Acting for human rights impact

Working with individuals and families to safeguard their rights

With our pro bono casework we harness the skills, expertise and passion of our people to address unmet legal needs of families and individuals facing difficult and precarious situations. Through partnerships with independent law centres, NGOs, and frontline services, our collaborative workstreams are designed to provide direct advice and representation to those who need it most, and when possible, effect systemic change where needed. The law centres give our lawyers support, guidance, and training to enable us to do this work effectively. The NGOs and frontline services bring their on-the-ground knowledge and policy expertise to bolster our and support our clients with their unique skillset. Through our commitment to these organisations and the great results delivered for our clients we have gained the trust of civil society and decisions-makers alike.

Power of international protection and early legal advice

Early legal advice is a powerful means of safeguarding the rights of individuals and families seeking international protection in Ireland. Moreover, this benefits decision makers tasked with assessing the application process.

The Irish Refugee Council has long championed early legal advice in the international protection process but with resource constraints cannot meet the demands of this alone. To address this gap and given our ability to act at scale, ALG lawyers take in direct client case work advising and representing those applicants most in need of support. The client is assigned a legal team at ALG to advise them on the protection process, prepare statements on their legal grounds for protection, draft legal submissions in support of their application and attend at the interview before the International Protection Office.

Reuniting young people through refugee family reunification

International human rights law recognises the central importance to a young person of the care and company of family. In furtherance of this, young people who have been granted refugee protection in Ireland have a legal right to bring their immediate family to be reunited in Ireland and to build their lives together here.

The application process is legalistic and complex, and state supports are limited. Through our partnership with the KIND Project (Kids in Need of Defense), and with ongoing support from the Irish Refugee Council and the Immigrant Council of Ireland, our lawyers provide direct representation to young people through this process.

Most importantly, we work to ensure the client is empowered to understand process and can make the decisions they and their family need to make, all while providing a service that is child-friendly and trauma-informed. 

Combatting homelessness through housing law clinic

Homelessness has become one of the defining human rights issues facing modern Ireland. Access to safe, suitable, and affordable housing is a basic need and provides the stability necessary to build a life where individuals and families can thrive.

To help tackle this crisis, we act for individuals and families facing homelessness or social housing issues through a collaborative housing clinic project with the Mercy Law Resource Centre (MLRC) and Focus Ireland. Adapting the MLRC’s pre-existing model, our people work alongside support workers from Focus Ireland to provide timely, free, professional and accessible legal advice and representation to those who need it most.

Clients are referred weekly to the firm and are then assigned a dedicated legal team who works with the family to resolve their matter.

In the most urgent circumstances, our casework sees our people act to assert their clients’ rights when refused access to emergency accommodation We also advise clients on the complex legal and policy framework around social housing and liaise with local authorities to resolve issues with accessing the social housing list, and issues arising including overcrowding, medical priority, anti-social behaviour and safety.

Partnering with Spirasi to protect and empower torture survivors

For survivors of torture, strong medical evidence is indispensable when seeking to avail of international protection. Medico-legal reports prepared by independent medical practitioners can corroborate a person’s their account of their experiences which then can demonstrate their well-founded fear of persecution should they be returned to the country of origin.

ALG has a long-running partnership with Spirasi, the national centre for survivors of torture, whereby our people conduct legal reviews of the medical legal reports prepared for their patients. The reports are prepared by doctors working with Spirasi by way of assessment to identify the experience of torture and ensure that decision-makers have a credible account of the experiences to support them in their assessment.

Our lawyers receive specialist training from decision-makers, doctors and legal professionals with expertise in the use of the Istanbul Protocol - the international guidelines for the documentation of torture and its consequences.

Our partnership with Spirasi ensures medico-legal reports have the necessary quality and consistency. This in turn helps applicants for international protection have the fairest opportunity possible for having their rights recognised.