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Description
EU Member States are obligated to provide migrants with access to free-of-charge legal aid in appeal proceedings. This obligation arises out of Procedures Directive 2013/32/EU and Return Directive 2008/115/EU. Poland has not implemented Return Directive correctly yet. This negatively affects the possibility of taking advantage of an effective remedy guaranteed in Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, e.g. deportations are conducted before the expiration of the deadline for filing an appeal with the court. This complicates the situation of the entire sector of organizations responsible for providing legal aid in approx. 90% of proceedings in Poland as they have to cover the costs of legal aid from their own funds. The essence of our project is to monitor migrants'' access to legal aid in asylum and return procedures as well as increase lawyers'' qualifications (2 workshops, 4 working meetings, and 2 internships for students of law), monitor public policy (8 applications for access to public information), and prepare written questions with regard to failure to implement European law. The implementation of the project will be summarized in a report submitted to entities responsible for shaping the state''s policy, which is to become the basis for improving the system of free legal aid. The activities will benefit NGO involved in this area as well as foreigners and state authorities responsible for conducting administrative proceedings in foreigners'' cases. The results of the project will contribute to the proper transposition of European law, which should render it easier to finance services covered by free legal aid provided by NGOs, guarantee access to good-quality free legal aid as well as improve administrative activities. The partnership with the UNHCR guarantees better access to information and will ensure that the results of studies will be used by an impartial and recognized international organization supporting the entire sector as well as migrants.
Summary of project results
The aim of the project was to examine how Poland fulfils its obligation to provide free legal aid to foreigners in asylum and return procedures. It was of fundamental importance for the CSO sector, as CSOs have begun to specialise in providing legal assistance to migrants. The Rule of Law Institute was one of three organisations that provided free legal aid in asylum cases. Next to the Project Promoter, the most important entity involved in providing this assistance was the Association for Legal Intervention. The implementation of this task from 2016 to 2022 involved practical problem-solving (related to the reimbursement of translation and travel expenses in clients'' cases). In several instances, these problems ended in legal disputes resolved by the courts. At the same time, Poland did not implement Directive 2008/115 and did not provide access to free legal aid in obligation to return proceedings.
The Project Promoter implemented the project in partnership with the UNHCR office in Poland. Other actors involved in the project were non-governmental and international organisations (CSOs) and representatives of government authorities involved in foreign affairs. Monitoring was conducted with the participation of lawyers providing legal assistance (33 surveys and five interviews) and migrants themselves (15 interviews).
During the project implementation, two training workshops for lawyers, four working meetings of NGO''s, as well as seminars to start and end the project, where the result of the research (monitoring report) was presented.
Even during the implementation of the project, presumably due to these activities, the Office for Foreigners stopped questioning the costs of translation and travel of the centres for foreigners. In addition, the findings concerning failure to provide access to an effective remedy in reimbursement proceedings in the long term will help with the correct implementation of Directive 2008/115. The results of the research are being used by CSOs to convince the new government to extend free legal aid to persons expelled from Poland. The implementation of this system will affect the financial stability of organisations carrying out this public task. The collected data on ongoing reimbursement proceedings in Poland suggests that the annual income of CSOs from provision of legal aid will double. The project is an example of a cross-sectoral cooperation model.