Welcome to the FAHAMU Refugee Programme's
Southern Refugee Legal Aid Website

Note this is a beta website

The Fahamu Refugee Programme's website takes as its ambitious challenge to be a one-stop shop of resources for everyone concerned with protecting the rights of refugees, in particular those who are representing refugees seeking asylum in the global south. It is intended primarily to assist those involved in the provision of legal aid - lawyers, paralegals, NGOs  - who are working from the global south, where access to information is often scarce.

At the same time, agencies working in the north are often also in urgent need of information and assistance with cases from their colleagues in the south. This website therefore aims to serve as a global resource, enabling organisations to work collaboratively to strengthen and expand our rights-based advocacy and legal aid for refugees.

A major aim of this website is to combine resources for greater efficiency and effectiveness. Although statistics on refugees are difficult to obtain, UNHCR reports that there are only 54 countries that have produced 9,000 refugees or more. This suggests that everywhere we are all working with refugees from the 'same' countries to a greater or lesser degree.  We unnecessarily limit our access to information and resources by working in isolation.  For example, lawyers in Hong Kong, Korea and Japan, like those in Israel, Zambia, Mexico, and Brazil are all struggling to get information to defend cases from the Democratic Republic of Congo. (On the other hand, this same source of statistics lists 193 countries that produced refugees in 2008. This means that there is no 'safe' country.)

This website identifies several areas with which legal aid providers often need assistance - see 'Special Issues in Refugee Status Determination'. Each of these pages will have a Resource Person who will be responsible for the page and who will be prepared to help you individually with cases and/or refer you to other specialists and who will work confidentially. We are still looking for several persons to serve in this role. Resource persons should be individuals who will find work on their topic enhances their own personal research!

The website is also meant to be useful to refugees, particularly the vast majority in the global south who do not have access to legal aid tailored for them. The page, Refugee Voices, will include information about newspapers developed by refugees and websites of refugee and Diaspora organizations, often a useful way to find missing relatives. Your suggestions for content for this page is requested.

You are also invited to join the moderated list-serv, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Members use it to share information, discuss problems on an anonymous basis or only distributing redacted cases, and requesting country of origin information.

The website has been designed to accommodate those who only have low-bandwidth internet access; hence no pictures or logos have been included.The only exception is the section, Films, and your help in identifying films that would be useful for teaching and awareness raising are welcomed.

No website is ever complete, so please contact us with your suggestions for additions, especially as regards legal aid case work, are welcome.