© Università degli Studi di Padova - Credits: HCE Web agency
The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) published a new report entitled “Legal aid for returnees deprived of liberty”. The report highlights that effective access to competent legal assistance is a key safeguard to enable migrants in return proceedings to exercise their rights to an effective remedy and access to justice. It identifies current national practices, and suggests how national authorities could improve effective access to competent legal aid.
In line with the EU’s Return Directive, all EU Member States, as well as North Macedonia and Serbia, provide some form of free legal aid in pre-removal detention. However, free legal aid is often subject to exemptions and restrictions, depending on the type of decision returnees wish to appeal. Moreover, returnees usually experience language barriers, difficulties in accessing information, strict deadlines and strict legal requirements. The situation is even more difficult for returnees deprived of their liberty in pre-removal facilities.
Italy hosts 10 pre-removal centres and it relies primarily on the public free legal aid system. However, the system presents a number of concerns and challenges: the absence of methods of indicating lawyers’ specialisation on lists available to detainees at pre-removal facilities; the availability of lawyers who are willing and qualified to take over legal representation quickly; the short time that lawyers have to prepare before hearings; the limited premises for lawyers’ meetings with their clients; and the fact that linguistic assistance is only rarely provided. In addition, during the pandemic interruption in legal aid provision was reported.
The report suggested some of the actions that national authorities could take to improve access to justice for people in return procedures, including:
15/11/2021