Policy briefings
Asylum Aid's research, campaigns and lobbying work is focused on a number of specialised areas.The rights of women seeking asylum
Every single woman seeking asylum has the right to a fair and dignified process. The evidence underpinning our work on the rights of women, and our plans for ongoing work, is outlined in Policy Briefing 1.
The Every Single Woman campaign provides a compelling account of the way many women are treated when they seek asylum in the UK. More detailed analysis is provided in some of our influential research reports, including an assessment of the quality of decisions made by the Home Office when women seek asylum (Unsustainable, 2011) and the impact of 'internal relocation' on women seeking asylum (Relocation, Relocation, 2008). Other reports can be downloaded from our publications library.
Early legal advice for asylum seekers
The availability of high quality legal advice from the first stages of an asylum claim has the potential to improve decision-making, to bring down public costs, and to restore much-needed faith in the asylum system. This is described further in Policy Briefing 2.
More information is available from the detailed independent evaluation published after early access to legal advice was trialled by the UK Border Agency in 2008.
The importance of Legal Aid
Asylum is a question of life and death, and nobody should be expected to negotiate the UK asylum system without access to a lawyer. The threat to Legal Aid, and our work lobbying for its survival, is described in Policy Briefing 3.
Asylum Aid has long been a leading voice campaigning to ensure that Legal Aid works for those people who most need it. The evidence base for this work is drawn from two in-depth reports written in partnership with Asylum Aid: Justice at Risk and Review of quality issues in legal advice (both 2010).