User:ALHB/Southern Refugee Legal Aid Network

Purpose

SRLAN is a configuration of non-governmental organisations working for the implementation of refugee rights enshrined in international human rights and refugee law.

The particular challenges that refugees face with regards access to judicial recourse in the global south have demanded an increase in rights-based advocacy for refugees, through pro bono legal aid, research and policy advocacy. The SRLAN member organisations are bound by a common desire to foster respect for the rights of refugees in the global south, whilst not all necessarily being based there. The SRLAN provides a platform for these organisations to learn from one another's experiences, and coordinate advocacy and legal challenges with the support and expertise of a network of practitioners.

The Southern Refugee Legal Aid Network was initiated to formalise cooperation, with a view to channelling disparate refugee rights organisations into a movement for refugee rights in the global south. At the time of inception, the SRLAN concluded the Nairobi Code to which all members of the Network agreed to abide.

History

SRLAN was set up in 2007 at a five-day workshop held in Nairobi and attended by sixteen refugee advocacy and legal aid NGOs. the groups were meeting to outline a code of practice that would allow them to represent refugees in UNHCR's adjudications (UNHCR has initially attempted to write this code itself but it included unacceptably clauses that, amongst other things, made the maintenance of attorney/client confidentiality). This became the Nairobi Code.

The group also decided to form the Southern Refugee Legal Aid Network and went on to produce a charter for membership. Several organisations have since joined and membership is still growing.

SRLAN has since attached itself to Fahamu, an NGO with offices in Kenya, Senegal, South Africa and Oxford, UK, which aims to support human rights and social justice movements by promoting innovative use of of information and communications technologies to stimulate debate, discussion and analysis. Fahamu has a proven track record in facilitating the emergence of advocacy networks (including the independent Equinet and the AU-Monitor). Professor Barbara Harrell-Bond has argued that the main advantage of attaching SRLAN to Fahamu is freedom to do fearless advocacy that individual members would be too vulnerable to achieve alone.

Organizational overview

Membership

''' Taken from SRLAN website

Africa Middle East Refugee Assistance * African Women's Advocacy Unit Asian Women's Human Rights Council Asylum Access * Barnes & Daly Solicitors * Centre for Refugee Research (University of New South Wales) Egyptian Foundation for Refugee Rights * Fahamu Refugee Programme Frontiers Ruwad Association * Gonggam - Korean Public Interest Lawyers Group Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (Kenya) Helsinki Citizens Assembly * Hong Kong Refugee Advice Centre Iranian Refugees' Alliance Japan Association for Refugees Jesuit Refugee Service Lawyers for Human Rights * Legal Resources Foundation Refugee Consortium of Kenya Refugee Law Project * Struggle for Change Pakistan * Tel Aviv University Refugee Rights Program University of Cape Town Legal Aid Clinic US Committee for Refugeees and Immigrants WARIPNET

Member of SRLAN Steering Committee - *

The SRLAN invites new members in the refugee legal aid sector from around the world. The SRLAN Charter (2007) outlines its objectives and membership requirements and the SRLAN Bylaws aim to refine and implement the principles, vision and mission established in Nairobi and memorialised in the 2007 Charter.

Secretariat

Fahamu Refugee Programme is the SRLAN Secretariat. It is directed by the distinguished expert on refugee studies, Professor Barbara Harrell-Bond OBE.

Contact Information

Newsletter

References