Public activists will contribute to the protection of the rights of refugees and asylum seekers

On February 4-5, 2017, the Human Rights Educational House in Chernihiv hosted a training course “Protection of the Rights of Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Ukraine” for public activists and lawyers who work or plan to work with refugees and asylum seekers.

The trainers of the event were experts from the Right to Protection Charity Foundation and practicing lawyers

Ostap Tymchiy

and

Dmytro Bohdan

.

Program Director of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights

Tukhan Ediev

emphasized the importance of the role of civil society in preventing violations of the rights of refugees and asylum seekers, preventing the mistreatment of irregular migrants, assisting them in accessing justice and effective legal remedies.

During the training, human rights defenders and public activists became familiar with the relevant practice of the European Court of Human Rights, the procedure for determining refugee status under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the Law of Ukraine “On Refugees and Persons in Need of Additional or Temporary Measures”, with the specifics of appealing decisions of the State Migration Service of Ukraine on the refusal to accept an asylum seeker’s application, prepare documents for its consideration, and grant the status of a refugee or a person in need of additional protection.

A separate session of the event was dedicated to the problematic issues of protecting the right to liberty and personal integrity, preventing torture, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment of migrants, and the risks of expulsion and extradition of asylum seekers.

The event was organized by the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights within the framework of the project “Development of state and non-state systems of providing 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.