Our Vision, Mission, and Values

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Vision:

Ensuring that individuals who flee their countries due to war and persecution and seek asylum, as well as other vulnerable migrants, have effective access to their rights and protections under international law and national legislation in Türkiye.
Institutionalizing a modern, effective, human rights-respecting, transparent, and participatory approach to long-term migration policy and management in Türkiye, guided by international standards and best practices from around the world.
Enhancing the provision of legal support services, which are vital for asylum seekers and other vulnerable migrants to access legal protection mechanisms, to meet needs in both quantity and quality.

Mission:

Providing reliable and effective legal information and assistance based on expertise and field experience to ensure that asylum seekers and other vulnerable migrants have effective access to legal protection mechanisms.
Offering constructive analyses and recommendations to help policies, legislation, and practices in the field of migration and asylum in Türkiye evolve in line with international standards, best practices from around the world, and identified field needs.
Contributing to the capacity building, expertise development, and resource mobilization efforts of bar associations, lawyers, and civil society organizations in Türkiye for providing legal support to asylum seekers and migrants through training, experience sharing, and model proposals.

Values:

Empowering beneficiaries to make their own decisions and advocate for their own rights: Strengthening asylum seekers and migrant beneficiaries of our legal support services, enabling them to make informed decisions about their asylum and migration processes and advocate for their rights by providing accurate and reliable information and guidance on their rights and obligations.
Respecting personal differences and maintaining professional distance: In interactions with asylum seekers and migrant beneficiaries, employing a communication style that honors personal differences while upholding the necessary professional distance between the legal support provider and the beneficiary.
Adherence to ethical and professional principles: Adhering strictly to relevant ethical and professional principles and legal obligations throughout the legal support service processes.
Independent legal support and civil oversight mission: Engaging in constructive dialogue and cooperation with administrative and judicial authorities responsible for decisions on asylum seekers’ and migrants’ applications and rights claims, while upholding the principles of our independent legal support and civil oversight mission.
Expertise-based and data-driven issue identification and constructive improvement recommendations: Adopting a constructive and balanced advocacy approach, informed by legal and policy expertise as well as field data, to identify gaps and needs in asylum and migration policies and practices and to recommend improvements.
Advocacy approach grounded in international refugee law and the principles of the rule of law: Conducting advocacy for asylum seekers and migrant rights in alignment with international refugee law, international human rights law, and the principles of the rule of law, focusing on both international and national legislation.
Maintaining an independent stance from political parties and other political entities: In advocacy for asylum seekers and migrant rights, upholding a respectful and impartial distance from all political parties and entities, while providing rights-based perspectives to all stakeholders in the asylum and migration policy arena.
Respectful, courteous, and constructive communication style: Ensuring a respectful, courteous, and constructive communication style with all stakeholders, counterparts, and peers.
Principled and transparent collaborations and donor relations: Establishing principled partnerships with national and international organizations based on shared goals and mutual respect, while ensuring transparency in relationships with partners and donors.
Full compliance with obligations in financial and administrative processes and working relationships: Ensuring full compliance with all obligations arising from national legislation related to resource allocation, administrative and financial processes, and working relationships.

Safe working and service environment for all staff and beneficiaries: Providing a safe working and service environment that ensures the psychological and physical safety of all staff and beneficiaries, respecting all forms of diversity including gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity, and prohibiting any attitudes or behaviors involving disrespect, violence, harassment, or exploitation.

RRT’s Ethics & Professional Standards as a Legal Assistance Provider

Refugee Rights Türkiye strictly observes the following rules and principles in the provision of free of charge legal information and assistance services to refugees & other vulnerable migrants:

All beneficiaries are treated equally regardless of any personal differences including ethnicity, language, skin color, religious affiliation, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity;
To secure equal treatment and quality of services, RRT observes a standardized service policy, which ensures that beneficiaries who present same type of legal questions and problems receive the same level and content of legal assistance;
RRT provides clear, accurate and realistic information & guidance to beneficiaries regarding both favorable & unfavorable outcomes they may encounter in connection with the migration and asylum procedures they undergo and choices they will have to make; and relatedly, refrains from creating unrealistic expectations;
RRT seeks to supply accurate and reliable information and advice for beneficiaries to actively make their own decisions regarding their legal options – as opposed to making any substantive decisions on their behalf and without their participation and involvement;

RRT provides beneficiaries with clear and accurate information and guidance regarding the scope, limitations and conditions of its legal assistance services; refrains from making any commitments which RRT will be unable to deliver;
RRT interacts and communicates with beneficiaries on the basis of mutual respect, personal courtesy and friendly, professional distance;
RRT’s all legal information products, legal information, assistance and representation services are completely free of charge, including power of attorney certifications and litigation applications that RRT files and pursues in the capacity of legal representatives; in order to avoid any perceptions to the contrary or misunderstanding, our staff will not accept any gifts, other artefacts of monetary value or any personal favors from any beneficiary;
Beneficiaries can directly contact RRT to present their inquiries or request legal assistance, without the need for any third persons or organizations to mediate on their behalf; RRT does not have any links to any third person or organizations which may falsely claim to ‘facilitate’ or ‘put in touch’ beneficiaries with RRT services in return for fees or other favors; RRT kindly asks beneficiaries and referral actors to disregard any such ill-intentioned and fraudulent claims and false promises by any third persons or parties;
RRT observes diligence in the implementation of tasks and duties required by RRT legal assistance commitments to beneficiaries and accepts responsibility, and liabilities as relevant, as an organization for any negligence or errors;
RRT strictly observes the confidentiality of its beneficiaries and of any information or documents shared with RRT by beneficiaries for the purpose of the legal assistance interaction; RRT will not share beneficiaries’ confidential information or documents with any third persons, parties or agencies without the express consent of the beneficiary;
RRT strictly observes legal obligations for the protection of personal data of its beneficiaries, as established and safeguarded under Turkish law and international treaties; RRT staff will duly provide adequate information to its beneficiaries and seek beneficiaries’ informed consent whenever any personal data considerations apply over the course of its legal assistance interactions;
As a refugee legal assistance organization, RRT has a commitment to the integrity of the international refugee protection regime and the asylum system in Turkey. As such, RRT will never advice its beneficiaries to make false or fraudulent claims or presentations to administrative or judicial authorities or agree to knowingly and willingly facilitate the submission of such false or fraudulent information or documents;
In its capacity as legal representative, RRT does not participate in or facilitate any activities that constitute a crime under Turkish and international law;
RRT observes the best interest of the child principle throughout its legal assistance interactions and interventions involving children and minors;
RRT is strongly committed to providing a safe environment for all of its staff and beneficiaries; RRT does not tolerate any behavior or activities involving disrespect, violence, abuse or other forms of exploitation, on any basis.

If you are a beneficiary or other stakeholder representative and have either experienced or witnessed treatment or behavior by our staff or other representatives contrary to the principles laid down above, you are kindly asked to report to our Feedback or Complaint Mechanism.