Legal aid providers in Chernihiv region improve their skills in protecting the rights of refugees and asylum seekers

On October 25, 2016, a training session “International and National Standards for the Protection of the Rights of Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Ukraine” was held in Chernihiv for representatives of centers for the provision of free secondary legal aid and lawyers of the Chernihiv region.

Against the background of the implementation of the Agreement on the Readmission of Persons between Ukraine and the EU, other international obligations of Ukraine, as well as constant changes in migration legislation, in particular regarding the procedure for providing protection in Ukraine, increased responsibility for violating the rules of stay in Ukraine and organizing illegal migration, and regulating the procedure for the forced expulsion (extradition) of persons, there is a need for training support for employees of local centers for the provision of free secondary legal aid, as well as lawyers who cooperate with the state system for the provision of free legal aid. An important component of regulating migration processes is preventing violations of the rights of refugees and asylum seekers, preventing ill-treatment of irregular migrants, and facilitating their access to justice and effective legal remedies.

Addressing the training participants, the Director of the Regional Center for Providing Free Secondary Legal Aid in Chernihiv Oblast

Iryna Protchenko

emphasized the importance of holding such events and raising the level of awareness of lawyers in migration legislation.

The Head of the Bar Council of Chernihiv Oblast

Halyna Yakuba

noted that recent changes in the legislation require representatives of the legal community to pay special attention to supporting cases of extradition of individuals and preventing the expulsion of foreigners to countries where they may be subjected to torture and ill-treatment, including in the context of the practice of the European Court of Human Rights.

As noted

Dmytro Plechko

, Senior Legal Advisor of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Ukraine: “During 1996-2016, 31,503 asylum seekers applied for refugee status in Ukraine, of which only 6,242 persons were recognized as refugees and 570 received subsidiary protection in Ukraine. In accordance with the Readmission Agreement, 97 foreigners were transferred to Ukraine from EU countries, including asylum seekers, whose acceptance was not to be carried out by the Ukrainian side.

Mr.

Plechko

also emphasized that today the vast majority of recognized refugees in Ukraine cannot receive unemployment benefits and social services at state employment centers, since only insured persons recognized as unemployed in accordance with the established procedure have such a right.

Representative of the Chernihiv Local Center for the Provision of Free Secondary Legal Aid

Yulia Boyko

highlighted the statistics of asylum seekers’ applications for the provision of a lawyer at the expense of the state to appeal in court the migration service’s refusals to grant asylum and decisions on the forced expulsion of foreigners.

Tukhan Ediev

, Program Director of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights, highlighted the main violations of the rights of asylum seekers that they face during detention and stay in temporary detention centers in Ukraine. These include, first of all, the use of physical force by law enforcement officers during detention, restrictions on access to legal aid, the lack of interpreters, the denial of the right to apply for protection in Ukraine, the denial of the right to be present in court during the hearing of the case, etc.

The event was organized by the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights with the assistance of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Ukraine within the framework of the project “Development of state and non-state systems for the provision of free legal aid to protect the rights of irregular migrants and asylum seekers in Ukraine”, which is implemented with the support of the Canadian Foundation for Local Initiatives.