Refugee Rights Turkey held a comprehensive two-day Refugee Law Training for Lawyers in the city of Van in Eastern Turkey on 16-17 January 2016, in collaboration with the local bar association.
The city of Van by the Turkey-Iran border is a key point of arrival for both Afghan and Iranian asylum seekers. Currently the city hosts a growing population of Syrian refugees in addition to Afghans and Iranians registered with authorities. The city also hosts one of the largest removal centers in Turkey used for the administrative detention of foreign national subject to deportation proceedings.
The two-day introductory training aimed to assist the efforts of the local bar association towards building expertise and capacity to extend legal aid services to asylum seekers in Van province. The seminar program, which was attended by over 60 local lawyers, entailed presentations on basic concepts of international protection, Turkey’s new domestic law framework and procedures for asylum in the context of the new Law on Foreigners and International Protection and applicable legal remedies and litigation strategies, among other.
The training event was organized within the framework of the comprehensive project implemented by RRT in affiliation with partner organization Refugee Solidarity Network. Refugee Rights Turkey will continue to hold similar trainings and seminars for lawyers in various parts of Turkey going forward. The initiative primarily aims to mobilize the existing state-funded Legal Aid Scheme (Adli Yardim) in Turkey to cater for the legal assistance and representation needs of asylum seekers.
