Legal Aid & Counselling
The overall aim of the clinic is to ensure that the rights of refugees and asylum seekers in Uganda—as specified under national and international law—are respected, and that they are treated with the fairness and consideration due to fellow human beings. The department is divided into two sections, legal assistance (see below), and counselling.
Objectives
To achieve its aim, the clinic's specific objectives are to:
- Provide free legal assistance to the refugee population in Uganda
- Provide psychosocial support to the clients
- Push for reform of existing law, policy and practice relating to refugees
- Work to enhance domestic refugee legislation
- Improve information flows to refugees and asylum seekers
- Promote knowledge of refugee law among legal professionals
To achieve its aims and objectives, the Legal Aid Clinic engages in the following activities:
1. Provision of free legal assistance
The Refugee Law Project – Legal Aid Clinic [RLP-LAC] has provided free legal services to refugees and asylum seekers since its inception in 1999. To date, we have represented over one thousand refugees and asylum seekers in Uganda. We are the only legal aid clinic in Uganda concentrating its efforts specifically on the refugee community.
a) Refugee status determination
Status determination in Uganda can be a long and troublesome process, which many refugees find a traumatising experience. Lack of standard official procedures and misunderstandings relating to international obligations can lead to delays, unwarranted rejection of refugee status and general confusion among asylum seekers. We offer professional advice to asylum seekers engaging in this process, prepare cases for appeal before the Refugee Eligibility Committee [REC], and have recently applied for Judicial Review of a REC decision in the High Court of Uganda.
b) Physical security and social needs interventions
Refugees' problems in Uganda do not necessarily begin or end with the status determination procedure. Refugees are alsofaced with additional problems such as inadequate health provision, lack of housing, critical food shortage, unclear policies relating to their right to work, detention as a result of lack of proper documentation, and a frequent perceived lack of personal security and safety. Some of these concerns raise serious questions relating to those actors within Uganda who are supposed to have offered some form of protection in one of these areas, and who have not done so. Timely interventions from a well informed group such as the Refugee Law Project can often lead to a reconsideration of the applicant's case and a more favorable outcome for the individual concerned.
c) Field visits and community outreach
There is an incredible demand for our services outside Kampala. Majority of refugees live in remote rural refugee settlements in Uganda where their freedom of movement is restricted. We often receive reports of abuse of human rights in refugee settlements that we respond to whenever we can. There are many refugee settlements spread through out the country and we cannot pretend to be able to effectively service them alone with only one office in Kampala. Our plan is to have more of a presence in the settlements through the following:
- Recruitment of more legal officers to boost clinic staff so that we are better able to respond to situations arising in refugee settlements.
- More regular visits to refugee settlements.
- With the Education & Training Department, training of refugee community leaders in settlements so that they are better able to assert their own rights and freedoms
- Continued networking with other Legal Aid Service Providers, for example through the Legal Aid Service Providers network [LASPNET] in order to have a more established presence in refugee hosting districts outside Kampala
2. Psychosocial counselling
Many refugees who come to our offices are traumatised by the experiences that they have gone through. The clinic now has counseling unit, with a trained psychosocial counselor, who is assisted by volunteers to help refugees during and after their cases are dealt with. Find out more about the Counselling section's activities.
3. Reform of existing law, policy and practice relating to refugees
The RLP-LAC continues to push for reform of existing laws, polices and practices that adversely affect refugees. Individual case interventions ensure that refugee rights are respected and hold accountable various actors within the refugee regime. In addition, we are exploring avenues for building jurisprudence in refugee law within the country and the African region.
The RLP-LAC also continues to engage with key actors in order to reform refugee policy. For instance with the passing of the new Refugee Act, the LAC will work to ensure its implementation, for example through representing asylum seekers in their refugee status applications to the Government.
4. Enhancing domestic refugee legislation
A new Refugee Act was recently passed by the parliament. While the Act goes a long way in incorporating international refugee law standards, its implementation remains another issue altogether, and it is the LAC's duty to ensure that that measures are taken by all actors to give effect to the Act.
5. Improving information flows to refugees and asylum seekers
Legal Officers always provide information to their clients in the Legal Aid Clinic. However additionally, the LAC organises information sessions for refugees in Kampala in which a wide range of issues are discussed, including the rights and obligations of refugees in Uganda.
6. Promoting knowledge of refugee law among legal professionals
Refugee Law is not part of the undergraduate curriculum and thus the vast majority of Ugandan Lawyers, Judges and Magistrates have little or no knowledge in this area. In order promote knowledge of refugee law among the Ugandan legal fraternity, the RLP-LAC offers legal internships to university law students, and clerkships for students of Uganda's Law Development Centre (LDC). Together with the Education and Training Department, the clinic is working to introduce a short course on refugee law for legal practitioners in the country.
Our response to needs is in many cases restricted due to lack of funds, shortage of staff, and the fact that we need to seek Government permission to enter the refugee settlements. Contact us at . Get to know the staff.