Description
The project addresses the need to provide asylum seekers in Bulgaria with access to legal representation in court proceedings, effective remedies and equality of arms as observations show that 35% of asylum seekers (20% of them unaccompanied minors (UAMs)) were not represented in the proceedings. The project aims at providing greater protection of their rights via strategic litigation and training of attorneys. First, 5 competent attorneys will provide legal representation in 65 asylum court proceedings. Second, the court case related to UAMs in the period 2013-2015 will be analyzed and comments will be collected in a compendium. Third, 20 court-appointed attorneys will have a 1-day training on asylum cases of UAMs. Finally, the compendium will be presented at an event to the relevant NGOs (UNHCR) and institutions (State Agency for Refugees, Ministry of Interior). The project will benefit asylum seekers, UAMs, court-appointed attorneys, the state institutions, the judiciary and NGOs.
Summary of project results
The project was planned based on the results achieved by the Association for Refugees and Migrants under the completed project on monitoring in courts of administrative and criminal cases of refugees and asylum seekers in Bulgaria, financed by the EEA Grants' NGO Programme in Bulgaria. The project provided for measures to ensure and enhance the level of protection of the fundamental rights of asylum seekers by means of 1) ensuring procedural representation of asylum seekers by lawyers specialized in asylum law; 2) specialized training of appointed defence counsels; 3) compiling a Compendium of case law related to unaccompanied minors (UAMs) seeking international protection. The compendium is being used by judges, prosecutors, lawyers and decision-makers to make the administrative practice comply with the binding case law. In addition, 26 were trained on Legal Methods of Defense of UAMs. Competent lawyers with more than 10 years of experience in asylum law ensure procedural representation under 61 asylum cases as part of the main project activity and thus contributed to improving the quality of law administration and better protection of the rights of asylum seekers in the short run. All the activities helped ensure and enhance the level of protection of the fundamental human rights of asylum seekers.
Summary of bilateral results