Safe Passage and Refugee Legal Support recruiting for new Afghan Pro Bono Initiative
Safe Passage and Refugee Legal Support are recruiting four new roles for a new joint initiative - the Afghan Pro Bono Initiative.
1 Community Outreach Worker (Dari and Pashto speaker)
Details about The Afghan Pro Bono Initiative
The Afghan Pro Bono Initiative is a new project that RLS and SPI will deliver with funding and pro bono capacity of 14 leading commercial law firms. It aims to respond to the increased need for legal advice and representation of Afghan nationals and their family members who have been forced to seek protection and reunion with family in the United Kingdom following the Taliban takeover.
The project will focus on delivering high quality legal representation in a range of cases, including family reunion, the ARAP scheme, the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme and others. Firm pro bono lawyers will be trained and supervised by two full-time expert immigration lawyers at the NGOs to assist with legal casework.
The casework of this project will help to feed into strategic efforts by the NGOs to make existing ‘safe’ routes to protection (in particular refugee family reunion and resettlement schemes) more accessible and effective, advocate for their expansion and defend the fundamental rights of people on the move by influencing policy and decision making.
The project recognises that pro bono legal work is always an adjunct to, and not a substitute for, an adequate system of publicly funded legal services. The project will aim to support and enthuse legal aid practitioners promoting increased casework capacity in the sector for family reunion work. The project will also monitor and document any gaps in legal aid provision within its scope of work and contribute to campaigning efforts to facilitate increased publicly funded provision.