Description
The aim of the project is to strengthen advocacy work of Estonian organisations working with refugees and asylum seekers, to make it more professional and sustainable. A roundtable of refugee organisations will be managing and directing the advocacy work – create an advocacy agenda, train the staff, create cooperation network with the refugee organisations in other EU Member States. Research and analysis of core issues, a stakeholder conference and meetings with decision makers and stakeholders will be arranged. The main target group of the project are Estonian decision-makers on national and local level. The main end-users of the project outcomes are refugees and asylum seekers in Estonia. The project is implemented in the partnership of Estonian Refugee Council and Estonian Human Rights Centre.
Summary of project results
The aim of the project "Enhancing advocacy work in the area of asylum and refugee policy" was carried out in close cooperation by the Estonian Refugee Council and the Estonian Human Rights Centre. The aim of the project was to create more professional and sustainable advocacy work of Estonian refugee organisations. The advocacy work aimed to achieve changes in several policy and law areas among them in improving the protection of rights of asylum seekers and developing comprehensive policy for integration of refugees in Estonia. In order to achieve these results: - A roundtable of refugee organisations was managed and directed towards the advocacy work. With an aim to create more efficient and professional advocacy agenda, training of the staff took place as well as creating network with the refugee organisations in other Member States. - Research and analysis was carried out. Altogether three reports were released, covering the following topics: asylum seekers access to legal advice, legal issues in the detention of asylum seekers and asylum seekers' access to the labour market. - Two public events, the celebration of the human rights day and a public conference were organized. The celebration of the human rights day was carried out as a charity event, targeting mainly policy makers, officials, embassies, entrepreneurs and staff of Estonian human rights organisations. Another very successful public event was holding a high-level conference titled "Challenges of the Common European Asylum System" that called ca 150 participants to think about the future of the asylum system in Estonia and the European Union as a whole. The main focus points of the conference were: the future of the common european asylum system, asylum seekers' access to the labour market, detention of asylum seekers and its alternatives. - Meetings with decision makers and stakeholders were carried out.
Summary of bilateral results