Providing Legal Assistance to Asylum Seekers

With UNHCR’s support, the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights will continue during 2013 implementing a project aimed at providing adequate legal assistance to asylum seekers. The BCHR team will be continuously in touch with the asylum seekers by regularly visiting the reception centers at which they are accommodated. It will also be constantly in touch with the state authorities charged with asylum issues. Monitoring the decision-making process and insight in all the individual decisions on asylum applications will help the BCHR gain a clear picture of the degree in which the asylum-seekers’ human rights are respected, an obligation the Republic of Serbia has assumed.

The BCHR legal team will talk with potential asylum seekers and advise them on their rights and obligations. Everyone who files an asylum application will be entitled to our full support and assistance. Apart from providing direct legal aid, the BCHR will also engage in raising the awareness of the public and the competent authorities about this topic; promoting new, adequate solutions to the identified problems; keeping precise statistical data on the number of asylum seekers; and collecting information about their countries of origin. The BCHR team will cooperate with the Refugee Law Clinic of the Belgrade Law School and share its knowledge and experience with future legal practitioners.