Website offers explanations of relevant laws and procedures and links to helpful resources
Asylum Aid has launched a useful new website to help stateless people in the UK.
You can access it at www.statelessness.info.
Cynthia Orchard, the statelessness policy and casework coordinator at Asylum Aid, says the website is designed to provide stateless people, and those working with them, with explanations of relevant laws and procedures and to point them to helpful resources.
Separate sections of the site provide information on what is statelessness, how to apply to stay as a stateless person, what happens after applying, and the detention of stateless people.
A resources page provides links to Home Office forms and guidance, and to other useful reports and articles on statelessness.
A legal advice page here provides details on what legal help a stateless person can get and will need to make an application.
The legal advice page notes that statelessness applications often involve complex legal issues, and the advice of a qualified lawyer is usually necessary to gather sufficient evidence and properly prepare a statelessness application.
Cynthia Orchard says the website is part of a larger Asylum Aid project to address statelessness in the UK in a holistic way. Other work includes:
- offering free legal advice and representation to stateless persons;
- providing training sessions for lawyers, NGOs, and others focusing on statelessness;
- advocacy with the Government at the policy level to make systemic improvements;
- raising awareness through articles, briefings and events;
- providing integration/inclusion services that are open to stateless persons;
- creation of an online group called the UK Statelessness Forum to share information with people who have an interest in statelessness in the UK;
- membership on the European Network on Statelessness' (ENS) Advisory Committee and active participation with ENS projects.
Asylum Aid says it welcomes any comments or suggestions on its new website and these can be made via the site's feedback form. The website will be periodically updated and improved.