedural issues in refugee status determination. The city of Van hosts sizeable Afghan and Iranian asylum seeker populations subject to the international protection procedure administered by the Directorate General for Migration Management (DGMM).The training aimed to equip lawyers on Van bar association’s legal aid roster with an advanced understanding of legal concepts and procedural tools used in refugee status determination, specifically definitions of persecution and serious harm, well-foundedness and credibility assessment and sources and standards pertaining to the use of country of origin information. In

RRT publishes new report on progress made and continuing challenges in the extension of stata-funded legal aid services to asylum seekers and detained migrants in Turkey. The report, made available in Turkish and English, is based on RRT’s own field observations as well as consultations with bar association leaders around the country. It was finalized in January and published today. In Turkey the state-funded legal aid scheme (Adli Yardım) is administered by provincial bar associations, which assign and pay local legal aid roster lawyers to take on cases. While Turkey’s migration and asylum legislation does acknowledge the possibility for foreign nationals to apply for legal aid services and a lot of progress made in recent years towards mobilizing the legal

RRT, in partnership with ICJ, ECRE and Mülteci-Der, launched a new reference resource for Turkish lawyers and NGO legal practitioners: “Migration and Asylum Law Training Modules”. The modules, made available in Turkish, provide relevant international, European and national standards and caselaw organized around 4 themes. The 4 themes covered by the modules are: The modules were jointly developed by RRT, International Commission of Jurists (ICJ),  ECRE ve Mültecilerle Dayanışma Derneği (Mülteci-Der) in the framework of a project partnership supported by the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights Democracy (EIDHR) Turkey Program. The project aims to support legal expertise development among lawyers and legal practitioners in Turkey on asylum and immigration law, with a particular emphasis on applicable international and

On 2-3 February, RRT held a two-day refugee law training in Ankara in collaboration with the Refugee Rights Committee of the provincial bar association. The purpose of the training was to provide an introductory specialization package to lawyers who have recently joined the Ankara bar’s legal aid roster. The training covered the basic criteria and procedural tenets of both the international protection procedure for non-Syrian asylum seekers and the temporary protection regime in place for refugees from Syria as well as rules and criteria governing detention and expulsion decisions. In addition to theoretical presentations, the training also featured clinical discussions on effective use of appeal mechanisms. In addition to RRT experts, the training also featured presenters from UNHCR, Directorate General

RRT and American partner organization Refugee Solidarity Network (RSN) launch 4 new animation videos for refugees and asylum seekers in Turkey. The new videos, made available in Turkish, English, Arabic and Farsi, cover housing and property rights, marriage and divorce, state-funded legal aid services administered by bar associations and RRT’s own specialized legal assistance services. Through these videos RRT and RSN aim to offer accessible and reliable legal information to refugee and asylum seeker communities in Turkey. The legal information content for the videos was developed by RRT, while the animation design and development process was overseen by RSN in the United States. The videos were developed and made available in the framework of a project implemented by RRT in

RRT launches a new policy paper offering an assessment and recommendations on the current interpretation and implementation of the LFIP’s Article 7 governing the “implicit withdrawal of asylum applications”. Since 2015 Turkey determines asylum applications on the basis of the newly adopted Law on Foreigners and International Protection (LFIP), which was largely based on EU migration and asylum standards. Among the new legal concepts and procedural approaches adopted by LFIP is the notion of “implicit withdrawal” of an asylum application deemed to have been demonstrated by and drawn from an applicant’s failure to comply with certain administrative requirements. Article 77 of the LFIP stipulates applicants who consistently faily to comply with certain administrative duties shall be considered to have withdrawn

On 17 December 2018, RRT in partnership with ICJ, ECRE and Mülteci-Der, organized a stakeholder workshop on legal expertise development needs in Turkey in the field of asylum and immigration law and recent and current efforts to help address those needs. The workshop was attended by representatives of bar associations in key locations around Turkey, the Union of Bar Associations, CSOs, UNHCR, UNDP, Turkish Ministry of Justice and the Constitutional Court of Turkey. The discussions aimed to take stock of progress made in supporting legal expertise development among practitioners in Turkey on asylum and immigration law and continuing needs requiring sustained support. The workshop also allowed participants to provide updates on their current and future planned training and capacity-building initiatives.

On 16 December 2018, RRT in partnership with ICJ, ECRE and Mülteci-Der, organized a nation-wide workshop on the use and potentials of the “strategic litigation” approach to strengthen the legal protection of refugees and migrants. In addition to participants representing bar associations and NGOs from around Turkey, contributions were made by experienced European legal experts and litigators. The workshop aimed to promote a structured discussion among key national stakeholder representatives on the value of a strategic approach in litigating cases on behalf of refugee and migrant clients with a view to tackling gaps and structural problems in Turkey’s current legislative and implementation framework governing migration and asylum. The “strategic litigation” approach is a relatively new idea among the legal professional

We have updated our legal information booklet for persons in immigration detention in Turkey and groups at risk of immigration detention. The resource, first launched in September 2016, is made available in 7 languages. The comprehensive booklet aims to provide accurate and up to date legal information in accessible language, in a questions and answers format, covering the full range of procedures, safeguards and obligations provided by the provisions of Turkey’s Law on Foreigners and International Protection governing detention and expulsion of foreigners. The booklets are made available, in print and digital formats, in Turkish, English, Arabic, Farsi, French, Urdu and Russian. They are intended to inform both persons and groups at risk of immigration detention as well as lawyers