Refugee Rights Turkey held a specialization seminar for lawyers on 22 April 2017 in collaboration with Edirne Bar Association. The seminar was organized in the framework of the project currently implemented by RRT in affiliation with Refugee Solidarity Network. The 1-day seminar focused on legal grounds and procedural provisions governing deportation and detention practices under the Law on Foreigners and International Protection as well as safeguards and remedies available to persons involved. The province of Edirne, situated by Turkey’s land borders with Greece and Bulgaria, is a particularly significant key migration location as site to frequent border interceptions as well one of Turkey’s largest removal centers. RRT is strongly committed to supporting the Edirne Bar Association in offering expertise support

Refugee Rights Turkey held a introductory seminar in Istanbul on 1 April 2017 for a group of law students. The half-day event aimed to introduce the participants to basic concepts of international refugee law as well as the main features of the Turkish asylum system and thereby to spark their interest in this field as a possible professional specialization area.  The event was organized as an element of RRT’s ongoing cooperation framework with Heinrich Böll Stiftung Turkey with a view to encouraging future legal practitioners and rights advocates to invest in the field of asylum law.

As of March 2017, Refugee Rights Turkey launches and prints updated new versions of the comprehensive legal information materials for Syrian asylum seekers in Turkey, first published in February 2016. The brochures are made available in Arabic, Turkish and English. The 4-piece set of information booklets focus on registration for temporary protection and rights associated, access to healthcare, access to education and access to legal employment respectively. The materials are meant for persons subject to Turkey’s temporary protection policy in place for refugees from Syria as well as lawyers and NGO practitioners that work with Syrian refugees. The currently re-launched updated versions integrate changes in legislation and implementation since the original launch of the materials last year. Our newly updated

Refugee Rights Turkey held an information session for Syrian refugees in Sanliurfa on 24 February 2017 in collaboration with Support to Life. The sessions focused on questions about access to legal income earning opportunities in Turkey, including procedures for Syrian refugees to apply for work permit, work permit exemption for agricultural jobs and and initiate their own business in Turkey. The participants raised issues related to difficulties experienced in convincing the employers to go through formal employment procedures.   According to latest DGMM figures, Urfa currently hosts around 420 000 registered Syrian refugees who make up 22 % of the overall city population.  The information session was carried out in the framework of the project implemented by RRT in affiliation

Refugee Rights Turkey held an information session for Syrian refugee women in Hatay on 17 February 2017 in collaboration with Support to Life. The session focused on various legal issues the participants raised concerning access to income-earning opportunities. There were many questions specifically about how refugee women can make money by selling the handicraft they produce at home. The women-only session enabled a very lively conversation between RRT team and refugee women, who have also shared problems experienced in registration of newborns and in access to healthcare. The information session was carried out in the framework of the project implemented by RRT in affiliation with Refugee Solidarity Network.

As of 1 February 2017, Refugee Rights Turkey kicks off a new project, in partnership with International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), ECRE and Mülteci-Der, aiming to increase migration and asylum law expertise of lawyers and NGO legal practitioners in Turkey. The project aims to enhance access to justice for migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers in Turkey by strengthening the knowledge of lawyers and NGO legal practitioners in Turkey on relevant European and international standards and supporting the legal aid system in Turkey administered by bar associations. The two-year project is led by ICJ and supported by the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) Turkey Program of the EU Delegation in Ankara. The project will see partners carry out a

Refugee Rights Turkey held a specialization seminar for lawyers in Gaziantep on 28 January 2017 in collaboration with the provincial bar association, as part of RRT’s efforts to support local bar associations to strengthen expertise and operational capabilities to serve asylum seekers and detained migrants. The seminar was organized in collaboration with the Human Rights Center of Gaziantep Bar Association and in the framework of the project currently implemented by RRT in affiliation with Refugee Solidarity Network. The 1-day seminar focused on the content and implications of the amendments enacted by the Emergency Decree No:676 in the provisions of the Law on Foreigners and International Protection governing deportation practices. RRT had previously held two introductory training for Antep-based lawyers in

On 27 January 2018, Refugee Rights Turkey held a workshop in Istanbul with participation from bar associations, NGOs, international organizations and judiciary for key stakeholders to discuss potentials and challenges of mobilizing Turkey’s state-funded legal aid scheme for migrants and asylum seekers. The workshop was organized in collaboration with RRT’s American partner organization Refugee Solidarity Network(RSN) in the framework of the two organizations efforts to promote new policy thinking among key stakeholders to increase the overall supply and availability of legal representation for migrants and asylum seekers in Turkey. The event was attended by representatives of 12 provincial bar associations, the Union of Bar Associations, Turkish judiciary, UNHCR, IOM and 10 NGOs. In Turkey, state-funded legal aid services are administered

Refugee Rights Turkey publishes a new Legal Opinion Paper tackling issues surrounding the judicial review of material conditions of immigration detention in Turkey and making recommendations. The Paper is made available in Turkish and English. Titled “A Pressing Need: Lack of Legal Remedy in Challenging Material Conditions of Foreigners under Administrative Detention”, the paper points out gaps in the current legislative framework in Turkey in regards standards and judicial review of immigration detention as established by the K.A. ruling of the Turkish Constitutional Court in November 2015, which confirmed the lack of any specific administrative or judicial remedies available to persons seeking to challenge the material conditions, as distinct from the legality, of their detention for immigration purposes. The Opinion

Refugee Rights Turkey held a introductory training on refugee law for lawyers in Van on 7-8 January 2017 in collaboration with Van Bar Association. The two-day program entailed presentations and discussions on basic principles of international refugee law as well as the national asylum procedures, safeguards and remedies provided under the Law on Foreigners and International Protection as well as the Temporary Protection Regulation of 2014. The event was organized in the framework of the project currently implemented by RRT in affiliation with Refugee Solidarity Network. Van remains an important key migration and asylum location, bordering Iran and hosting two large-scale removal centers that recently became operational. RRT will continue to support efforts by the Van Bar Association to strengthen

Heinrich Böll Stiftung Turkey awarded a new grant to support Refugee Rights Turkey activities. The new grant builds on the cooperation framework that was put in place between the two organizations last year. The initial first-phase grant provided by the German donor agency last year was channeled to strengthen RRT’s legal assistance services benefitting particularly vulnerable asylum seekers in addition to contributing to a stronger advocacy platform for RRT at national and European levels. The newly launched second-phase grant will continue to sustain activities of a similar scope throughout 2017.

As of January 1st 2017, Refugee Rights Turkey and Danish Refugee Council launch the second phase of the cooperation framework established between the two organizations last year with a focus on promoting access to legal protection for asylum seekers in immigration detention in Turkey. The new cooperation framework builds on the project partnership initiated by RRT and DRC back in May 2016, which served to strengthen RRT’s ongoing legal assistance activities directed towards asylum seekers and other vulnerable migrants subject to immigration detention in Turkey. The new second-phase of the project partnership, as with the first-phase activities last year, are funded by EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Directorate-General (ECHO).  The new cooperation framework will continue to bolser RRT’s Rights