Morocco’s Droit et Justice Association continues Legal Aid for Refugees programme
Published: 13 Oct 2016
The following press release was issued by Droit et Justice, a non-profit association dedicated to improving the judicial system and promoting the rule of law in Morocco. For more information, contact Executive Director Sofia Rais.
Casablanca, 22 August 2016 – Founded in 2009, Droit et Justice is a non-profit association dedicated to improving the judicial system and promoting the rule of law in Morocco. Since 2013, Droit et Justice provides free legal assistance to asylum seekers in Morocco. Between 2013 and 2016, Droit et Justice trained 135 lawyers and law students as well as 167 staff members from associations in refugee law. The association provided free legal assistance for 54 asylum seekers thanks to 22 volunteer lawyers and offered 228 legal consultations for migrants along with the sensitisation of 588 migrants on their rights and the procedure to seek asylum in the regions of Casablanca-Rabat, Oujda-Nador, and Tanger-Tétouan. Furthermore, due to its advocacy work, Droit et Justice came up with nine recommendations in order to advance a significant and effective exercise of the right to asylum in Morocco and advocated for both the asylum seeker and his counsel to access the entire file of the status recognition process. Suspended since April 2016, the programme has been relaunched as of August 2016 with the support of the Arab Human Rights Fund (AHRF). The project goals remain similar to the previous ones: offering legal aid to asylum seekers in Morocco and continuing appropriate efforts to improve legal volunteering in the country. Training volunteer lawyers and students is also part of the project. The trainings come as a response to the need to strengthen the skills of the field workers and to improve capacities regarding asylum law. Morocco is currently working on a new asylum law; therefore, the newly trained lawyers will be significant players by assisting asylum seekers in the new legal system. In the aim of reaching a large audience and impacting many people throughout the country, the Legal Aid for Refugees in Morocco (LARM) programme will also provide trainings to civil society and migrants organisations outside the cities of Casablanca-Rabat, Fès, Agadir and Laayoune.